Linking Up Levels of Governance : Agencies of the European Union and their Interaction with International Institutions

This chapter constitutes a preliminary attempt to examine the interaction between European Union agencies and international institutions, both in theory and in practice. More specifically, the chapter asks whether EU agencies operate as channels through which international institutions exert influence to the detriment of agencies’ autonomy vis-à-vis such international institutions, and whether EU agencies make use of international institutions to promote policies they value highly, thereby expanding their autonomous position vis-à-vis their political principals