Do the EU member states control the institutions they establish? An investigation into the discretionary power of the European External Action Service Ghent University
The proposed project examines the discretionary power of the EEAS vis-Ã -vis the EU MS through applying the principal-agent model. Specifically, two interrelated questions are addressed: 1) Theoretically: how can a principal-agent model be designed for analyzing the EEAS' discretionary power? 2) Empirically: what is the degree of discretionary power enjoyed by the EEAS agent vis-Ã -vis the MS principals?