The article deals with problems of administrative (state) control over the activities of local authorities in the countries — members of the European Union. The author stresses the importance of such control for securing the proper functioning of public bodies, including those at the local level. The signifi cance of administrative control is also determined by the commitment to the principle of equality and the maintenance of certain minimum standards of services rendered to the population irrespective of the place of living. Administrative control in the final result acts as a kind of a counterweight to those fairly broad rights that have been given to local communities in democratic countries. The state control over local government acquires additional importance also in the light of the increasing integration in the countries — members of the European Union, where sub-national authorities have to implement European legislation. The author reveals the mechanisms of such control and stresses the importance of observance of common democratic principles while performing it. Otherwise the implementation of state control prerogatives may be turned into the instrument of excessive centralization of power, the means of suppression of local initiative and municipal bodies’ autonomy.