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.

Wojciech Bogumił Jastrzębowski’s draft of a Constitution for Europe is a vision of an ideal European social order, whose foundation is to be found, inter alia, in the citizen’s universal right to freedom and independence, to diversity and individual identity, as well as the right to live in peace. It is thus highly apparent that a number of parallels exist between the alliance of nations postulated by Jastrzębowski and later forms of integration existing and still being developed in contemporary Europe. The aim of this article is to analyse and characterize the existing similarities, and also the most significant differences, between the monarchist vision of the European alliance of nations, as presented by the author of the Constitution for Europe, and the contemporary realisation of the idea of the unity of the continent.