Interstitial Organizations and Innovation in EU Governance

Crises in EU governance have decreased established institutions‘ adaptability and capability. While swift action is required to address effects and root causes of crises, established institutional frameworks in EU governance have experienced deep performance crises and do not deliver the necessary kinds of action. One of the newer kinds of responses to this situation is the formation of interstitial organizations – organizations tapping into norms, rules, procedures and resources from various institutional fields and recombining them to form new organized patterns of governance. This includes the European External Action Service, the European Stability Mechanism as well as the newly created European Border and Coast Guard Agency. The current paper concptualizes this development and and discusses its implications for the emerging nature of EU governance. It is argued here that this development represents a move beyond both old and new intergovernmentalism bringing about innovative patterns of change through institutional rebalancing and reconfiguration.