Casus of The Iron Yulia – Constitutional Accountability in Ukraine

The article presents the formal and legal scope of responsibility of the highest state officials in Ukraine as well as political practice in this regard against the background of selected political events and political experiences of the former Prime Minister of Ukraine – Yulia Tymoshenko (and her political rivals). In addition to the traditional forms of liability: constitutional, criminal or political, the article speaks about the potential criminal liability of politicians for abuse of power or wrong political decisions.

Regarding the independence of the general public prosecutor

The hereby study is an attempt to indicate the factual effects of the introduction of the Act of October 9, 2009 on the Modification of the Act on Public Prosecutor’s Office and Other Acts regarding the Division between the Function of the General Public Prosecutor and the Post of Minister of Justice. Arguments raised during the debate on the bill allowed to assume that, as an effect of the act, the General Public Prosecutor shall be granted a large deal of independence. In fact, the modifications consist in a change regarding a functional relation with the executive power, dissolving any relations with the current policy and the public prosecutor’s office due to the resignation from the subordination to the Ministry of Justice, and not separation. The issue of the new positioning of the General Public Prosecutor among the authorities, the procedure of appointing him and available mechanisms of liability, have been indicated in the study.

W ostatnich dekadach termin „dialog”, jako kategoria komunikacyjna, jest używany bardzo często; rzec można, że nadużywany. Wraz z intensyfikacją procesów migracji i upowszechnianiem się zjawiska wielokulturowości ugruntowuje się przekonanie o jego ważności i niezbędności. Owo powszechne użycie dialogu sprawia, że zatraca on swoją pojęciową ostrość i znaczeniową precyzję. Używany przez wszystkich, wszędzie i na każdą okoliczność coraz częściej staje się synonimem zwykłej rozmowy, a nawet kłótni. Uznano zatem za właściwe poszukiwanie na gruncie filozofii spotkania ram organizujących strukturę dialogu i warunków, które winny być spełnione, by zgodnie z wolą Martina Bubera mówić o dialogu autentycznym. W tekście starano się wykazać, jak istotna w dialogicznym kontakcie z Innym jest postawa etyczna, rozumiana jako źródłowy fundament porozumienia z drugim człowiekiem. Dialog jest ukazany jako forma trudna i wymagająca, a jednocześnie możliwa i konieczna.

Accountability of the Public Prosecutor’s Office – Institutional Approach

The purpose of the article is to consider the adoption of possibilities and the legitimacy of mechanisms of accountability of the prosecutor’s office as an institution, in particular by developing criteria for such an assessment that would lead to an increase in the level of efficiency of its functioning, as well as to an increase in the quality of services provided, assuming that the prosecutor’s office is perceived not only as an authority, but also as an entity providing public services. The above approach is inevitable in the era of spreading the idea of good governance, which is becoming more and more popular among the public authorities of modern, democratic countries. It can also be helpful in moving away from the dominant quantitative measurements, in favor of the prevailing qualitative approach of work results. The author analysed the dimensions of the prosecution’s responsibility at a level similar to political responsibility, characteristic for the assessment of the functioning of the legislative authority, and on the managerial level – reserved to the executive authority.

In search of an optimal model of the Council of Ministers – a hundred years of experience

Since Poland regained independence in 1918, there have been several constitutional acts in force (constitutions and the so-called “small constitutions”). Each of them contained provisions defining the scope of government activity, its structure, the mechanisms of appointing and dismissing cabinet members, as well as the principles of accountability. The paper outlines the way in which these issues have been developing over the past 100 years and to what extent the current solutions constitute the continuation of the solutions of the Constitution of 17 March 1921.

The concept of flexicurity has been a key issue in the discussions and activities of institutions of the European Union in the field of employment and social policy for about two decades. The purpose of this article is to analyze the idea of flexicurity in the context of responsibility for development of the labour market. The responsibility is mostly transferred to the state and employees, while the employers are exempt from accountability for the social costs associated with the fluctuations in the economic cycle. The article contains the analysis of the labour market flexibilisation process and its compensation with the security system, critical approach to flexicurity models and challenges associated with the implementation of this concept.

On the Need to Reform the Mechanisms of Accountability for Violations of the Rules of Ethics of Deputies

Considering the poor standards of public life, the existence and functioning of the Deputies’ Ethics Committee constitute essential elements of the Polish parliamentarism. Although not the only one, the principal task of the Deputies’ Ethics Committee is to react to the actions of deputies that violate the rules of ethics of deputies adopted in 1997. After more than 20 years of the Committee’s operation, we can identify areas where there are noticeable dysfunctions, e.g. the composition of the Committee, the mechanism of imposing penalties and their type. With the 2018 amendment to the Standing Orders of the Sejm, a new mechanism was also introduced to hold deputies accountable for actions violating ethical standards occurring during sessions of the chamber as well as on the premises under the authority of the Chancellery of the Sejm, effectively allowing us to speak of a duality of accountability.

The diversity of economic-financial instruments for environmental protection requires that they be systematized according to certain common criteria, whether they belong to the fiscal, commercial or customs field, or whether they are applied by various categories of subjects or are provided for in the content of one and the same legislative act . The present article comes with a distinct systematization, gives a consecutiveness that also ensures an efficiency in interpretation, understanding and application by the responsible environmental authorities, but also by those that carry out the control of economic activity.

Core value and related principles, qualities, attitudes as reflected in the University of Vienna Code of Ethics

This paper is an attempt to address the following research questions: What core value and its associated principles, qualities, and attitudes are reflected in the University of Vienna’s Code of Ethics? What perception of the university does this document reveal? The first part of this paper is a description of the essential historical facts pertaining to this university, its organizational structure and the formation of world elites. The second part explains the importance of the code of ethics as a means of helping to direct human conduct toward social, educational, and economic goals. The third part was focused on the main axiological quality (value), as well as the aretological (virtues/characteristics), normative (principles/norms) and behavioral qualities comprised in the content of the Code. The value marked most clearly in the Code of Ethics of the University of Vienna was responsibility. It is also a desirable attitude of university members that predisposes them to exhibit qualities such as honesty and loyalty. The principles of conduct specified in the Code included: legality, expediency, economy, openness, risk minimization, sustainable development, “face to face” communication in situations requiring confidentiality.