The study is devoted to the presentation of the functioning of the civic budget in Elbląg from the normative and practical perspective. The authors focus on selected legal and political science issues, i.e. the initiative to submit proposals of tasks to be financed from the civic budget, the territorial and subjective scope of submitted projects and selected aspects of how this form of public consultations works in practice. The results of the research lead to the conclusion that, despite the fact that eight editions of the civic budget have already been carried out, the city has not developed an ideal model of its functioning. The biggest problems seem to be manifested in the legislative inconsistency and the weakening interest of residents.

This article synthetically describes the functioning of participatory budgeting in Madrid. It points out both the origins of this tool of semi-direct democracy and its current form. It addresses normative, systemic, and social issues. The text also contains an evaluation of the solutions adopted in the Spanish capital.

The process of consultations with civil society is important as it contributes to a transparent legislative process and a good balance of interests in the legislative proposals. In the European Union works on the consultations with stakeholders have accelerated with the publication of the White Paper on European Governance in 2001. In Poland, we have been observing a number of initiatives concerning public consultations and dialogue with civil society in recent years, both on the side of the central administration and the non-governmental organisations. In this context, the analysis of the European consultation standards is even more important. It seems that the European experience in that area constitutes a good reference for the national solutions. This article analyses the EU standards concerning the process of consultations with interested parties. Having in mind effectiveness of EU lobbying groups as well as certain weak points of the Commission consultation process, this article seeks, in particular, to evaluate the Commission new “Stakeholder Consultation Guidelines”. The article concludes also with some reflections on how the EU standards could apply for the Polish consultation practices in the legislative works.