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28th Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (24-26 March 2015)

Debate on Local and regional democracy in Poland

Speaking notes - Cynthia Hughes, (United Kingdom SOC), Congress co-Rapporteur

Dear Colleagues,

Before moving onto the recommendations we have made to the Polish government as a whole, I would like to dwell shortly on some issues that concern the regions or the “voivodeships” as they are called in Poland.

Poland has a three tier system of local government: municipalities, counties and regions. In Poland the Charter is applicable only to what they truly consider as “local” self-government: the municipalities (gminy) and the counties (powiats).

The Polish Constitution does not explicitly regulate the regions. The sixteen voivodeships or regions in Poland are not really autonomous regions; they cannot impose taxes. However, their full autonomy within the Constitution is protected by the courts. In light of our Reference Framework for Regional Democracy, our interpretation of the regions in Poland is that voivodeships are regions and most constitutional provisions dealing with local self-government should also be applicable, by analogy, to them.

The regulation void has some consequences for the regions’ competences because there is no constitutionally protected core of regional competences. They depend on the will of the national parliament or the central government. However, it must be said that at present these are quite large, ranging from economic development, protection of the environment, cultural infrastructures, health care, transport, airports etc. and supervision by the central government is strictly limited to a control of legality.

One problem was particularly mentioned by the regions and you have already heard about that from my colleague and that concerns financial equalization which seems to work to the detriment of the richer regions. They want a revision and they are about to secure their cause as they won their case before the Constitutional Court.

Colleagues, I now come to our recommendations to the Polish government. You will have noticed that they are not numerous. This is indeed an indication that the local government system in Poland is functioning well and is regarded by all the stakeholders as an important part of the democratic system.

to fully implement our Recommendation 120 from 2002 so that the devolution of powers is accompanied by the transfer of adequate financial resources and to find a new compromise for concomitant financing.

o to reinforce local authorites’ autonomy through funding from own resources

to adjust the equalisation system so that it is more reactive to changes in the economic climate, for example by reviewing the scale of donations;

and to sign and ratify the Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority in the near future.

Colleagues, we ask you to approve this draft recommendation. We hope the State Secretary, Mr HUSKOWSKI, present here today for the Ministry of Administration and Digitization, and the authorities of Poland will consider them.