Commission seeks to improve governance of EU agencies 

The communication from the EU executive to Parliament and the Council calls for an inter-institutional working group to set out "ground rules to apply to all" and to "develop a clear and coherent vision on the place of agencies in European governance". 

EU regulatory agencies are independent bodies created by the Commission to provide technical expertise in specific areas, such as GMO regulation. They cover the whole spectrum of EU policy. Although they cannot adopt general regulatory measures, they can take decisions applying previously agreed EU standards. They also provide the Commission with the expertise it needs to make its own decisions.

Examples include the European Chemicals Agency and the European Food Safety Authority. There are currently 29 such agencies in operation. From a total budget of €1.1bn, €559m is funded by the EU. 

The Commission believes "these agencies have been set up in an uncoordinated manner" and their potential as a vehicle for closer cooperation between the EU and its member states is being "held back by the lack of a common vision" of their role and functions. 

Its decision means that a previous attempt to develop a common approach, which stalled in 2005 after failing to attract the support of the Council, has been withdrawn. At the time, ministers concluded that there was no legal basis in the treaties for an inter-institutional agreement on agencies, despite claims to the contrary from the other institutions. 

Commission President José Manuel Barroso said the "outstanding governance issues" regarding regulatory agencies could only be addressed "by our three institutions together". "With a consistent political approach […] we can promote [their] transparency and effectiveness," Barroso added. 

Key issues to be discussed by the working group include the basic structure and working practices of regulatory agencies and their relationship with the EU institutions, as well as accountability and procedures for their establishment and dissolution. 

Although it stressed the importance of working with the other institutions, the Commission nevertheless outlined a number of steps that it intends to take itself. These include an evaluation of the work and structure of regulatory agencies, to be completed by 2009. In the meantime, it will not propose new regulatory agencies until this is complete. Moreover, it intends to conduct an internal review of its own relations with such bodies and the way it assesses their work.