Handbook examples of institutions operating in a multi-level regulatory context, European agencies co-exist with, rely on and in fact, often depend heavily on co-operation from national structures to fulfil their mandates. This gives rise to interesting questions as to how this co-operation takes place in practice, what are the potential drivers of multi-level co-operation and whether particular institutional design choices are better suited to engender co-operation between national and (co-existing and co-dependent) EU-level structures.
To explore these issues, this paper focuses on two European agencies: the European Law Enforcement Agency (Europol) and the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (Frontex). Both agencies are heavily dependent for their functioning on member state co-operation, yet the sensitivity of the fields in which they operate (i.e., in terms of national sovereignty) raises considerable potential for tensions with national structures. Interestingly enough however, in practice the two bodies have followed opposing developmental trajectories, and co-operation seems to have developed smoothly in one case and less so in the other.
The aim of this article is to identify the conditions that serve to foster and stimulate co-operation between EU and national authorities in one case, as well as, those which, to the contrary, serve as a break on such co-operation in the other. This is potentially relevant for gaining a better understanding of the potential motivators of (effective) multi-level inter-organisational co-operation more broadly, as well as providing useful insights into the operation of EU’s multi-layered regulatory structures. The article draws on document analysis and interviews with agency and national respondents.
