The Concept of Constitutional Reform of the  Republic of Poland According to the Polish Solidarity Party

In May 2013 the party of the Polish Solidarity with Zbigniew Ziobro (further called „SP”) announced the project of changes in the current Constitution of the Republic of Poland from 2 April 1997 (further called „Constitution RP”). This project was presented in the form of consolidated text of the constitution which obtained the name of „New Constitution of the Republic of Poland” (further called „Project SP”). The Project SP proposes amendments or repeals of 83 articles of the Constitution RP (it makes a bit more than a third of its all articles) as well as addition of nine articles, not always completely new as for their solutions. The Project SP proposes introducing changes in the Constitution of RP covering in particular: system of legal sources, list of general rules of the system of state, forms of direct exercising power by the nation, especially introducing the presidential system of government, which mean far-reaching reforms of constitutional system of authorities. The article focuses the attention on their analysis and assesses them from the viewpoint of their democratisation, rules of legal state and contributing to rising effectiveness of activities of authorities while comparing them with regulations introduced by the Constitution of 1997. The estimate of proposals of constitutional system of RP covered by Project SP is not to be unidirectional – only approving or only critical. Some of these proposals deserve a positive mark, others arouse estimative dilemmas due to their loose ends or controversial character; finally there are those which cannot result in other than negative marks.

The latest extraparliamentary proposal regarding the draft of the constitution of the Republic of Poland – „Projekt Konstytucji Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej” announced on 11th november 2018

To commemorate the 100 th anniversary of the restoration of Poland’s sovereignty regained in 1918, the Draft Constitution of the Republic of Poland (Projekt Konstytucji Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej original spelling) was announced on 11 th November 2018 as a draft of ZPP/WEI circles (Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers and Warsaw Enterprise Institute Foundation think tank) developed under the leadership of Professor Robert Gwiazdowski. It is a comprehensive Draft of a new constitution consisting of 184 articles comprised in seventeen chapters including thirteen pages of explanatory notes. A consistent support of its authors for solutions introducing presidential system of government is a characteristic feature of the Draft. In a number of proposals, the Draft differs from regulations in the prevailing Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997. It specifically concerns the catalogue of rules of the form of government, legal status of an individual within the country and a guarantee of such status, sources of law, legislative, executive and judiciary powers, bodies outside the system of the separation of powers, territorial self-government, and public finances. Some of the material proposals of solutions related to a political regime included in the Draft deserve positive assessment. However, the majority of the same are of a controversial nature or inspire critical remarks. Thus, this Draft vis-á-vis the established Constitution cannot be considered as the better one. Still, as some of the solutions included in the same could have positive influence on more efficient and effective performance of the state mechanism, they would deserve some consideration and submission to a political discussion and ultimately such elements would be required in the Constitution should the amendment take place.

The analysis focuses on the relations between the presidential and semi-presidential system of government and the model of control of legal norms. The authors formulate question, is there a correlation between these government systems and the model of constitutional review of the law? The authors argue that there is no such dependence. They justify that the system of government is created independently of the model of law constitutional review. They justify why it is and what are the consequences for the system of government.