S u m m a r y

The article aims to present the classifications of decentralised agencies of the European Union. As a basis for classifications the Author used temporal, instrumental, structural as well as functional approach. The analysis in this paper clearly shows, that some of the classification of the EU agencies (eg. instrumental classification), show that the EU agencies very often defy attempts to classify them. For this reason, the Author notes, that despite their value for better understanding and bringing structure and insight into the functioning of EU agencies, all their classifications should be treated with some caution.

Key words: European Union, agencies of the European Union