Open AccessPosition of OLAF in a multi-level governance system of the European Union
Author(s) -
Janusz Ruszkowski
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
przegląd europejski
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2657-6023
pISSN - 1641-2478
DOI - 10.5604/01.3001.0013.5844
Subject(s) - european union , institution , corporate governance , position (finance) , multi level governance , principal (computer security) , european commission , supervisor , political science , commission , subject (documents) , public administration , management , economics , computer science , law , international trade , computer security , finance , library science
The author aims to investigate the position of OLAF in the multi-level governance system (MLG) of the European Union with specific inter-institutional consequences of such location, assuming that OLAF is not a classical supranational institution. In the research subject an important role is played by the European Commission (EC), which established OLAF and gave it specific competences to act. These facts are fundamentally important for further considerations, so they can have a major impact on the precise determination of OLAF’s position in the MLG. If OLAF as an agent and supervisor has control powers over supranational institutions, including its principal, a supranational European Commission, it is unlikely that it would also be a supranational institution. This article demonstrates, that OLAF is not a classic supranational institution because it exhibits strong features of a supra-supranational institution operating in a multi-level EU governance system. A helpful theoretical and methodological research tools we consider the Principal/Agent Theory (PAT) and its combination Principal/Supervisor/Agent Theory (PSAT) on the one hand, and the concept of multi-level governance (MLG) on the other hand.