The European Union railway agency under the fourth railway package: a political and legal perspective

Under the fourth railway package, the ERA would become a genuine decision-making agency. The new role for the ERA, as envisaged by the Commission, wlll be placed in the broader context of the agencification of the EU administration. From a political perspective, the fourth railway package will be seized to look at the different interests at stake when an EU agency is strengthened (or established). Further, the revision is one of the first opportunities for the institutions to apply the Common Approach on Decentralised Agencies and as a result, it should prove to be an interesting test case. From a legal perspective there is the question what the limits under the Treaties are to agencification and whether the proposed new powers for the ERA respect these limits.