European legislation on public control: problems and prospects of development

Cheshin Andrei Vladimirovich ORCID: 0009-0000-7572-3076 PhD in Economics Associate Professor; Faculty of Secondary Vocational Education; Orsk Institute of Humanities and Technology (branch), Orenburg State University 462419, Russia, Orenburg region, Orsk, Mira, 15A niipgergo2009@mail.ru Other publications by this author     Goncharov Vitalii Viktorovich PhD in Law Associate Professor; Department of Civil Procedure and International Law; Kuban State University 350040, Russia, Krasnodar Territory, Krasnodar, Stavropol str., 149 niipgergo2009@mail.ru Other publications by this author     Malinovskii Oleg Nikolaevich ORCID: 0000-0001-6541-9046 PhD in Law Associate Professor; Department of Civil Procedure and International Law; Kuban State University Head of the Department; Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education 'Kuban State University' 350040, Russia, Krasnodar Territory, Krasnodar, Stavropol str., 149 niipgergo2009@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Petrenko Elena Gennad'evna PhD in Law Associate Professor of the Department of State and International Law, Kuban State Agrarian University named after I. T. Trubilin 350044, Russia, Krasnodar Territory, Krasnodar, Kalinina str., 13 niipgergo2009@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction.

The issues of international cooperation and development of subjects of public control and civil society institutions involved in the control of international and (or) national bureaucracy are widely studied in the works of E. V. Berdnikova, ^{[2, pp. 6-9]} V. V. Goncharov, ^{[4, pp. 94-99; 5, pp. 80-91]} S. Yu. Poyarkov, ^{[6, pp. 76-79]} T. D. Zavyalova, ^{[8, pp. 111-121]} O. V. Nezhenets, ^{[12, pp. 230-235]} V. M. Palchenkova, ^{[13, pp. 51-56]} E. D. Kuleshova, ^{[14, pp. 86-89]} as well as a number of other authors. In turn, the problems of the functioning of civil society control at the level of the European Union, as well as individual European countries, are analyzed in detail in the works of A. A. Markov, ^{[1, pp. 3454-3463]} A. Y. Vedekhin, ^{[3, pp. 64-72]} A. A. Borisova, ^{[7, pp. 78-91]} A. A. Kanunnikov, ^{[9, pp. 6-18]} N. V. Kravchuk, ^{[10, pp. 58-70]} E. I. Matyukhova, ^{[11, pp. 73-85]} T. L. Rovinskaya, ^{[15, pp. 24-33]} N. D. Chegodar, ^{[16, pp. 81-97]} as well as some other scientists. However, the proportion of works devoted to the analysis of modern problems that impede the functioning of the institute of public control (control of civil society institutions) over the European bureaucracy and other objects exercising certain public powers at the level of the European Union is not large, which determines the choice of the topic of this scientific research, the purpose of which is not only the formalization and study of the above-mentioned problems, but also the development (as well as justification) of a system of measures to resolve these problems (in order to strengthen the institutions of democracy in the European Union). Achieving these research goals requires the implementation of a number of scientific tasks, among which we can highlight the following: a) to analyze the current state and stages of development of European legislation containing the legal foundations of public control (control of civil society institutions) over the activities, acts and decisions of the European and national bureaucracy, as well as other objects implementing in the European and at the national level, separate public powers; b) substantiate the need for the existence and development of the institute of public control (control of civil society institutions) in the European Union at the European and national levels; c) formalize and analyze the main problems hindering the functioning of the institute of public control (control of civil society institutions) over the European bureaucracy and other objects implementing on the at the level of the European Union, separate public powers; d) to develop and justify a system of measures to resolve these problems.

Research methods and methodology.

The work uses a number of methods of scientific cognition, in particular: formal-logical; comparative-legal; historical-legal; statistical; sociological; method of analyzing specific legal situations. The empirical basis of this scientific research is the normative legal acts underlying the creation and development of the European Union (for example, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 03.09.1953, the Lisbon Treaty amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty Establishing the European Community of 13.12.2007, the Charter of the European Union on Fundamental Rights 2000 the Brussels Pact of 1948, the Paris Treaty of 1951, the Paris Agreements of 1954, the Rome Treaties of 1954, the 1954 Merger Treaty, the Single European Act of 1986, the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997, the Nice Treaty of 2001, as well as many others), practical documents from the activities of civil society institutions societies of countries that are members of the European Union, materials of the legal doctrine of civil society and public control.

The main part.

The existence and development of the global political system in recent decades is largely due to the rapidly occurring processes of globalization, which we can observe especially vividly on the example of European countries. Despite the fact that the 20th century was characterized by the fact that two world wars swept through Europe like a destructive whirlwind, a chain of revolutionary upheavals (during which Europe was divided into two irreconcilable camps of socialist and capitalist countries), as a result, the trends uniting individual European states prevailed, which resulted in the creation of the European Union, which successfully exists and to date, whose combined GDP is ahead of similar indicators of the United States and China.

The creation and development of the European Union is based on a huge array of normative legal acts, court decisions, international and interstate treaties. With regard to the topic of our scientific research, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 09/03/1953, the Lisbon Treaty amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty Establishing the European Community of 12/13/2007, the Charter of the European Union on Fundamental Rights of 2000, the Brussels Pact of 1948, the Treaty of Paris are of great interest 1951, the Paris Agreements of 1954, the Rome Treaties of 1954, the 1954 Merger Agreement, the Single European Act of 1986, the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997, the Nice Treaty of 2001, as well as many other treaties and conventions, which step by step created a regulatory framework that ensures a free state and the development of civil society (both in individual national States and within the European Community).

Conditionally, European legislation on civil society and on its participation in the processes of control over the European bureaucracy and other objects endowed by this bureaucracy and European legislation with the right to exercise certain public powers can be divided into a number of stages.

Firstly, the 1947-1953 stage, which took place in difficult conditions of overcoming the post-war devastation, rebuilding cities, industrial facilities, and socio-cultural infrastructure. The countries of Europe (the capitalist camp) tried to oppose the institutions of democracy, human rights and freedoms to the "totalitarian" USSR and the CMEA, in which an important emphasis was placed on civil society, its participation in the procedures for the formation of authorities and control over them.

European countries made attempts to unite in new forms, which made it possible to minimize costs in the production and circulation of goods, works and services, increasing the standard of living of the population of these countries.

The crowning achievement of these efforts, in our opinion, was the adoption of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 09/03/1953, article 11 of which enshrined the right to freedom of assembly and association, including the right to form trade unions, subject to certain restrictions that "comply with the law" and "are necessary in a democratic society."

Secondly, the stage (1953-2000) was characterized by the adoption of a huge number of conventions, treaties, agreements, charters aimed at forming common approaches to the standards of democracy in Europe. The crowning achievement of this stage was the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in 2000, which united and declared all the values and fundamental human rights (economic and social, as well as civil and political) that the member States of the newly created European Union are obliged to observe.

The Charter was adopted in 2000, but became binding 9 years later (with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, which we mentioned earlier). In relation to the problems of public control (control of civil society institutions over the European and national bureaucracy and other objects endowed with public powers) The Charter confirmed, on the one hand, the validity of previously adopted European documents in this area (the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), social charters adopted by the Union and the Council of Europe, as well as the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). On the other hand, the Charter assigned civil society institutions (for example, in Articles 11, 12, 42, etc.) a number of rights and powers (in particular, to receive information, to access documents of the European Union), the Charter highlighted the main forms of civil society institutions. An analysis of its text shows that the right to exercise control over civil society was assigned to both individual citizens of the European Union and their associations (for example, trade union organizations, political parties, and other legal entities that had registered offices in the territory of the European Union).

Thirdly, the stage of development of civil society institutions and its control over the European and national bureaucracy (2001-2024). This stage is currently underway (having begun with the formalization of the European Union as a more or less stable structure with a system of bureaucratic institutions, its own currency, etc. attributes).

The key document in the context of our research at this stage is the Lisbon Treaty on Amendments to the Treaty on the European Union and the Treaty Establishing the European Community of 12/13/2007. It confirms 3 fundamental principles: democratic equality; representative democracy; participatory democracy. At the same time, democratic equality means that all subjects of civil society have equal political status (article 9 of the Treaty). The representative nature of democracy suggests that the European bureaucracy is also represented by parliamentary bodies formed directly by the population of the European Union. The democracy of participation, in turn, consists in the fact that citizens of the European Union have the right to participate in the work of any bureaucratic bodies of the European Union, whose activities for them should be as transparent, open and friendly as possible.

In our opinion, the control of civil society is extremely important for the European Union.

On the one hand, this will allow monitoring the activities, acts and decisions of the European bureaucracy and other previously mentioned facilities from any far corner of Europe.

On the other hand, it will increase the level of responsibility of European officials.

In addition, this institution compensates for the not entirely democratic nature of the formation of the majority of the governing bodies of the European Union.

However, the organization and functioning of the institute of public control (civil society control) in the European Union are fraught with many problems, among which the following can be distinguished:

Firstly, a serious problem in the European Union (despite the fact that the Lisbon Treaty was adopted, formally close to the level of the Constitution) is the fact that there is currently no current Constitution in the European Union. Although it was developed, some countries ratified it, but it did not enter into final force. The solution to the problem is seen in the fact that the European Union needs a Constitution, it will give it a new breath. At the same time, civil society should be enshrined in the Constitution of the European Union in a separate chapter (with the right to control its activities, acts and decisions of the European and national bureaucracy, as well as other objects endowed with public powers).

Secondly, a significant problem is that the European Union still does not have a separate Convention on Civil Society (with a detailed right of civil society institutions to monitor the activities, acts and decisions of the European and national bureaucracy, as well as other objects endowed with public powers). The solution to this problem is seen in the adoption of the specified normative legal act.

Thirdly, a major problem lies in the fact that in the field of control of institutions of European civil society over the activities, acts and decisions of the European and national bureaucracy, as well as other objects endowed with public powers, the scientific and legal doctrine in the European Union is poorly developed. The solution to this problem is seen in the instruction to the European Parliament to organize scientific and practical research in this area, for example, in terms of developing forms, methods, principles, types of measures of this control, highlighting the system of its subjects and objects, etc.

Fourth, a significant problem is that there are no specialized civil society actors (public control) in the European Union. We see the solution to the problem in stimulating the creation and work of appropriate associations and unions of subjects of public control (subjects of civil society).

Fifthly, a certain problem is the fact that the legislation of the European Union does not contain special norms on criminal liability of officials of the European bureaucracy for countering the legitimate activities of subjects of civil society (public control). The solution to the problem is seen in the adoption of the relevant European Convention.

Sixth, a significant problem also lies in the fact that civil society actors in Europe have weak control powers. This circumstance requires a revision in the direction of giving them a set of real control powers over officials of European authorities.

Conclusion.

In the course of our research, we have made a number of conclusions, among which the following can be identified as key:

1. The legal foundations of civil society and the possibility of its participation in the control of the apparatus of public power were enshrined in a number of normative legal acts underlying the creation and development of the European Union (in particular, in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 03.09.1953, the Lisbon Treaty amending the Treaty on European The European Union and the Treaty Establishing the European Community of 12/13/2007, the Charter of the European Union on Fundamental Rights of 2000, the Brussels Pact of 1948, the Paris Treaty of 1951, the Paris Agreements of 1954, the Rome Treaties of 1954, the 1954 Merger Treaty, the Single European Act of 1986, the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997, The Nice Treaty of 2001, as well as many others), most of which are currently not in force or are not applied, but they reflect the main stages of the development of European legislation containing the legal foundations of public control (control of civil society institutions) over the activities, acts and decisions of the European and national bureaucracy, as well as other objects implementing separate public powers at the European and national levels.

At the same time, as the main historical stages of the consolidation and development of European legislation affecting the problems of civil society and the possibility of its control over the activities, acts and decisions of the European and national bureaucracy, as well as other objects exercising certain public powers at the European and national level, we can highlight: a) the post-war stage of 1947-1953, which was characterized by the consolidation of the main European states in building a single union based on a system of democratic principles (as opposed to the "totalitarian" USSR and the countries of the socialist camp in Europe); b) the stage of formation of unified approaches to the standards of democracy in Europe (1953-2000), when, on the one hand, the unification of national legislations of European countries, the fight against the Soviet threat, which ended with the destruction of the USSR and the countries of the socialist camp (at this stage, common standards of "transparency" and "participation" of civil society were proposed both at the pan-European level and at the level of individual states of the European Union); c) the stage of development of civil society institutions and his control over the European and national bureaucracy (2001-2024).

2. The institution of public control (control of civil society institutions) in the European Union at the European and national levels is of great importance for a number of reasons: a) it allows you to control the European international bureaucracy, in relation to the vast majority of officials of which there are no effective control mechanisms on the part of the population of the European Union (for example, institutions for the recall of these officials from office); b) this institution allows you to request any information about the activities of European authorities from any farthest corners of the European Union (this is it is especially relevant for the so-called new members of the organization, who were previously part of the COMECON and the USSR); c) this institution allows you to control not only European international governmental, but also non-governmental organizations; d) this institution allows you to combine forms of control of civil society with elements of participation of civil society institutions in various democratic procedures of democracy at the European level; e) subjects of civil control in the European Union, who have the right to establish European associations of civil society entities, can accumulate, generalize and universalize the requirements for transparency of the European bureaucracy and the possibility of participation in its procedures of individual civil society entities through their associative forms.

3. However, the organization and functioning of the institute of public control (control of civil society institutions) over the European bureaucracy and other entities exercising certain public powers at the level of the European Union is hampered by a number of problems, among which, in particular, the lack of: a) at the level of the European Union, a single codified act of the constitutional level; b) fixing in European legislation a direct indication of the right of institutions (subjects) of civil society to exercise control over the European bureaucracy and public authorities of national states that are members of the European Union, as well as other objects exercising certain public powers on the territory of the European Union (for example, by European non-governmental organizations); c) in the legal doctrine of civil society and its control, comprehensive studies devoted to the analysis of the forms, methods, principles, types and forms of measures of the above-mentioned control of civil society institutions; d) civil society entities have a set of real powers to control the European bureaucracy; e) consolidation of the system in European legislation measures of criminal liability of officials of the European bureaucracy for ignoring the requirements of civil society institutions or obstructing their legitimate activities; f) specialized subjects of the above-mentioned control of civil society.

4. The resolution of these problems will require the development and implementation of a system of measures, among which the following can be distinguished: a) acceptance and ratification (approval) The Constitution of the European Union, which will give a new breath to this international governmental organization; b) the development and adoption of a separate European Union Convention on the consolidation of the legal foundations of public control (control of civil society institutions) in the European Union; c) conducting scientific and practical work under the auspices of the European Parliament aimed at developing forms, methods, principles, types and forms of measures of the above-mentioned control of civil society institutions in the European Union (with their subsequent consolidation in European and national legislation); e) consolidation in the legislation of the European Union of the possibility and necessity of creating European associations and unions of public control (control of civil society institutions) with the stimulation of these processes from the budget of the European Union (these subjects of civil society will act as specialized subjects of the above-mentioned control of civil society); f) consolidation in the legislation of the European Union and the legislation of its member countries, a set of real powers for the above-mentioned subjects of civil society (their associations and unions), as well as a system of criminal the responsibility of officials of the European bureaucracy for ignoring the requirements of civil society institutions or obstructing their legitimate activities.