European coordinators as senior policy intermediaries in the implementation of the trans-European transport network

This article aims to explore the role of intermediaries in the process of policy coordination at the EU level. It explores the case of the European Coordinators (ECs) in the EU’s Trans-European transport networks policy and its many ambitious infrastructure projects. The recently revised regulation (2024) provides a clearer political message, strengthening the role, function, and powers of ECs. This exploratory article provides a thematic analysis, problematizing their role and legitimacy in light of their ongoing institutionalization. It asks how, and to what extent, one can explain trans-European networks (TENs) policy successes and failures via the intermediation perspective. It aims to contribute to a more expansive understanding of intermediation in public policy by exploring notions of capacity, expertise, independence, and legitimacy with a focus on the informal roles of such intermediaries in transnational multistakeholder regulation and governance, and of deliberation. The article questions the role and function of former EU officials and high-level politicians as ECs, examining their mechanisms of action and interactions in stakeholder forums. It considers how we might conceive of their added value in problem solving, namely in improving policy coordination (and securing project completion), but also what the TENs case findings contribute to the theory of intermediation. The analysis finds informalism and forums, as found within experimentalist governance, to be key features of TENs policy intermediation, helping us better understand the role, capacity, and impact of ECs as negotiators and interlocutors. Incorporating these features within typologies of policy intermediation may strengthen their application and analytical power.