Under strong influence of the European coherency, the member states are constantly improving public administration performance. The scientific justification of the paper has been reflected through analysis and synthesis of legally binding or non-binding /international and European principles. It focuses on international and European rules and practice promoting principles of legality, professionalism, transparency, responsibility, public service integrity. They have a strong influence on the development and implementation of the standards in national public administration systems. It is expected that harmonization of national regulations will encourage development of common practice of public officials' performance. The European Court of Human Rights doctrine and practice has developed the principle of legality (rule of law, legal certainty). The paper also emphasizes the efforts of European institutions (European Commission, Council of Europe, European Court of Human Rights) as well as other international organisations (United Nations). The paper offers the analysis and comparison of divergent tendencies in the permanent public administration reform. It elaborates convergence and symbiosis of international and European standards and their influence to national administrative systems. Particular attention has been given to comparison at cross-national level and possibilities for putting standards in practice in various national legal systems. Prevailing research methods are theoretical and normative, comparative and descriptive research methods, as well as cross-national and international comparisons with respect to case law of European institutions (European Court of Human Rights, Council of Europe).