Citizens’ Constitution Initiative and Citizens’ Legislative Initiative in Romania

The citizens' constitutional initiative and the citizens'  legislative initiative exist in Romania since 1991. They were established by the Constitution of 21 November 1991. The right to initiate a constitutional amendment is vested in a group of at least 500,000 citizens who have the right to vote; they must be residents of at least half of the voivodships, and at least 20,000 citizens must sign the initiative in each voivodship and in Bucharest. The right of legislative initiative is vested in a group of at least 100,000 citizens with the right to vote; they must be residents of at least one-quarter of the voivodships and in each of them such an initiative must be supported by the signatures of at least 5,000 citizens. The Constitution provides exemptions to these initiatives. The collection of signatures and the
further handling of such drafts are regulated by Act No. 189 of 9 December 1999 on the exercise of a legislative initiative by citizens (amended in 2004). Their compliance with the Constitution is examined by the Constitutional Tribunal.
The project initiator has 6 months to collect signatures from the moment of its publication in the official publication journal "Monitorul Oficial Romaniei". In practice, a small number of citizens' constitutional and legislative initiatives
have so far been submitted. It is therefore an ineffective institution. This is believed to be due to overly complex bureaucratic rules governing the collection of signatures. Therefore, it is postulated to simplify the process and introduce the possibility of collecting signatures electronically.

The Problem of the Independence of Justices of the Peace

The judiciary undoubtedly requires reforms that will contribute to the improvement of its effectiveness.  Establishing the institution of justices of the peace, in accordance with the drafters' assumptions, is to contribute to the improvement of the operation of common courts. In the opinion of the drafters of the acts establishing this institution, the judiciary administered by justices of the peace may, in the public opinion, work better, and the judgments issued by them will be more socially accepted. The establishment of justices of the peace requires that their independence be guaranteed. The aim of the article is an attempt to answer the question whether the proposed judicial model of justices of the peace complies with the principle of judicial independence. Bearing in mind that one of the projects to restore the institution of justices of the peace includes the possibility of exercising this function by persons who may not have a legal education, or even having one, do not have a legal experience, it is highly doubtful that they can interpret the law properly on their own. Even if justices of the peace only judge in minor cases, judges without knowledge of the law and judicature will not be able to work effectively, which will directly affect the purposefulness of the proposed reform. The guarantee of judicial independence is also the irremovability of a judge from office. On the other hand, according to the presented proposals, justices of the peace are to be elected and perform their functions for terms of office, which undoubtedly does not contribute to the implementation of the indicated guarantee. Doubts are also raised because of the group of entities that can propose candidates for justices of the peace, and thus the very apolitical nature of justices of the peace. Correct construction of the institution of justices of the peace is not possible without taking into account the elements that make up the principle of judicial independence, otherwise it would be difficult to talk about their proper administration of justice.

New Complexity. Democratic Dialogue in the Conditions of Digital Transformation

Public governance could be seen within the triangle of interactions between public agencies, society, and technology. Members of society are more aware of their needs and expectations towards public institutions. It creates an augmented participatory pressure recognised by public organisations. Engaged civic participation is becoming a reality and the central concept in the debate around democratic dialogue and the involvement of citizens. New technologies play important role in enabling these processes. The perspective taken in this paper focuses on the ways in which digitalization and citizens' involvement contribute to complexity, what opportunities and downsides it may bring, and how the general scholarly debate on turbulence connects to the research on citizen participation. The civic engagement and participation are juxtaposed with existing turbulences, which may be rooted in internal organisational and structural challenges as well as in the external factors to large extent independent from the influence of the governance structures. The important dimension of turbulences impacting participation is also related to the multilevel complexity of current governing structures.

Legal Assessment of the Draft Amendment to Article 72 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland Presented by the President of the Republic of Poland

On 6 July 2020 the President of the Republic of Poland submitted a bill to amend the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. The draft amendment envisaged the introduction of a provision to the current fundamental law which would raise the following rules to the level of a systemic principle: a child may be adopted only for his benefit, and only spouses may adopt a child jointly. Moreover, it would  prevent same-sex cohabitants from adopting a child.
This paper focuses on the legal assessment of the proposed amendment to Article 72 of the Polish Constitution. Its purpose is to indicate whether the provisions of this amendment may become part of the Polish Constitution and whether they are consistent with international regulations binding on Poland.

Polish Lustration After 2015: Change of the Model and Constitutional Problems

Even though more than 25 years have passed since the 1989 Polish democratic transition, the Law and Justice party, which took power in autumn 2015, has introduced a new wave of transitional justice initiatives. I claim that since 2015 Poland has seen a gradual change of its lustration model from a mechanism of historical clarification, in which sanctions are imposed only for submitting a false lustration statement, to a retribution instrument, which includes retroactive sanctions for former ties with the communist secret service. However, banning former secret service officers, employees, and collaborators from holding public offices so late after transition raises doubts as to whether these regulations are consistent with the Polish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Freedom of Speech and Protection of Public Order in Petty Offenses Law (Article 63a of the Code of Petty Offenses). Commentary on Judgment of the District Court in Bełchatów of 7 December 2020, II W 297/20

The current Polish Code of Petty Offenses entered into force in a different political, legal, and socio-economic reality. Despite many amendments, it does not fully correspond to contemporary realities, therefore the interpretation of its provisions requires particular care, due to the necessity to consider, in particular, the current Constitution of the Republic of Poland. The guarantees of individual rights and freedoms it contains need to be included in the process of legal interpretation, even though they did not exist in the present form when the Code of Petty Offenses was introduced into the legal system. Article 63a of the Code of Petty Offenses protects against behavior that violates the aesthetics of public space by littering or defacing. It sanctions the placement of an advertisement, poster, leaflet, inscription, or drawing in a public place not intended for this purpose. However, such behavior may not be punished when, in a specific case, it does not violate public order, as it constitutes a form of exercising individual freedom of expression.

Report on the 2nd Open Academic Seminar Entitled „Around the March Constitution on the 100th anniversary of its adoption”

Report on the 2nd Open Scientific Seminar of the Department of Theory and Philosophy of Law of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin and the Department of Constitutional and Comparative Law of the Jan Długosz University in Częstochowa, entitled "Around the March Constitution on the 100th anniversary of its adoption". The seminar took place on 17 March 2021 online.