Agencification of the European Union’s Migration Response: A Precursor for Divergence Within the EU System?

This thesis examines the agencification trend of the EU, and how it affects the EU’s migration response and relationships between different EU institutions. Inspired by the existing literature on the effects of agencification, it aims to analyse the level of divergence that has taken place between the European Commission and the European Asylum Support Office. Divergence of EU agencies has implications on individual migrants, as well as member states and future governance solutions, making it a worthwhile issue to research. This thesis will rely on discourse analysis, as it allows for the in depth analysis of the objectives of the agency, as well as the European Commission. The results illustrate that divergence between the European Commission and EASO is taking place in various forms, despite the attempts to redirect the agency. This leads to the conclusion that agencification causes the European Commission to lose some of its control, as authority is given out to agencies instead.