Original scientific paper
SUPERVISION OF THE ACTIVITIES OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES; INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FOUNDATIONS AND COMPARATIVE LAW REVIEW
Ivan Šprajc
; Faculty of Law, Universtiy of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The question of the organization of local self-government is undoubtedly
one of the fundamental issues in the organization of government as well as the legal system as a whole, in creating this part of their legislation, most European countries are obliged to respect their international legal obligations deriving from the European Charter of Local Self-Government. With regard to the supervision of local authorities, the ‘European minimum” includes the implementation of the principle of legality in regulating local self-government, but also the exercise of legality in supervising local authorities, with the restriction of the supervision of expediency. In addition, local authorities are entitled to dispose of the means of effective legal protection in order to protect their rights as well as fundamental principles of local self-government.
The reviver of comparative legal systems, which includes the systems of countries in democratic transition, but also the countries of developed democracy - has been made according to four criteria of control mechanisms: the criterion of the scope of control, the criterion of the controlling authority, the criterion of initiating control mechanisms, the criterion of the type of legal protection of local authorities. The analysis has shown that in the recent European legislation unconditional validity of local acts is presupposed and tendencies towards selective supervision which includes only the most important acts made by local authorities have been noted. Supervision is not only carried out by central government bodies, but also courts - sometimes as the only controlling authority - but more and more frequently and in different areas of operation - by special bodies such as ombudsmen, specialized organizations, and similar ones. Simultaneously, the relation between central and local government is taking shape, so that there are more and more instances of cooperation, assistance and even advance notices which precede formal supervision.
Keywords
supervision; local self-government; legality, local authorities
Hrčak ID:
197734
URI
Publication date:
8.9.2000.
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