Network and Access for Policy Influence – EU Agencies and their Relationships with the European Commission and Member States

This paper analyses the underexplored relationship between EU agencies and the Member States on the one hand and between EU agencies and the European Commission on the other hand in the policy-making process. Based on the case study of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), it is argued that ECHA effectively utilizes resources in the national competent authorities to produce expert advice. Moreover, ECHA incorporates feedback from the Commission in its expert advice. Drawing on extensive interview data and document analysis, however, the empirical findings reveal that in order to influence policies what matters is not only the capability of ECHA to produce what is needed by the Commission. The ‘secured access’ of ECHA to the Commission is equally, if not more, essential because it strongly motivates the Commission to steer the way ECHA drafts expert advice. This, in turn, increases the possibility of ECHA’s influence on the Commission.