Foreign policy of the Republic of Poland. Considerations in the context of the March constitution and the constitution of 1997

The aim of the study is to analyze the constitutional solutions concerning the conduct of foreign policy by the Republic of Poland. The areas of consideration will include solutions that functioned under the rule of the March constitution, as well as solutions that were enshrined in the binding constitution of 1997. The analysis of the current solutions will also include issues related to European policy. The aim of the article is to present and compare the solutions contained in the March constitution and the constitution of 1997. The solutions functioning under each of the analyzed constitutions assume the primacy of one of the executive authorities in the field of conducting the state’s foreign policy. The analysis of individual solutions in this respect leads to the conclusion that the burden of conducting foreign policy by the president under the March constitution was transferred under the 1997 constitution to the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister.

Act of March 11, 2022. on defense of the Homeland is a classic example of an “executive act” for the constitutional regulation of issues related to state security, including military security. The Homeland Defence Act contains the so far missing specification of the normative solutions contained in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of April 2, 1997. They concern in particular the development of regulations concerning the following constitutional issues: the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland, the duty of a Polish citizen to defend the Homeland, the President of the Republic as the supreme commander of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland and the Council of Ministers as the body that ensures the external security of the state and exercises general management in the field of national defense. The main goal of the legislator is to replace the archaic and incompatible with the current needs and tasks of the Polish state and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland regulations contained in the Act of November 21, 1967. on the general duty to defend the Republic of Poland.