Trans-governmental regulatory networks and the European Union’s involvement in global governance: an occasional instrument?

Abstract

The European Union (EU) has actively promoted the establishment of national regulatory agencies (NRAs) in its member states since the 1990s. In parallel, the EU has supported the establishment of trans-governmental regulatory networks (TRNs) to facilitate the harmonization of regulatory frameworks within the EU. In most cases, these TRNs had a very light organization but allowed an intense interaction and collaboration among officials from the different national regulatory agencies. In this paper, we examine the involvement of EU institutions and NRAs in trans-governmental regulatory networks in Europe and beyond. Based on a mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches, we corroborate the extensive use of TRNs on the European continent beyond the EU in many fields, often supported by EU institutions or emerging as bottom-up initiatives of NRAs. We can only document some occasional attempts beyond the European neighborhood. Among possible reasons, we examine the institutionalization of global governance in many sectors, geographical considerations, and EU strategies to support TRNs development.