Οι Ανεξάρτητες Αρχές Οικονομικής Ρύθμισης στην Ελλάδα: αναζητώντας τη βέλτιστη θεσμική αρχιτεκτονική

Abstract

In developed modern democracies, during the last 25 years, the detailed assessment, the specialisation and the implementation of the public regulatory interest is assigned to independent administrative bodies (Independent Regulatory Authorities). This new institutional reality has triggered discussion on the necessity of such a development. On the one hand, Independent Regulatory Authorities are required to function as yet another institutional counterweight against the classical state structures, while on the other hand, they allow for the possibility that the meaning of political responsibility of the government is being relativised. The criticism expressed is focused on the fact that it is possible that the Independent Regulatory Authorities lead in the direction of neutralising crucial policy fields, transferring them from the sphere of political responsibility to that of technocracy. Within the framework of this discussion, a basic stake is the quest for an institutional architecture which will respond to the concerns above. To accomplish this purpose, the object of this study is the assessment of the Independent Regulatory Authorities (IRA) in Greece through the study of cases of the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC), the Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE), the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (HTPC) and the Greek National Council for Radio and Television (NCRTV). The method followed is comparative assessment, based on a proposed ideotype of effective operation of IRAs, founded on the principles of legalisation, independence, transparency, accountability, and sound decision-making. The basic conclusion extracted from the analysis is that, in the last years, there has been a clear tendency to reinforce the independence characteristics of IRA toward the direction of aligning their operation with the European standards. This tendency is, to a large extent, justified by the policy convergence in this markets. The changes of the legal framework during the years 2011-2012 for most of those regulatory authorities have manifested such a tendency. However, it is also observed that, in several cases, this tendency is interfered with by factors relating to the reduction in public expenditure which has a negative impact on the proper functioning of IRAs. The contribution of this paper involves determining an institutional architecture which will safeguard IRAs from factors that may hurt the effective fulfillment of their mission, namely serving the public interest.