The rapid proliferation of EU agencies represents one of the most significant changes to the EU’s organisational set-up in past decades. At the same time, this development has significantly affected regulatory policy-making in the EU.

This volume assembles the most renowned scholars in the field to address the key themes and challenges that agency governance in the EU poses to effective and legitimate policy-making. The first theme addresses the causes and dynamics of the creation and design of regulatory bodies in EU governance, focusing not only on EU agencies but also on alternatives to the agency format, such as regulatory networks. Second, once agencies are established, the book goes on to explore the consequences and trajectories of agency governance. How effective and autonomous are EU agencies? How does EU agency governance transform existing patterns of executive governance in the EU? Third, the book addresses the design of EU agencies as independent, non-majoritarian institutions poses pressing questions with a view to their legitimacy and accountability.

The volume appeals to scholars and practitioners interested in the development and transformation of executive governance in the EU.

This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.