Judgments on the selection of the seats of EU agencies: Challenges and what will change

Abstract

The process of the selection of the seats of an EU agency has been an intergovernmental decision-making between the EU Member States, in most cases separated from the EU legislative process related to the establishment and functioning of the agency. The Court of Justice had a possibility to assess the legality of this hybrid process and decided that the power to determine the seat of EU agency belongs solely to the EU co-legislators. The three judgments in five cases contain several contentious points regarding the interpretation of Article 341 TFEU, which will be analyzed in this case note. In addition, its purpose will be also to assess the implications of the judgments to future decision-making process related to the selection of seats of EU agencies.