Agencies of the European Union

European Union

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politics and government
of the European Union

An agency of the European Union is a decentralised body of the European Union (EU), which is distinct from the institutions. Agencies are established to accomplish specific tasks. Each agency has its own legal personality. Some answer the need to develop scientific or technical know-how in certain fields, others bring together different interest groups to facilitate dialogue at European and international level.

There are over 40 agencies, divided into 4 groups:[1]

Decentralised agencies

Distinct from EU institutions, the agencies of the European Union were set up to accomplish very specific tasks such as promoting environmental protection, transport safety and multilingualism. They span Europe – Dublin to Stockholm, Warsaw to Lisbon – providing services, information and know-how to the general public. Most agencies were categorised under the three pillars of the European Union, but this structure was abolished with the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty. The European Space Agency has been proposed as a future agency of the EU.[2]

Official name Abbreviation Location Member state Established Members and observers
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work EU-OSHA Bilbao Spain 1996 members: EU states, European Commission[3]
European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training Cedefop Thessaloniki Greece 1975 members: EU states
observers: Iceland, Norway[4]
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions EUROFOUND Dublin Ireland 1975 members: EU states, European Commission
observers:EFTA[5]
European Environment Agency EEA Copenhagen Denmark 1994 members: EU states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey[6]
co-operating: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia
European Training Foundation ETF Turin Italy 1994 members: EU states, European Commission[7]
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction EMCDDA Lisbon Portugal 1993 members: EU states, European Commission, European Parliament, Norway
observers: Turkey[8]
European Medicines Agency EMA London United Kingdom 1995 members: EU states, European Commission, European Parliament
observers: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway[9]
Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market OHIM Alicante Spain 1999 members: EU states, European Commission[10]
Community Plant Variety Office CPVO Angers France 1994 members: EU states, European Commission[11]
Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union CdT Luxembourg Luxembourg 1994 members: EU states, European Commission[12]
European Food Safety Authority EFSA Parma Italy 2002
European Maritime Safety Agency EMSA Lisbon Portugal 2002 members: EU states, European Commission, Iceland, Norway[13]
European Aviation Safety Agency EASA Cologne Germany 2003 members: EU states, European Commission, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland[14]
observers: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, UNMIK[15]
European Network and Information Security Agency ENISA Heraklion Greece 2005 members: EU states[16]
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control ECDC Stockholm Sweden 2005 members: EU states, European Commission, European Parliament
observers: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway[17]
European GNSS Agency GSA Prague Czech Republic 2004 members: EU states, European Commission
observers: Norway, European Space Agency[18]
European Railway Agency ERA Valenciennes and Lille France 2004 members: EU states, European Commission, Norway[19]
European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union Frontex Warsaw Poland 2005
European Fisheries Control Agency EFCA Vigo Spain 2005 members: EU states, European Commission[20]
European Chemicals Agency ECHA Helsinki Finland 2007 members: EU states, European Commission, European Parliament
observers: Iceland, Norway[21]
European Institute for Gender Equality EIGE Vilnius Lithuania 2007 members: EU states[22]
European Defence Agency EDA Brussels Belgium 2004 members: EU states without Denmark; European Commission
participant: Norway
European Institute for Security Studies ISS Paris France 2001
European Union Satellite Centre EUSC Torrejón de Ardoz Spain 2002
European Police College CEPOL Budapest Hungary 2005 members: EU states
associates: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland[23]
European Police Office Europol The Hague The Netherlands 1999
European body for the enhancement of judicial co-operation Eurojust The Hague The Netherlands 2002
Fundamental Rights Agency FRA Vienna Austria 2007 members: EU states, European Commission, Council of Europe[24]
Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications BEREC Riga Latvia 2010 members: EU states, European Commission[25]
European Systemic Risk Board ESRB Frankfurt Germany 2010 [26]
Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators ACER Ljubljana Slovenia 2011
European Banking Authority EBA London United Kingdom 2011 [27]
European Securities and Markets Authority ESMA Paris France 2011 [28]
European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority EIOPA Frankfurt Germany 2011 [29]
European Asylum Support Office EASO Valletta Harbour Malta 2011[30]
European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice[31] eu-LISA[32] Tallinn[33] Estonia 2012

Executive agencies

Executive agencies are created by European Commission for a fixed period.

Official name Abbreviation Location
Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises EASME Brussels
Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency EACEA Brussels
Executive Agency for Health and Consumers EAHC Luxembourg
Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency TEN-T EA Brussels
Research Executive Agency REA Brussels
European Research Council Executive Agency ERC Brussels

Euratom agencies

Official name Location
Euratom Supply Agency (ESA)[34] Luxembourg
European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy (Fusion for Energy) Barcelona

Independent body

Official name Location
European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT, est. 2008) Budapest

Former agencies

Official name Abbreviation Location Member state Established Members and observers
European Agency for Reconstruction EAR Thessaloniki Greece 2000 members: EU states, European Commission[35]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://europa.eu/about-eu/agencies/index_en.htm
  2. ↑ "ESA BR-268" (PDF). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  3. ↑ "OSHA membership". Europa (web portal). 1 January 2000. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  4. ↑ "Cedefop membership". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  5. ↑ "EUROFOUND membership". Europa (web portal). 3 June 2010. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  6. ↑ "EEA membership". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  7. ↑ "ETF membership". Europa (web portal). 1 June 2009. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  8. ↑ "EMCDDA membership". Europa (web portal). 10 February 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  9. ↑ "EMA membership". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  10. ↑ "OHIM membership" (PDF). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  11. ↑ "CPVO membership". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  12. ↑ CdT membership
  13. ↑ "EMSA membership". Extranet.emsa.europa.eu. 24 March 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  14. ↑ "EASA members". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  15. ↑ "EASA observers". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  16. ↑ "ENISA membership". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  17. ↑ "ECDC observers". Europa (web portal). Archived from the original on 25 April 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  18. ↑ "GSA observers". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  19. ↑ "ERA observers". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  20. ↑ "CFCA membership". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  21. ↑ "ECHA membership". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  22. ↑ "EIGE membership". Eur-lex.europa.eu. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  23. ↑ "CEPOL membership". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  24. ↑ "FRA membership". Europa (web portal). 15 April 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  25. ↑ "About BEREC". Erg.eu.int. 25 November 2009. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  26. ↑ "ESRB legal framework". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  27. ↑ "EBA legal framework". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  28. ↑ "ESMA legal framework". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  29. ↑ "EIOPA legal framework". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  30. ↑ http://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/policies/agencies/agencies_intro_en.htm
  31. ↑ Regulation 1077/2011 establishing a European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice; http://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/policies/agencies/agencies_intro_en.htm
  32. ↑ http://europa.eu/agencies/regulatory_agencies_bodies/index_en.htm
  33. ↑ Valentina Pop. "Estonia and France are candidates for IT agency seat". Euobserver.com. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  34. ↑ "EUROPA – Euratom Supply Agency Homepage". Europa (web portal). Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  35. ↑ "EAR membership". Retrieved 23 April 2011.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Agencies of the European Union.

The following links are all part of the official EU-website.

Attribution of the seat of EU agencies:

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