Decision-Making Transparency in Public Administration

Abstract

Nowadays, increasing citizens’ trust in the authorities that govern us is crucial for the proper functioning of the state. People who are temporarily in public office must serve the public interest. Transparency is an ethical value but also a legal concept, subject to legal rules. In its activity, the European Ombudsman has often been called upon to give an opinion on whether European citizens’ public access to documents was observed. In this context, in the present study, we aim to analyze the legal framework applicable to decision-making transparency in public administration, starting from the specificity of the public power regime governing the public sector activity, meaning that the public interest takes precedence over the private interest. From this point of view, we consider the topic to be of general interest, as it provides information not only for law specialists but also for private individuals who need to know their rights in relation to public authorities. The paper is divided into three sections: section I provides a brief introduction to the subject, section II investigates the national legislation on transparency in the public administration activity, and section III examines transparency in decision-making at European level through the case law of the European Ombudsman.