Legislative inspiration in the Polish legislative process

The institution of legislative initiative is a key element of the legislative process, because it starts legislative works. This concept has been widely discussed in the doctrine of constitutional law and it is a reason why in this article has been paid special attention to the pre-legislative stage. An attempt was made to distinguish the concept of the legislative inspiration from the legislative initiative. Basic features of a legislative initiative have been identified on the basis of constitutional provisions. Entities and ways to inspire the relevant bodies (which are able to bring a draft of the bill to the Sejm) have been determined under the provisions of various laws.

Amendment of 2018 (article 52 §2a of the Polish Electoral Code) as a guarantee of the implementation of active voting rights by disabled people. Analysis of the outline of the legislative process and theoretical and legal aspects

 The subject of the considerations made in the article is the theoretical and legal analysis of the amendment to the Polish electoral law relating to the issue of ensuring participation of disabled people in the electoral procedure. The outline of the legislative process initiated by submitting a deputy’s bill to amend certain acts in order to increase the participation of citizens in the process of electing, functioning and controlling certain public authorities (in particular by adding § 2a to article 52 of the electoral code), normative acts in the field of electoral law, insurance law, legal doctrine views are analyzed. In the article, the author answers the question whether the amendment to art. 52 of the electoral code, consisting of adding § 2a to it, is technical or warranty? The author conducts a polemic, during which he shows that Polish electoral law adopts the legal definition of disability. In addition, it is determined what causes of disability may justify the benefit of using art. 52 § 2a of the electoral code.

Parliamentary proposals for the implementation of direct starosts and province marshals elections

Out of the executive bodies of a local self-government, only the voits (mayors, presidents of cities) are elected in direct elections, whereas on the poviat and voivodeship level, we are dealing with collective management boards, the members of which are chosen indirectly by the council of the poviat, and by the voivodeship sejmik (a regional assembly). However, this issue is not discussedparticularly frequently, in parliamentary practice there have been attempts at introducing direct elections of starosts andvoivodeship marshals, which are justified by the need of strengthening the degree of social legitimization for such offices, as well as forharmonizing the regulations which are applicable on all local government levels. The goal of this article was to proceed with a critical analysis of the projects which have been submitted within this scope, as well as to answer the question: which conditions should be met so that the introduction of a fundamental change in the starost and voivodeship martial election procedure could be assessed positively.

The government legislative process as proof of the fictitious division of powers in Poland

The article is devoted to the analysis of the government’s legislative process in the context of Poland’s political regime conditions. The purpose of this article is to draw attention to the specifics of the government’s legislative process and explain its significant drawbacks. The author tries to show that the transparency of the legislation has been disturbed and that, in this context, there is a deformation of the separation of powers. Government and parliamentary centres interpenetrate each other, and the observed functional unity of the executive and legislative authorities, which proves a secure management method, causes the prevailing legislative discourse to be illusory essentially. It does not strengthen the quality of the law being created in Poland. Unfortunately, the observation of negative phenomena after the 2015 elections confirms these trends.

Direct Effect of Applicability of the Ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal after Publishing it

The subject of this elaboration is legal effect of the ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal, that arises after it has been published. The purpose of this elaboration is to present doubts related to application of rulings of the Constitutional Tribunal, based on the art. 8 para. 2 of the Constitution due to the art. 118 and 190 of the Constitution. Pursuant to these articles, the ruling is given legal effect after its publication, not earlier. By adjudicating with regard to the provision being at variance with the Constitution, the Constitutional Tribunal actually imposes the effect on the legal system in the form of repeal of this provision. On the one hand the legal system becomes constitutional but on the other a legal loophole may arise from lack of regulations.

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.

On the Volatility of the Concept of Demographic Norm in Elections to Municipal Councils

The demographic norm is an institution of high importance from the point of view of the final election results and the detailed rules for conducting the electoral procedure. As an instrument separating majority and proportional electoral systems, it affects the procedure for submitting candidates, the structure of constituencies and the methods of mandates distribution. The aim of the study was to present and evaluate legislative projects regarding the demographic norm in 1990–2018 period. The conducted analysis leads to the conclusion that no unified concept of the demographic norm has been developed, and the cyclical changes within discussed institution are a consequence of the current interests of political parties.