Temporary impossibility of performing the functions by the Polish President under the Constitution and the new Constitutional Tribunal Act

This paper discusses temporary impossibility of performing the functions by the Polish President. The Polish Constitution defines three kinds of such impossibility. First of all, there are situations when the President may inform about this impossibility, secondly – when s/he cannot do this, and thirdly – the President may be suspended because of being arraigned before the State Tribunal. Each of these situations is considered in the paper, one by one. The author refers, among others, to the grounds on which impossibility of performing the functions by the Polish President is declared and analyses in detail the provisions of the new Constitutional Tribunal Act concerning this issue. The author’s comments are accompanied by related conclusions and suggestions concerning the amendment of both the Polish Constitution and the said act.

Constitutional Status of the Speaker of the Senate

This article aims to highlight the issue of the constitutional status of the Speaker of the Senate by analyzing the constitutional position, powers as well as the election and removal procedure of the Speaker of the Senate. In addition, this paper includes a consideration of the Speaker of the Senate as a State organ, his powers related to the President of the Republic of Poland, as well as the Speaker of the Senate presiding over the proceedings of the chamber and guarding its rights and responsibility for taken actions.

The First Meeting of the Senate of the Republic of Poland

The purpose of this article is to present the constitutional and legal issues related to the first sitting of the Senate of the Republic of Poland after the elections. The author made a substantive analysis of the issue of the entity obliged to convene the first sitting, the legal form of this convocation, the date and place of the sitting, as well as the subject matter, i.e. the agenda of the sitting. A division was made into obligatory and optional points of the agenda of the meeting. The article also contains several conclusions concerning the status of the Senior Speaker. The author focuses his attention primarily on an analysis of the constitutional regulations concerning the issues raised, obviously taking into account the provisions of the rules of the chamber.