The paper is discussing the concept of shared sovereignty, coined by Jürgen Habermas, along with his theory of citizenship of the European Union. In particular, the Author of the paper makes reference to Habermas' model of EU citizenship in the light of the current legislation, policy and practice. The reference is made in an attempt to release whether the current shape, or condition, of European citizenship corresponds to its conceptual content and to clarify the general direction for the change as it could be fully implemented. All those issues are mentioned with a view to answer a very fundamental question, namely how to ensure the democratic legitimacy of the European Union? W swojej koncepcji dzielonej suwerenności ludu J. Habermas, nawiązując niejako do filozofii I. Kanta, próbuje odpowiedzieć na zasadnicze pytanie: jaki kształt musiałoby przybrać obywatelstwo Unii Europejskiej, aby jednostki mogły same siebie postrzegać jako obywateli UE? Niniejszy artykuł stanowi próbę odniesienia przyjętego przez J. Habermasa abstrakcyjnego modelu obywatelstwa UE do obowiązujących uregulowań prawnych oraz praktyki politycznej. Analiza przyjętego przez J. Habermasa modelu obywatelstwa UE posłuży również ukazaniu, na ile obecny kształt obywatelstwa unijnego odpowiada jego konceptualnej treści, a także w jakim kierunku muszą podążać zmiany, aby w pełni ją zrealizować. Wszystkie wymienione powyżej zagadnienia spaja fundamentalne pytanie: jak zapewnić Unii Europejskiej demokratyczną legitymizację?
According to the arrangements made in the doctrine, security is a complex category as we are dealing with a confrontation of challenges and threats, their social perception and solution concepts, as well as activities and reactions of states and international institutions. The purpose of the undertaken actions is to establish the certainty of sustaining, possessing and enabling the progress of security.
Abstract The Visegrad Group is a regional form of cooperation of four Central European states, i.e. Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. The above states have been members of the European Union since 2004. What is more, the Visegrad Group is recognized as an alliance and forum for exchanging experiences and developing common positions on matters of particular importance for the future of the region and the European Union. The constitutional provisions of the Visegrad Group states regarding the legal and constitutional status of a central bank were analysed and compared on the basis of analogies and differences. Importantly, today central banks play a significant role in the socio-economic and political system of a state. In particular, the article contains an innovative approach to the subject by comparing the subject matter from the perspective of constitutional regulations. The considerations are based on both the literature of scientific representatives and constitutional regulations, creating a complete and original presentation of the issue.
In 2022 the Polish Constitution celebrated the silver anniversary of its enactment. It has generally correctly served as the basis for the functioning of the state, proving itself even in the most difficult moments of its existence. Since 2015 the Polish Constitution has been subject to major factual changes to such an extent that it is reasonable to argue that it and Polish constitutionalism in general have come to function in rather unusual, if not downright extreme conditions. This monograph entitled "Poland in good constitution? Contemporary issues of constitutional law in Poland in the European context" aims to present analyses of selected aspects of the impact of the Polish Constitution on individual branches of law and problems occurring in them. All issues are placed in a wide, European context.
Table of contents: Wojciech Włoch -The Democratic Paradox Revisited - how liberal constitutionalism supports democratic equality; Tomasz Milej - Liberal democracy's rocky path – the cases of Kenya and Tanzania; Tímea Drinóczi, Agnieszka Bień-Kacała - Illiberal constitutionalism in Hungary and Poland: The case of judicialization of politics; Fabio Ratto Trabucco - The Hungarian Judicial System evolution between 'Orbánism' and European Governance; Zbigniew Witkowski, Maciej Serowaniec - The role of 'controlled' referendum in Polish democracy; Faith Kabata - Impact of UN Human Rights Monitoring Mechanisms in Kenya; Lóránt Csink, Réka Török - The collision of national security purpose secret information gathering and the right to privacy. The present and future of Hungarian regulation; István Sabjanics - The Legality of National Security; Václav Stehlík - Metamorphosis of Public Security Exception in the EU Internal Market and EU Citizens' Rights ; Can a democracy work without liberalism? Or in other words, is the concept of governing and being governed in turns sustainable without respecting individual rights? Or is a democracy doomed to be hijacked by authoritarian rulers, if not backed by robust mechanisms of individual rights protection, by a rule of law and as system, in which – as James Madison wanted – an ambition is made to counteract ambition and the abuses of government are controlled? A standard answer of the so-called 'Western' constitutionalism is still a clear 'no'. The present volume offers study material on countries and historical situations, in which this clear 'no' faces challenges. It traces trajectories of democracy's development as it embraced and rejected liberal ideas. The contribution by Timea Drinoczi and Agnieszka Bien-Kacała does it with respect to Hungary and Poland, while the contribution by Tomasz Milej focuses on Kenya and Tanzania. But before embarking on the developments in particular countries, Wojciech Włoch takes the reader through the contemporary thought on the relationship between democracy and liberalism. He argues from the philosophical perspective that the liberal ideal of equal rights of individuals enables a democracy to thrive and prosper. Tomasz Milej takes up this point showing on the examples of Kenya and Tanzania how the attempts to base a democratic regime on illiberal pillars eventually lead to a collapse of the same. In this vein, Timea Drinoczi and Agnieszka Bien-Kacała make a strong case against theorising violations of constitutional stipulations and disenfranchisement of judiciaries as some new concepts of democracy or political constitutionalism as opposed to the legal one; one of the terms they prefer to describe the departure from the liberal democracy is abusive constitutionalism. Various examples for this type of regime from Hungarian practice are provided by Fabio Ratto Trabucco, who discusses the legal means employed by the Hungarian government to take over the judiciary by replacing judges with new ones under a new politicised appointment procedure. In so doing, the author also discusses the interaction of the Hungarian government with external actors, such as Venice Commission and various organs of the European Union. On such a dialogue focuses Faith Kabata documenting a poor record of Kenya in implementing of the UN monitoring bodies recommendations and even obstructionism by the state executive organs regarding civil and political rights. Her study shows that these rights were best implemented when individuals took their cases to the courts and that the biggest obstacle to the implementation was a lack of social and political internalisation of certain human rights provisions. Aren't those internalisation deficits the same ones that derailed the liberal democracy – at least temporarily – in Hungary and Poland? One could look from this perspective at the failure of the direct democracy instruments to enhance people's participation in public matters, as discussed by Zbigniew Witkowski and Maciej Serowaniec in the Polish context. Those more general accounts are supplemented by three case studies on a sensitive area of clash between the collective and individual interest. The contributions by Lóránt Csink and Réka Török, by István Sabjanics and by Václav Stehlík examine the relationship between the national security concerns and the individual freedoms. Quite interestingly, Stehlík's research shows that the readjustment away from the individual movement rights towards the protection of national security concerns has also found its way into the case law of the Court of Justice if the European Union.
The primary burden of tackling the pandemic COVID-19 lies with the state as the entity responsible for protecting the health and life of its citizens. Hence, it can be argued that the focus of the pandemic-induced changes to the Polish legal order was on administrative law, which not only sets out the principles of the functioning of the State as the executive power but also governs the relations between the government, local government and citizens, which had to be significantly modified during the pandemic. It would be impossible to analyse and discuss all the emergency measures that appeared in Poland's administrative law due to the threats posed by the pandemic. The subject matter of the present study is the analysis of the legal solutions adopted in the Republic of Poland in the sphere of public law in connection with the spread of the virus and particular provisions shaping relationships between the two basic structural branches of Polish public administration, viz. the government administration and the local-government administration. The following part of this study will accordingly be devoted to the analysis of the legislative solution contained in Article 11h of the COVID-19 Act, establishing a legal framework for issuing binding instructions to, among others, the various bodies of local governments, local-government legal persons and local-government organisational entities without legal personality.
