A principal-agent analysis of inter-agency cooperation in EU border management

In the wake of the 2015 Migration Crisis, the European Union has embarked on an extensive process to reinforce external border controls and make horizontal cooperation between EU agencies critical. This article leverages the principal-agent model to elucidate the impact of inter-agency cooperation on agency autonomy and, by extension, the management of the EU’s external borders. The findings reveal that inter-agency cooperation leads to a situation in which the participating agencies enjoy more room for manoeuvre than originally granted by the EU legislature. This research sheds light on the proactive efforts of the concerned agencies in working alongside their counterparts to bolster their institutional standing and policy turf, thereby fuelling the institutionalisation of joint implementation in EU border management.