Government and governance in Poland

Abstract:

The actions of the government should be considered within the framework of a broader issue, which is governance, and against the background of historical, social and economic conditions (domestic and international). Against this background, the constitutional position of the Council of Ministers in the system of public bodies was presented; appointment, composition and dismissal of the Council of Ministers; principles and mode of operation as well as organisation of work and standards of operation of the Council of Ministers; matters of government control and accountability, and signals about local government administration, government administration staff and tensions between the normative model and the practise of governance in Poland. The contemporary model of governance in Poland was shaped in the process of changes after the rejection of the socialist system in 1989. The 1997 constitutional model places Poland in the group of democratic states governed by the rule of law: republican and unitary; with the division and balance of the legislative, executive and judiciary; a parliamentary-cabinet system, a dualistic model of executive power and a strong local government. The government (acting under its own name, the Council of Ministers), is the basic element of executive power in the state, conducts internal and foreign policy, manages the government administration, is an authority competent in all matters not reserved to other state bodies and local self-government, has a stronger position from – constituting the second member of the state executive – President of the Republic of Poland.

For the situation in government matters in Poland, it is of fundamental importance that the collegiately operating Council of Ministers is made up of the strong Prime Minister and ministers (it is allowed to appoint vice-presidents of the Council of Ministers and chairmen of the committees indicated in the Act to the Cabinet). There are two categories of ministers: managing specific departments of government administration and task-oriented. The structure of the Council of Ministers is flexible and is shaped within the provisions of the Act on government administration departments. The basic principles of government functioning are regulated by the law. The organisation and mode of its work are specified by the Council of Ministers in the regulations. There is a monolithic model of the government centre (Chancellery of the Prime Minister). The service for ministers managing government administration departments is provided by ministries. Executive tasks of the government are carried out by central government administration offices (mostly subordinate to ministers) and government agencies. There is an institution of a government plenipotentiary for specific matters. There are numerous collegial auxiliary bodies of the Council of Ministers: committees, councils and opinion-making or advisory groups, joint committees. In the basic procedure for establishing the Council of Ministers, the role of the Sejm was reduced to resolving a vote of confidence for the cabinet proposed by the prime minister and appointed by the president. The activities of the government and government administration are subject to parliamentary and extra-parliamentary control. Members of the Council of Ministers bear constitutional responsibility before the Tribunal of State and political responsibility before the Sejm. There is a principle of a constructive vote of no confidence in the Council of Ministers. The voivod shall be the representative of the Council of Ministers in a voivodship. Within government groups, the status of politicians and professional officials is regulated differently.

Many regulations are not fully reflected in the governing practise. You can see the deficit of abilities: ensuring the apolitical nature of clerical staff, coordination, excluding system changes and strategic projects from the current political game, solving the dilemmas of the relationship between the concept of the ubiquitous and absent state, stimulating flows between the centres of power, administration and knowledge, using the potential of public-social and public partnership – private.