http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/1763/the-european-union-penumbra-now-consisting-of-41-agencies
The institutions of the European Union are constantly in the limelight, whether because they have achieved something worthwhile - with dissent from one or more quarters - or because they have exposed themselves to satire, for which Schadenfreude says much thanks. The European Commission, the European Council, the European Parliament, the European Court of Justice and the European Central Bank are regularly in the media. Another body, the European Court of Auditors, pops up when it yet again discloses that it is unable to pass the commission's annual accounts. The public may not know much about these bodies but it knows that they are there, doing things to them.
Two more bodies are in business. The Economic and Social Committee, the veteran going back to the Treaty of Rome in 1957, has 344 members nominated by governments and representing employers, trade unions and "independents". Colloquially it is the "Ches", the Italian pronunciation of its Franco/Italian acronym. The commission asks the committee for its opinion "avis" on measures affecting business. And, in theory, the commission and the council take account of the advice given. But there are so many other contributions that the committee's opinions may not make much noise. Of its own accord, the committee may study a problem of concern to its members and convey its finding to the commission and the council. But unless the commission takes the findings seriously, they are unlikely to be heard of. When Sir Geoffrey Howe was the British Foreign Secretary working with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, he suggested the abolition of the Ches but this was considered as irreverent as whistling in church.
The Committee of the Regions was a product of the Maastricht Treaty of 1994. The idea was that the union needed to be brought closer to the people on whose behalf it works - and which it regulates. The idea being that a large share of the regulations are enforced by local authorities, which should become involved in the formative stages. The CoR has 344 members and they organise themselves into political groups, using the model of the European Parliament. It works through sectional committees, which prepare its "avis"; some on request, some spontaneously. It is questionable if member state governments have much awareness of the pair. Their 688 valiants work away - unnoticed by the press, unknown by the public, unappreciated by the commission and the council, unhonoured and unsung. It must be worth something other than eye-appeal. But there is more.
The commission is made up of directorates responsible for particular subjects. Outside this structure it maintains and funds 'agencies'. Policy agencies are described as "accomplishing a very specific technical scientific or managerial task". There are agencies for matters such as gender equality, plant variety, network and information security - 25 in all. The European Food Safety Authority looks believable provided that it works with national bodies doing the same job. Policy agencies are scattered across the member states. There does not appear to be an agency responsible for the safety of prosthetics, like implants. No doubt one will appear.
Six "executive agencies" are "entrusted with certain tasks relating to the management of one or more union programmes", like education, audiovisual and culture or competitiveness and innovation. They are all in Brussels or Luxembourg, alongside commission departments. There is also a European Institute of Innovation and Technology. Why it is separated from the mainstream commission is not immediately clear. A newish agency, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor or ITER, in which the EU joins with other countries, is pursuing the 60-year quest for power from nuclear fusion.
There is a European Police College and a European Police Office. The European Patent Office is not an EU body – it has 40 members – but it has long been working on creating an EU patent. The financial crisis has seen the setting up of four new regulatory agencies – banking, securities and markets, insurance and occupational pensions and systemic risk. They are intended to work with corresponding organisations in the member states. The Schengen Agreement on freedom of movement has its own agency, Frontex, to which the United Kingdom does not belong. At the last count, there were 41 EU agencies. It is reasonable to ask if there is scope for efficiency savings, assuming that the words can meaningfully be translated into 21 more languages. The Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union might be asked to work on it. More seriously, maybe in these difficult times there could be a hard look at what added value would be lost if some of the agencies were wound up.
