The Council of Europe, founded in 1949, is one of the most important international organizations. In its axiology it emphasises democracy, rule of law and protection of human rights. Its “pearl in the crown” is the European Convention on Human Rights. Until 1989 the Council of Europe was a “democratic club of Western European democratic countries.” Since political breakthrough in 1989 the Council has been open to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. This changed the face of the “elite club”, carrying the risk of lowering standards. At the same time it also opened new ways for action for the Council of Europe, which highly determines contemporary sense of the organization. Central and Eastern European countries which were striving for the membership had to meet the threshold requirements, including a form of free elections and the willingness to sign and ratify the European Convention on Human Rights (in the phase of the accession procedure), and also to make substantial modifications to the political system after becoming the Council of Europe member (controlled under a monitoring procedure). They concerned the legislative, executive and judiciary authorities as well as the local government. The main constitutional solutions were consulted with the Venice Commission which acts within the structure of the Council of Europe and brings together the leading experts on constitutional issues. The Council of Europe also gave assistance to tchem in democratic know how. Sustainability of a monitoring procedure in respect to some countries (including Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) indicates that the completion of the Council of Europe standards requires not only political will, changes in political culture and legal societies, determination in the implementation of political reforms but also significant financial resources. One of the reasons of meeting the requirements was paving the way for these countries to membership in the European Union. Today the political dimension of opening the Council of Europe to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe is associated with the prominence of the fact that the process of European integration is not to be restricted to the framework of the European Union and not to build a new “fortress” on the River Bug. Therefore, countries of that region, especially outside the EU have an interest in the Council of Europe prestige not to weaken, and that participation in it will bring hope in further deepening of European integration.
The author discusses the important issue of the supreme command of the armed forces vested in the President of the Republic of Poland, as established by the Polish Constitution. General principles of the civil and democratic control over the armed forces are presented, the command classification, including the presidential system (the United States), the semi-presidential system (the French Republic) and the rationalized parliamentary-cabinet system (the Republic of Italy), as well as history thereof. The key element is the presentation of the President’s command of the armed forces as of the Polish Constitution and the detailed analysis of the President’s competences. Importantly, the systemic practice is also presented, referring to the period when the offi ce of the President was exercised by Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Lech Kaczyński, Bronisław Komorowski and Andrzej Duda. The author also refl ects on the relevant events from Lech Wałęsa’s presidency. A critical opinion on the legal system in this sphere and important de lege ferenda conclusions are presented — these shall be addressed not only to scientists, but most of all to representatives of state authorities.
The reviewed book concerns important issues related to the international activity of parliamentarians. The authors show the theoretical aspects of the activities of international parliaments and other international parliamentary institutions. They focused in particular on the importance of this activity for ensuring strategic legitimacy. They argue that international organizations establish international parliamentary institutions to legitimate themselves by creating the appearance of democratic governance. In addition to theoretical lectures, case studies were presented, showing parliamentary dimension of the individual international organizations (including e.g. the European Union, OSCE, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Andean Community, the East African Community and Mercosur). The work makes a significant contribution to getting to know the specifics of international parliamentary organizations and showing the conditions for undertaking parliamentary diplomacy.
The author provides an analyses of social perception of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of the 2nd April 1997. This Constitution was prepared by the National Assembly based upon the results of 1993 parliamentary elections in which almost 35% of the rightist electorate did not achieve parliamentary representation because several parties did not reach a 5-percent threshold. Some political circles have questioned the moral right of that Assembly to prepare the constitution. Several initiatives has been offered to minimize that effect (e.g. opening the way to the citizen’s draft of the constitution, inviting extra-parliamentary opposition groups to join the constitutional discussions). In the text of the Constitution several proposals of the Catholic Church were accepted. Finally, however, the Constitution has represented the will of the constitutional coalition (Democratic Left Alliance, Polish People’s Party, Labor Union, Freedom Union) and national consensus has not been achieved. The Constitution was approved in the referendum (by 53.45%), showing a division in the Polish society on attitudes toward it. Social support for the Constitution was gradually diminishing since parties of the constitutional coalition lost their political position or even disappeared from parliamentary political scene. Calls for a change in the Constitution, especially after Law and Justice victory in 2005 and 2015, have refl ected the change in the social perception of the Constitution.
System rządów w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, ukształtowany przez Konstytucję Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z 2 kwietnia 1997 r., uważany jest za właściwy. Stworzył podstawę do stabilnych rządów i bezkonfliktowej alternacji władzy. Od czasu jego obowiązania nie odnotowano znaczących kryzysów rządowych. Pewne napięcia pomiędzy prezydentem a premierem odnotowane zostały jednak w okresie koabitacji prezydenta Lecha Kaczyńskiego i premiera Donalda Tuska (1997-2000). Spór kompetencyjny w kwestii reprezentacji RP na forum Rady Europejskiej został rozstrzygnięty przez Trybunał Konstytucyjny. Powstał natomiast problem, czy próg odrzucenia weta prezydenta (3/5) nie jest zbyt wysoki w sytuacji, gdy prezydent popiera opozycję i uniemożliwia rządowi przeprowadzenie fundamentalnych reform. Śmierć prezydenta Kaczyńskiego zamknęła okres koabitacji i uczyniła spór nieaktualnym. Przy ewentualnych zmianach konstytucji powstanie jednak okazja, by przemyśleć tę kwestię w kontekście racjonalności przyjętych tu rozwiązań.
EN
System of government of the Republic of Poland, based upon the Constitution of 2 April 1997, is considered as an appropriate. It created a base for the stable governments and alternation of power without conflicts. Since its introduction, not major government’s crisis was noted. Some tensions between President and the Premier Minister has occurred, however, during a cohabitation between President Lech Kaczyński and Premier Minister Donald Tusk (1997–2000). Controversies in the question of representation of the Republic of Poland in the European Council has been solved by the Constitutional Tribunal. It occurred however a problem, whether level of 3/5 to override presidential veto is not too high in situation, when President has backed an opposition and make impossible to fulfill the fundamental reforms introduced by the Committee of Ministers. The death of President Kaczyński make this controversies un-actual. When occasion of changes of Constitution may occurred, this problem should be analyzed in the context of rationalization of those regulation.
The author analyses the dynamics of the Polish party system in the light of the outcomes of the parliamentary elections in the Third Republic of Poland (since 1989). He exposes especially the last element of that evolution – the 2015 parliamentary election. It resulted in the victory of Law and Justice (PiS) party. For the first time in the history of democratic Poland, the victor was able to create a government without having to negotiate with coalition partners. The success of PiS seems to be a result of the combination of several factors. It would be mistaken to portray an emerging situation as a simple rightist win. PiS to some extent represents a social attitude, typical for the socialist (social-democratic) parties, with some part of the program including a populist message, but with the combination of a conservative approach to several issues and nationalistic stand on a perception of patriotic mood. The important meaning has a support of PiS by the Catholic Church, especially at the grass-roots level. The victory of PiS and forming of the majority government have an important meaning for the functioning of the political parties’ system in Poland. For the first time since 1989, there were not balancing of power situation which the coalition governments have brought about. The political parties, creating the opposition in parliament, must offer a new strategy of behaviour in such circumstances, especially dealing with challenging the PiS policy to compromise a democratic system based on the 1997 Constitution, e.g. division of power, position of the Constitutional Tribunal and functioning of the judiciary.
The entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon is a good occasion to examine the development trends in the European Union. The document takes a more pragmatic approach and is a rather technical improvement of the primary law of the EU. Under the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon, EU is actually an international organization with a more effective type of leadership. The decision-making system is improved and simplified. This may help Europe to become a powerful actor in international relations and to more effectively solve the problems of development of the European continent. A crucial solution concerns providing a binding legal character to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which makes the rights more visible as guiding values for all the UE policies. This opens the door for accession of EU to the European Convention on Human Rights. The Treaty of Lisbon is only a reform treaty, and several important changes, provided by the Constitutional Treaty, have survived. They include the provisions of the federal character (e.g. those concerning an 'early warning system' in which national parliaments will scrutinize draft European legislative acts as to their compliance with the principle of subsidiarity). However, the Treaty does not create a federal state and does not even suggest that this idea would be realized. The rejection of the Constitutional Treaty, which has lead to a crisis within the EU, may show that the radical changes, proposed by the European elites, are not accepted or not understood by the European public opinion. The problem of 'democratic deficit' within EU (reflected by the fact that the societies of the EU do not exert appropriate influence on the development and functioning of the Union) is still not solved, although the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon provide for the strengthening of the European Parliament and the national parliaments move in a positive direction. The cooperation between the European Parliament and national parliaments may be an important factor of creating the EU political legitimacy. The dialogue between the supporters of the idea of 'Europe of Homelands' and of 'Federal Europe' is continued. The concept of 'Europe of Homelands' still has a big support, especially among the new member states of Central and Eastern Europe. In such a situation the federalization of EU cannot be carried out rapidly against the will of those communities.
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