CONCEPT, FEATURES AND PECULIARITIES OF THE PRINCIPLE OF TRANSPARENCY IN THE ACTIVITIES OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENTS

The article deals with the concept and features of the principle of transparency in the activities of local self-governments and reveals the content of its main features, which include such categories as publicity, transparency, openness, accessibility, and accountability. The author describes the principle of transparency in the activities of local self-governments as a fundamental property of the politics of local authorities and their officials to ensure decentralization of power, promote open and transparent governance, minimize corruption risks in decision-making, and increase the level of public trust in local authorities. Publicity is analyzed in the article as the publication of information about the activities of local self-governments, public meetings, discussion of draft decisions, reports, public expertise, public notification of a conflict of interest during participation in a meeting; transparency – as clarity of decisions and actions of local authorities, accessibility – as equality of rights to information, the right to access information and feedback, accessibility of public services and public procurement, openness and accountability – as the involvement of other subjects in the decision-making of local authorities, public control, free access to service on a competitive basis etc. The conclusions indicate that the features of the transparency principle have been widely enshrined in law. However, some provisions on the openness of meetings of permanent commissions to community representatives need to be clarified. There is also a need to systematize transparency provisions in the activities of local authorities by adopting a separate law. Key words: the principle of transparency; features of the principle of transparency; local self-governments; publicity; transparency; openness; accessibility; accountability.