Institucional balance, EU and national agencification processes. The need for dialogue

• Author: Joan Solanes Mullor
• Position: Lecturer of Constitutional Law at Universitat Pompeu Fabra
• Pages: 85-111

JOAN SOLANES MULLOR

Lecturer of Constitutional Law at Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Revista Española de Derecho Europeo 68

Octubre – Diciembre 2018

Págs� 85 – 111

SUMARIO: I� INTRODUCTION� II� INSTITUTIONAL BALANCE: A NATIONAL AND EU PRINCIPLE� III� THE RE-

LEVANCE OF EU INSTITUTIONAL BALANCE IN THE DEBATE OVER EU AGENCIES� IV� NATIONAL

INDEPENDENT REGULATORS AND NATIONAL INSTITUTIONAL BALANCE: A MATTER FOR THE EU?�

V� LINKING THE EU AND NATIONAL AGENCIFICATION PROCESSES: PATHS FOR DIALOGUE� VI�

CONCLUSIONS� VII� REFERENCES�

RESUMEN: En las últimas décadas, la UE ha sido prota-

gonista en el proceso de agencicación en Europa, tan-

to a nivel de la UE, con las agencias de la UE como una

forma de gobernanza de la UE, como a nivel nacional,

introduciendo reguladores nacionales independientes a

través del derecho derivado� El artículo explora el papel

del equilibrio institucional en el proceso de agencica-

ción, destacando su papel decisivo a nivel de la UE y sus

deciencias a nivel nacional. Esta diferencia se ha ma-

nifestado de varias maneras� Por un lado, la debilidad de

los organismos de la UE se debe a la ponderación de las

preocupaciones sobre el equilibrio institucional de la UE

y, por el otro, encontramos reguladores nacionales fuer-

tes donde el equilibrio institucional nacional no era una

preocupación principal� Esto ha llevado a problemas,

con intrusiones en la independencia de la agencia en

algunos casos y problemas de responsabilidad en otros,

ABSTRACT: In recent decades, the EU has been a pro-

tagonist in the agencication process in Europe, both

at the EU level – with EU agencies as a form of EU

governance – and at the national level – introducing

independent national regulators through secondary

law� The article explores the role of the institutional

balance in the agencication process highlighting its

decisive role at the EU level and its shortfalls at the

national level� This difference has manifested itself

in several ways� On the one hand, the weakness of

EU agencies results from weighting EU institutional

balance concerns and, on the other, we nd strong

national regulators where national institutional

balance was not a primary concern� This has led to

problems –with intrusions on agency independence

in some cases and accountability issues in others –

in accommodating independent national regulators�

INSTITUTIONAL BALANCE, EU AND

NATIONAL AGENCIFICATION PROCESSES:

THE NEED FOR DIALOGUE*

* PhD at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (2014) and LL.M. at Harvard L aw School (2009).

86 JOAN SOLANES MULLOR

REDE 2018 • 68

para acomodar a reguladores nacionales independien-

tes� El artículo explora diferentes formas de interco-

nectar a la UE y las agencias nacionales en el proceso

de agencicación, particularmente a través del con-

cepto de identidad constitucional nacional, y propone

que el diálogo y la comunicación entre todos los ac-

tores de la UE y nacionales involucrados en el proceso

sean más uidos.

The article explores different ways to interconnect

the EU and national agencies in the agencication

process, particularly through the concept of national

constitutional identity, and it proposes making the

dialogue and communication between all the EU and

national actors involved in the process more uid.

PALABRAS CLAVE: Agencias de la UE– Autoridades

Reguladoras Nacionales– Equilibrio Institucional–

Identidad Nacional Constitucional

KEYWORDS: EU Agencies– National Regulatory

Authorities– Institutional Balance– National Cons-

titutional Identity

Fecha de recepción: 7-9-2018

Fecha de aceptación: 21-9-2018

I. INTRODUCTION

The agencification process in Europe presents two primary dimensions, one at the

level of the European Union (EU) and the other at the national level. Over the last three

decades, the EU has relied on agencies to perform the functions under its competence. EU

agencies have thus increased in number and now form a decisive part of the EU administra-

tive landscape1. At the same time, the EU has reinforced agencies as a form of government

and administration at the national level. The EU has introduced agencies in several sectors

as a means of organizing national regulators. The energy and telecommunications sectors

are good examples because they show the evolution of EU legislation which first merely

envisaged an agency independent of private operators that was subsequently built up into

a regulatory agency that was also independent from national legislators and executives2.

The EU has played a determinant role at both levels, especially as an agent of chan-

ge. Since the 1990s, intense scholarly debate over the role of agencies in rethinking EU

governance has taken place, a debate focusing on the agencies’ impact on EU institutio-

nal balance, the tension between technocracy and democracy, and accountability3. The

1. For a map of the current EU agencies, see the official website of the EU: https://europa.eu/

european-union/about-eu/agencies_en.

2. The first and second generations of E U legislation on energ y (1996-1998 and 2003) and te-

lecommunications (1980’s-1990’s and 2002) only required that regulators be separated from

private actors. A full national regulatory agency, independent from nationa l legislators and

executives in addit ion to private actors, was adopted in the third generat ion of EU legislation

on energy and telecommunicat ions (2009). Section IV infra de scribes the evolution of this le-

gislation i n detail.

3. In the 1990s a nd 2000s, politica l scientists and lawyers developed a n intense resea rch agen-

da on EU agencies. The resea rch groups of the European University Inst itute (EUI) and the

contributions of Giandomenico Majone, were especially i mportant in establishing the ter ms

of the debate and subsequent scholarship has been built over their contributions. For the key

role of the EUI, see A. K reher, «Introduction», in A. K reher (ed), The New European Agencies.

Conference Report (Europea n University Inst itute, 1996) at 1, 1-4. Section III infra re fers, when

appropriate, to some aspect s of this debate.