MUNICIPAL SERVICE INSTITUTE AT THE PRESENT STAGE: A COMPARATIVE AND LEGAL ASPECT

In the context of the local self-government system dynamic reform in Russia, the role of the municipal official is significantly increasing, the requirements not only for his professional education, skills and abilities, but also for ethics, business behavior and attitude towards service are increasing. In contradistinction from Western countries, where it is customary to consider the general institution of state service, the municipal service in the Russian Federation is clearly separated from the state civil service. In the context of the research, we analyze the approach to the regulating issues of municipal official’s ethics and professional conduct of in the European practice of young democracies. We carry out a broad analysis of the codes provisions of official’s ethics and conduct in a number of former Eastern bloc countries: Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Macedonia. We establish that the domestic and foreign approaches are very similar to each other, and the main goal of adopting the relevant codes is the desire for transparency and the eradication of the communist era foundations. We establish that the domestic and foreign approaches are very similar to each other, and the main goal of adopting the relevant codes is the desire for transparency and the eradication of the communist era foundations. At the present stage, the document requires flexibility and a transition from formal to more informal and understandable for the municipal official.