THE CODE OF GOOD ADMINISTRATIVE BEHAVIOUR FOR STAFF OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IN THEIR RELATIONS WITH THE PUBLIC

ĐURIĆ DŽAKIĆ Manja (Fakultet političkih nauka Univerziteta u Banjaluci), manja.djuric@fpn.unibl.org

The work of officials in the institutions of the European Union should be in accordance with its primary and secondary legislation. However, legality in work is only one aspect of officials’ behaviour. Other aspects are behaviour towards employees, parties, the media, and the public. In order to cover all components of the conduct of officials, there is the possibility of adopting a Code of Conduct. The aim of this paper is to get acquainted with the Code of Conduct for European Commission officials in their public relations. The paper starts from the hypothesis that the Code is an excellent tool for concretizing the right to good governance and raising the quality of the work of European Commission officials. The results obtained in this paper indicate that the European Commission, through the Code, sought to influence the behaviour of its officials towards parties and the media, ensure data protection, and enable the use of complaints in case of noncompliance with the provisions of the Code.

Keywords: code of conduct for EU officials, European Commission, public relations, good governance