L'accountability della Commissione europea nell'esercizio diretto di funzioni amministrative

The objective of this essay is to analyze the accountability regime the European Commission is subject to when directly discharging administrative functions in the context of the EU administration. To this end, the analysis tackles four main questions: i) To what extent legal instruments based on the rule of law emerge as accountability tools? ii) How did the accountability regime evolve over years? Did it expand along with the extensive role played by the European Commission in the EU administrative architecture? iii) What type of interactions are established through accountability instruments among the European Commission, the other European institutions and the relevant stakeholders? What type of mechanisms contribute to ensure appropriate linkages between the top tier of the Commission and its internal bodies? iv) Do the available accountability instruments represent a satisfactorily regime? What type of limits and differences emerge within the considered policy areas?