Responsibility of Members of the Federal Government in Belgium

The article is devoted to the responsibility of members of the Federal Government in Belgium. The main part of the study concerns the mechanisms of political responsibility. They include individual responsibility of ministers and collective responsibility of the cabinet. According to the original version of the Belgian Constitution of 1831 ministers were responsible to the king. Currently, the House of Representatives is authorized to enforce the individual responsibility of the minister by passing a vote of no confidence. In such situation the king is obliged to dismiss the minister. The entire cabinet may be the addressee of the motion of no confidence, too (collective responsibility). Since 1993 there has been the possibility of overthrowing the government through a constructive vote of no confidence. The article also discusses the problem of legal responsibility of ministers.

System of Government of the Republic of Poland in the light  of the proposals of its changes

System of government of the Republic of Poland, based upon the Constitution of 2 April 1997, is considered as an appropriate. It created a base for the stable governments and alternation of power without conflicts. Since its introduction, not major government’s crisis was noted. Some tensions between President and the Premier Minister has occurred, however, during a cohabitation between President Lech Kaczyński and Premier Minister Donald Tusk (1997–2000). Controversies in the question of representation of the Republic of Poland in the European Council has been solved by the Constitutional Tribunal. It occurred however a problem, whether level of 3/5 to override presidential veto is not too high in situation, when President has backed an opposition and make impossible to fulfill the fundamental reforms introduced by the Committee of Ministers. The death of President Kaczyński make this controversies un-actual. When occasion of changes of Constitution may occurred, this problem should be analyzed in the context of rationalization of those regulation.

The legislative initiative of the Government as an instrument  of legislative planning in the Russian Federation

The analysis is focused on the issues of governmental legislative initiative as an instrument of legislation planning in the Russian Federation. The author makes a thesis that it is the Government who – due to its legal position and competencies – should be the authority developing legislative changes aimed at building effective state policies. And legislative forecasting, planning and programming of the Government of the Russian Federation should have the features of the state’s legislative forecasting and planning. The paper shows and explains how and in which period the planning and programming of Government legislation are implemented. It also describes conditions that must be met so they become effective.

The institution of the Government of the Republic of Serbia  in the system of authority

Politics of Serbia are limited to the rules of a modern parliamentary representative democratic republic. In this system, the Prime Minister of Serbia is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Na- tional Assembly of Serbia. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The Government of Serbia (Vlada Srbije) is the main element of the executive branch of government in Serbia. It is led by the Prime Minister (Predsednik Vlade), commonly abbreviated to premier (premijer). The Prime Minister is chosen by the National Assembly on the proposal of the President who names the designate Prime Minister after talks with all parliamentary leaders. Ministers are nominated by the Prime Minister and confirmed by the Parliament.

Features of the Spanish political regime

The Spanish political regime can be defined as a system of parliamentary government. The most characteristic features of it are: the dualism of executive, the neutral position of the head of state and the political responsibility of the government before the parliament. Besides, accepted legal solutions allow for the high effectiveness of the governmental action. The specification of the Spanish political stage, formed after 1978, allow to get closer to the model of the parliamentary government (in the case of existence of the majority government) or to the model of parliamentary committee (in the case of the minority government). Thus, the main aim of this article is to present some key features of the Spanish political regime.

The countersignature as a determinant of the system of government

The task undertaken by the Author of the article is to demonstrate that the countersignature is such a significant element of the system of government established in a given state that the existence or lack of the countersignature, as well as the method of incorporating it into the procedure of a given model of government, determines which particular system or which of its modifications had been accepted on the grounds of a given constitution. In the article it has been also proved that the constitutional principles have only general influence on the regulation of the countersignature. Many of them are necessary for the countersignature to function, however their establishment in the constitutional law do not determine the existence of the countersignature. The most important factors that decide whether this institution exist are components of the system of government, such as the dualism of the executive power and the assumption of lack of political responsibility of the head of the state. These features occur together within the parliamentary system. In order to prove the aforementioned thesis, a typology of the systems of government has been presented, then – after indicating the systems in which the countersignature does not exist and presenting the reasons of such situation – the countersignature and the form in which it has been adopted, in regard to the degree of the modification of the system, has been systematized.

Functioning of the constitutional system of III Republic of Poland  during the period of cohabitation (2007–2010)

The aim of this article was to indicate how far the constellation of political forces in 2007–2010 was affecting the constitutional mechanism of power. At that time we had to be dealing with the second cohabitation under the rule of the constitution of 1997. By contrary to the former experiences, this cohabitation was running out very intensively, especially as for conflicts in government–president relationships. That was a period of merciless political fight and far going disputes over many ticklish issues. It all has proved that by the time of cohabitation polish president is able to participate effectively in ruling the country. In the first part of the article the author focuses on phenomenon of cohabitation in France. There are remarks referring to the legal and political conditions of this mechanism as well. On the other hand these deliberations show us the differences between Polish and French model of cohabitation. The most important part of this article contains the analysis of political praxis in 2007–2010. The author researches so called „fields of cohabitation”, which were a source of real conflicts between both organs of executive power.

A few questions concerning the discharge

The institution of discharge is one of numerous instruments available to the Sejm in order to exercise the control function regarding the activities of the Council of Ministers. It is an institution with historic lineage, whose origins are closely connected with the formation of the parliamentary system on the Polish soil. The importance of the discharge and the control process associated with it is noticeable in its regularity, repeatability, but also in that it enables detection of irregularities. Conclusions drawn from this fact may lead to the elimination of such irregularities in the future budget legislation. However, the analysis of solutions devoted to the institution of discharge conducted in the normative plane and by means of the parliamentary practice assessment indicates deficiencies and the encumbrance of this institution, such as the excessive politicization of control procedures, as well as lack of clear consequences arising from resolution through which the Sejm can refuse to grant the Council of Ministers the discharge.

Original solutions of government systems on the example of the Vietnam

System of political Democratic Republic of Vietnam (official name state) from 1946 year after world war is in result of imposing from under French occupation on it two factor begin forming – liberation and conquests of authorities by communist group. It model on regulations in constitutional solutions from other states of people’s democracies dating. Year was turning point in history of Vietnamese state systems 1976, which has been set reunification of Vietnam. New state has accepted modified solutions of hitherto existing constitutions only – Socialist Republic of Vietnam easily. Authoritarian character of state belongs to have in mind functioning political system analyzing and in state apparatus of Communist Party of Vietnam predominating role.

The Constitutional regulations placing a minister in projects of  Constitution of the Republic of Poland introduced to  Constitutional Commission of National Assembly

The first stage of work over the Constitution of the Republic of Poland passed on 2 April, 1997, was introducing the Constitution Projects according to procedure regulated in Constitution-Preparing Law of 1992. In result, there were 8 Constitional Projects, introduced by the President of the Republic of Poland, members of National Assembly and group of citizens. In those projects were many proposals of legal regulations concerning the government and the model of executive power. However the legal regulations included in those projects concerning appointing of ministers, their competences and form of individual ministerial responsibility as well as cabinet collective responsibility were similar. Most of the regulations concerning ministers included in those projects were not different from the rules of the Small Constitution of 1992, although some changes were introduced. The main issues were the way of government work and the way to determine the competences of ministers. Those projects were used in further works of Constitutional Commission and were the foundation for the process of forming the final Constitution regulations placing the minister in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland passed on 2 April, 1997.

The Urgent Procedure in Theory and Practice of the Legislative Process under the Rules of the Constitution of 2nd April 1997

Legislative procedure for urgent bills constitutes a crucial prescriptive instrument that is useful to a government in parliamentary system to influence the course of legislative process. In Poland the urgent procedure was introduced by virtue of provisions of the Small Constitution 1992, as a factor that serves to prevent the lengthiness of parliamentary procedures and obstructive actions of parliamentary opposition towards government legislation program. On the basis of decisions taken by the Constitution adopted on 2nd April 1997 and as in the previous legal situation, The Council of Ministers has the exclusive right to initiate legislative proceeding as a matter of urgency. In accordance with the 123rd article, para 1 of the Constitution, urgency clause cannot be applied against tax bills, bills governing elections, draft laws regulating systems and competence of public authorities and drafts of law codes. What is more, on the basis of separate articles, budget bills are excluded from using the urgency process. The basic drawback of the urgency process in Polish political solutions is the lack of constitutional deadlines that would indicate the pace of Sejm activities concerning the urgency clause. In such a situation, the actual pace of investigation of urgent bills in the Sejm depends on the lower house’s will and its bodies. As a result, in practice of Polish parliamentary law, the urgency process is rarely applied by the Council of Ministers, particulary when the government has stable support of Sejm’s majority at its disposal. In such a case, the government may stimulate the pace of parliamentary activities concerning its bills with the use of political pressures nad with no need of using the urgency process.

Prime Minister in contemporary political systems

Accepting the separation of powers as a basis for existence of contemporary countries caused the distinction of the executive power. This article, devoted to the executive, presents in detail the model solutions of that power (monocratic; dualistic together with its branches; departmental and directorial). Most of the article is devoted to the position of the Prime Minister in contemporary political model.

The Institutional Sources of Cabinet Duration in Central and Eastern Europe

The article is devoted to the analysis of sources of durability of cabinet in selected countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The author focused on those factors that in the transforming states of the region cause the cabinet to remain in office and stable governance. A few interesting aspects were chosen to illustrate the problem of minority government in these countries. The main thesis is that governments in the transforming Central and Eastern Europe with the support of a parliamentary majority last longer than minority cabinets, and this is mainly influenced by the concentration of political power rather than by dispersion.

Roman Franciszek Rybarski (1887-1942) należał do wybitnych teoretyków i działaczy Narodowej Demokracji. Pozostawił szereg prac z zakresu ekonomii, prawa i polityki. Wśród tych ostatnich szczególne miejsce zajmują Naród, jednostka i klasa oraz Siła i prawo. Był prezesem Klubu Narodowego w Sejmie w latach 1928-1935 oraz przywódcą frakcji liberalnej zwanej grupą „starych” lub „profesorską” w Stronnictwie Narodowym. W artykule przedstawiono jego poglądy dotyczące problematyki ustrojowej. W pierwszym okresie istnienia niepodległej Rzeczypospolitej do 1922 r. Rybarski zdecydowanie opowiada się za ustrojem demokracji parlamentarnej i ideą państwa narodowego. Wybory 1922 r. i porażka w Zgromadzeniu Narodowym przy wyborze prezydenta Gabriela Narutowicza oraz tragiczne skutki jego śmierci powodują, że Rybarski, jak i inni działacze endeccy, dostrzegają że do niedawna tak bliski im parlamentaryzm staje się zgubny dla Polski. Rozpoczyna się jego krytyka, Rybarski podkreślał, że konstytucja doprowadza do krańcowości i absurdu zasadę rządów parlamentarnych. Niezadowolenie przeniosło się na wszystkie klasy i warstwy. Domagano się zmian, które stawały się koniecznością chwili.

The presidential election campaign in Poland in 2020 was unique due to the epidemic caused by SARS-CoV-2. A high level of attendance during the presidential election, influenced by the pro-turnout initiatives, was achieved. The article analyzes selected activities aimed at achieving a high level of attendance, the beneficiaries of which were local governments.

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.

Shortening the term of the Polish Sejm in 2007

The purpose of this paper was to analyze the regulations contained in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2 April 1997 (The Constitution of the Republic of Poland) concerning the shortening of the term of parliament. The paper discusses the political reasons for which such a decision was made during the 5th term of the Polish Sejm (2005–2007) and the effects it had on the Polish political scene in later years.

Privileging of Government Draft Laws in the Spanish Legislative Process

In the article the author identifies the normative arguments as well as the arguments from the constitutional practice justifying the axiom contained in Article 89 of the Spanish Constitution that government draft laws are privileged at the stage of exercising the legislative initiative by constitutionally authorised entities. This allows us to conclude that the thesis of privileging government draft laws finds support in other constitutional provisions and in the provisions of the standing orders of both parliamentary chambers at the stage of initiating legislative proceedings, which allows the Government to have a real influence on the scope of the legislative matter considered by the Cortes Generales.