Parlamentarna kontrola budżetu w świetle ewolucji prawa budżetowego II Rzeczypospolitej

• Authors: Paweł Grata

Title variants

EN

PARLIAMENTARY CONTROL OF THE BUDGET IN THE LIGHT OF THE EVOLUTION OF BUDGETARY LAW IN THE SECOND REPUBLIC OF POLAND

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Parliament's right to adopt the state budget and to control its implementation was included in all legislative acts on which the system of government of the reborn Poland was based. ***But it is hard to say that all those guarantees were observed in practice. This argument is justified both in relation to Poland under the rule of the democratic Constitution of March 1921, and the Constitution of April 1935 which originally departed from the principle of separation of powers. Despite various reasons and extent of the problem, its essence remained deeply embedded in the existing economic and political conditions. Certainly there was no real control of the legislative power over taxation during the first years of independence, when parliament did not adopt the budgets understood as a predefined plan of income and expenditure for the statel. The situation in this respect was slightly better during the stabilization reform of the Prime Minister Wladyslaw Grabski, but in this case the powers of parliament were visibly reduced by extensive powers of the Minister of Treasury resulting from consecutive tax laws. The autonomy of parliament in creating the state budget was reduced again by the August 1926 Amendment and the practice of budgetary law-making in the period of its duration. Even if the April Constitution, adoptedand in controversial circumstances, contained provisions on the parliamentary budget control, it clearly declared superiority of the government in matters relating to state finances. The trend of changes in Polish budgetary law and fiscal practices throughout the interwar period, combined with the continuing lack of comprehensive regulation of the principles of budgetary law, influenced negatively on a full implementation of the constitutionally guaranteed of budgetary control by parliament. Although it was formally implemented, it should be stressed that in most of the period the law was not fully realized. This observation relates to the period of Sanation and at least the first few years of an independent Polish state.

Keywords

EN

Parliamentary Control of the Budget; Evolution of Budgetary Law

• Publisher: Kancelaria Sejmu / Chancellery of the Sejm
• Journal: Przegląd Sejmowy
• Year: 2012
• Issue: 4(111)
• Pages: 143-164

Contributors

author

Paweł Grata

• University of Rzeszów