Samenvatting

Agencies of the European Union (EU) are formally independent entities that collect information, provide advice and take decisions on technical, scientific or operational issues. While the original idea underlying their independence was that they could contribute to ‘depoliticize’ these issues, current discussions emphasize strengthening the control over EU agencies because it is often thought that they are too autonomous. The question is how autonomous EU agencies really are. I answer this question by studying the development of two agencies (for the authorization of medicines and food safety) in greater detail. The results of my research show that, in practice, not only do the creation and design of EU agencies result from political struggle, but this struggle continues during their development. Moreover, EU agencies are themselves part of this struggle. They must fight for their autonomy, but at the same time cannot position themselves too independently vis-à-vis other parties. This leads to the paradoxical conclusion that EU agencies are likely to be more autonomous when they cooperate more closely with other parties, especially with national agencies, whose positions in turn are strengthened rather than weakened.