Special Report: ‘Delegating implementing tasks to executive agencies: a successful option?’

The European Court of Auditors has assessed whether the delegation of operational tasks to executive agencies has proved to be a successful instrument for implementing the EU budget. The Court’s audit showed that the initiative of setting up the executive agencies was mainly driven by the need to compensate for staff shortages at the Commission rather than being part of a general reform of the governance based on the intrinsic features of the programmes themselves. The cost-benefit analyses accompanying the decisions to create the agencies took little account of non-financial aspects and omitted to consider some important factors on the side of costs. Their contribution to the decision-making process was therefore rather limited.

ESO: Background information: European Commission Website: Executive Agencies http://www.europeansources.info/record/website-executive-agencies/

ECA: Special Report: Delegating implementing tasks to executive agencies: a successful option? http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/docs/1/3336297.PDF

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