Over time, they are more and more tools emerging to increase civic participation of young people at the local level. A form of manifestation of a given phenomenon are the Youth Municipal Council. As a result of their activities, young people stand a chance to gain valuable experience and consider the shape of local government policy. In Poland, there are already over 400 Youth Municipal Councils in which there are active members who want to make a real contribution and influence the local environment. There is a noticeable great potential for youth involvement, which, if properly used, can significantly increase the participation of young people in decision-making processes and, in the longer term, contribute to increased participation in political life.

This article will present the example of the Youth Municipal Councils as a form of youth participation on the example of the Wielka Wieś Commune. The article focuses on several issues. Do young people share the idea of civic participation and want to take part in promoting it, and in what areas does the youth, through Youth Councils, influence changes in their local environment and what are the consequences of this? At the same time, it tries to verify the research hypothesis that the functioning of the Youth Municipal Councils – including the Wielka Wieś Commune, contributes to the strengthening and dissemination of the idea of civic participation among young people. Young people, gain- ing even marginal influence on the shape of the regulation at an early stage of its creation, will be more likely to become involved in its implementation later. The methodological core of the work is the analysis of the literature on the subject, good practices and partial research results related to the subject of the article among councilors from the Youth Municipal Councils in Wielka Wieś.

The aim of the article is to discuss legal solutions adopted in response to the spreading SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic and their location in the hierarchy of sources of law in Poland. Selected legal regulations adopted in connection with the announcement of the COVID-19 virus epidemic have been analysed. The assessment of compliance of Covidian sources of law with the hierarchy of legal acts indicated by the Constitution is made through an analysis of the introduced restrictions, such as: the obligation to cover mouths and noses, closure of catering establishments or restrictions on their operation, implementation of the principle of openness in court hearings or violation of the principle of non-discrimination of entrepreneurs. At the same time, the paper addresses the problem of the introduction of one of the states of emergency provided for by the Constitution. The article is based on substantive legal provisions, court rulings and commentaries by persons specialising in constitutional law. At the same time, it provides a comparative account of the ‘covidium regulations’ and fundamental rights under the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.

The subject of the analysis in this article is the legal status of the President of the Bureau for Chemical Substances. The President acts as the central government administration body responsible for chemical substances and their mixtures. Its functioning is justified by the threats to human life and health as well as the natural environment, which are associated with the production and trade of chemical substances. The article discusses, on the basis of relevant legal acts, the tasks of the President of the Bureau for Chemical Substances. In the author’s opinion, cooperation with international institutions, especially the European Commission and the European Chemicals Agency, is essential for the proper performance of the tasks by the President of the Bureau for Chemical Substances. Thanks to it, it is possible to take uniform actions to ensure chemical security within the European Union.

The article incorporates the subjects of time in municipal office. The aim of the article is examining the time’s influence on the work of municipal offices, in particular mayor, officials, the connotation between time and internal audit and also examine the influence of municipal office’s work at clients’ satisfaction. The above levels of functioning of the office are directly related to its work, while in their structure they are located closest to the citizens. A body such as the mayor, as well as his employees, therefore have a great impact on the implementation of the principle of subsidiarity. According to the principle of subsidiarity, all decisions affecting citizens should be made at the lowest possible levels and as quickly as possible to those citizens. Internal audit improves the functioning of the two planes indicated above, moreover, it is a manifestation of the implementation of the principle of good public administration. Thus, the choice of all three planes as the subject of the following analysis is intended to show the practical dimension of the value of time, and thus indicate its relevance in the functioning of the municipal office. The examination of cases was carried out on the basis of specialistic literature concerning the meanings of time in administrative law and also of mayor’s orders, the organization regulations in municipal office and statistical survey. In the aim of better understanding of the issue, the author discussed the definition of time, time in administrative law, the office and the municipal office. The results of the examinations are the conclusion of a legal solution – introducing the concept of time and term to the legal acts in the municipal office and also the conclusions of time work’s modifications.

On 24 February 2022. The Russian Federation launched an armed attack on the territory of Ukraine, resulting in an outbreak of war and a massive influx of Ukrainian citizens into Poland. Consequently, it became necessary to regulate refugee issues by law. This was done in the Law on Assistance to Citizens of Ukraine in Connection with the Armed Conflict on the Territory of that State, indicating the manner in which assistance is to be provided and the proceedings in cases concerning citizens of Ukraine whose stay is deemed legal under the above law. The broad powers granted by the Act to certain state entities may raise questions. The paper discusses the tasks and powers granted under the above Act to the provincial governor, analysing their scope and assessing their expediency and rationality. The article concludes with de lege ferenda proposals, the introduction of which would make it possible to improve the performance of tasks concerning the assistance of Ukrainian citizens by the provincial governor and to dispel doubts raised by certain provisions of the Act.

The aim of the article is to analyze the impact of constitutional provisions on the functioning of professional self-government and their further development in statutory provisions. The author seeks to answer the following questions: what constitutional solutions regarding professional self-government were adopted in the constitutions of the Second and Third Republics of Poland, which constitutional provisions were more conducive to the functioning of self-government, and what barriers it encountered as a result of the introduction of constitutional provisions in the Second and Third Republics of Poland. A hypothesis has been put forward in the paper that the constitutional provisions of the Second Polish Republic were more conducive to the functioning of professional self-government than similar provisions in the Third Polish Republic. In order to confirm the hypothesis, the dogmatic and legal method was employed in the article, which enabled an analysis of secondary and primary documents.

The aim of the article is to present the role of one of the elements of this framework management control „information and communication” which is the basis for participatory management in the public sector. Communication processes are an important and fundamental element of participation, and consequently, communication tools belong to participatory public management instruments. The study uses methods of analysis of acts of applicable law, standards, sources, documents, recommendations and guidelines of the Minister of Finance in the area of implementation of management control, the results of which are the outcomes of the use of methods of induction and descriptive deduction. The result is a confirmation of the usefulness and importance of „information and communication” and their flow in the management control system as an important element of social participation in public finance sector units.

The Second Republic of Poland implemented in the first years of independence a significant part of the achievements of Western European parliamentarism with regard to the control function of the executive (government). While in the West the parliament’s powers of scrutiny over the government were mostly subject to regulation by ordinary law, in Poland and other states revived or established in Europe after World War I, the bulk of them became the subject of legal regulation at the level of constitutions, ordinary laws and/or parliamentary rules of procedure. In Poland, law and customs shaped through parliamentary practice played a relatively large role in this regard. During the Second Republic, there were three consecutive constitutional systems in force – the so-called Little Constitution of 1919, the March Constitution of 1921. (since December 1922) and the April Constitution of 1935.The control of the government by parliament was developed to the fullest extent during the period of so-called parliamentary rule, i.e. in the years 1919–1926. After the May coup began, visible mainly in the area of political and parliamentary practice, the process of gradual reduction of the control function of parliament, which found its final legal definition in the provisions of the Basic Law of April 1935. The control function of parliament was exercised at first by the Legislative Sejm, and then, from the end of 1922, by the Sejm and the Senate (the latter to a relatively modest extent). With regard to the criterion of the timing of control activities, parliamentary control of the government was divided in pre-war doctrine into preliminary and subsequent (follow-up). The post-war doctrine, following the position formulated in German science in the second half of the 19th century, also distinguished current control. Implementation of the parliament’s control function in the Second Republic included a very rich catalog of tools (means) of influencing the government. The pre-war doctrine organized them according to the criterion of the timing of control measures or their expediency. After World War II, based on the systemic criterion, ordinary (plenary debate on government policy, parliamentary inquiries and interpellations) and extended (appointment of stand- ing and extraordinary parliamentary committees with, among other things, controlling or investigative powers) means of control were distinguished, as well as statutory preliminary control (passing the budget, giving consent to the ratification of international agreements and issuing certain administrative acts), which tools are characteristic of parliamentary systems assuming the supremacy of parliament over the government. In another view, the instruments of parliamentary control were divided (on the basis of the March Constitution) into traditional means of control (interpellations, committees of inquiry, discharge, control of state debts, approval of temporary restrictions on civil rights and freedoms) and those arising from the principles of the parliamentary-cabinet form of government (debate on the prime minister’s exposé, asking questions, hearing government representatives in plenary and in committees, passing resolutions), as well as sanctions applied as a result of control (such as holding the government and individual ministers politically and constitutionally accountable). In doctrine and parliamentary practice, the greatest differences of opinion with regard to the characterized issues arose and continue to this day, in addition to systematizing issues, such issues as the scope and tools of preliminary parliamentary control, the control of decree legislation, the scope and effects of parliamentary interpellations and questions, extraordinary committees of inquiry, political and parliamentary and constitutional responsibility of the executive branch.

The article focuses on the issue of the correlation between the civic budget and the revitalization process on the example of solutions adopted in Ostrów Wielkopolski, where the civic budget has been used as one of the revitalization tools. Ostrów Wielkopolski was the first Polish city to use such solutions. From 2019, the category of revitalization tasks is separated as part of the annual civic budget of Ostrów Wielkopolski, in which co-financing can be provided for selected by residents social projects implemented in the revitalization area. The article presents the assumptions and results of the implementation of the civic budget as a revitalization tool in Ostrów Wielkopolski, on the basis of which the author analyzed the possibility of using the civic budget institution in the comprehensive revitalization process conducted by local governments.

The concept of sustainable development, created in the second half of the twentieth century, as a response to the growing environmental crisis and inequalities between the countries of the so-called North and South, was incorporated into the Polish legal system as one of the main principles of political system and environmental protection law. Despite the primary ratio of incorporation of the sustainable development principle, which was i.a. limitation of the most environmentally harmful aspects of human activities, in the theory and practice of law, it rather serves as a justification for the realization of projects that may have a significant negative impact on the environment, despite the arguments speaking against in the field of environmental protection, and its function is marginalized. It seems that this interpretation is not correct. According to the law in force, in the time of the climate crisis, the emphasis should be put mainly on the limiting function of the sustainable development principle, and the limits in which the human activity should be realized have been set in it and can be objectively, scientifically determined. These limits are determined by maintaining natural balance and persistence of the basic natural processes necessary for the society to function in a wider time perspective. Recognition that the principle of sustainable development should predominantly limit human activity and strengthen the principles of environmental protection could contribute to preventing the worst effects of the climate crisis, by refraining from executing investments that would make it impossible to stop global warming at 1.5°C.

The family separation between immigrant – refugee parents and their children is a global phenomenon. This research is focused on the dissociation that is taking place during transportation from the countries of origin to receiving countries. Every year United States accept thousands of immigrants from Central America who are segregated under ‘zero-tolerance’ immigration policy (ZTP). However, the same issue afllicts refugees who are trying to cross the Central Mediterranean Sea to enter Europe. But then, United States and European Union established legislations and bills to prevent that kind of parting and to promote the family’s reconnection. The key strength is the impact of separation, as a toxic experience during childhood, is intolerable for all the members of family. Children experience trauma, which affects their mental and physical health. Additionally, parents develop depression, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and become victims of suicide. Finally, family unity protects children’s lives and supports family’s integration in the host countries.

The right to property is one of the fundamental rights regulated by the European Union. Although the EU legal system doesn’t contain the very definition of ownership, by deleting in Art. 17 sec. 1 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the limits of interference with this right are defined by a clear and impassable boundary for the national laws of the EU Member States as to the scope of the interference. The Polish law system meets the requirements of Art. 17 sec. 1 of the Charter, guaranteeing the owner both the scope of shaping the right to property right up to the limits of violating its essence, and the possibility of expropriation only for public purposes and for just compensation. Both the restrictive interpretation of the public purpose and the observance of the determination of fair compensation by administrative courts fully fall within the scope of Art. 17 sec. 1 and art. 52 sec. 1 of the Charter. Not always just compensation will be full compensation, which, however, is not contrary to EU law. The role of the Polish Administrative Courts is to comply with the provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the scope of ensuring that owners have proper protection of their property rights, and to assess whether domestic legislation is not inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter. If is it found that a specific statutory provision violates the content of, for example, art. 17 sec. 1 of the Charter, administrative courts should apply the provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, relying on the principle of primacy of primary EU law.

The special investigative measures are ante delictum measures, introduced in the Republic of North Macedonia as part of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Criminal procedure in 2004. The starting hypothesis of this paper refers to the inviolability of the respect of human rights during the implementation of the special investigative measures, which counterpoise a fundament in the aspect of reformed functioning of the security sector, according to the principles of good governance. The additional variable in relation to the hypothesis is that the arbitrariness and/or abuse of the application of the special investigative measures can undermine the protection of the core values which they are intended to protect. The methodology applied for creating this paper is both qualitative and quantitative, depicting analysis of the national legislative framework and international standards, interpretation of guidelines and manuals for the special investigative measures enforcement by the relevant institutions, comparison, as well as measuring trends in the appliance of the measures.

This scientific research shall explore the recent jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the EU on the rule of law regarding Poland, Hungary and Romania. We shall strive to identify the nexus between the ground-breaking judgments and the prospects for criminal legislation and criminal investigation by analysing the arguments of the parties and the reasoning of the courts. We believe that judgements in the cases of Poland, Hungary and Romania represent the Court of Justice’s incrementalist response to a perceived process of rule of law backsliding which was perceived as a threat to EU values at the community level and as a threat to the ability of the justice system to prevent corruption at the national level. Backsliding is believed to first emerged in Hungary before spreading to Poland, but serious cases were already existing in Romania.

The subject of the study is ananalysis of changes to electronic deliveries in administrative proceedings made following the entry into force on 5 October 2021 of most of the provisions of the Act of November 18, 2020 on electronic deliveries, including amendments to the Code of Administrative Procedure. The assumptions of the new e-delivery system were presented, indicating the principles of electronic delivery as well as the basic concepts and institutions introduced by the legislator (electronic delivery address, delivery box, public and qualified electronic registered delivery service, public hybrid service, public and non-public entities). Then, the changes to the Code of Administrative Procedure were discussed, pointing in particular to the new approach to the principle of writing and the directive regarding the method of delivery service. The summary presents the evaluation of the introduced transformation of e-delivery in administrative proceedings.

The article presents the issues of unmanned aerial vehicles, i.e. drones, in the context of one of the fundamental rights – the right to privacy. However, the author focuses mainly on drones used for entertainment purposes. The first part of the article is an introduction to the issue of privacy on the basis of European Union law and Polish legislation, as well as an analysis of the problem in the light of the value of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Later on, she looks for answers to the questions: what are unmanned aerial vehicles, how is their use legally regulated and above all, whether today the privacy of citizens may be in some way threatened by drones. Then the author goes on to consider possible violations, also in the aspect of personal data protection. The conclusion is a concise summary of the issues discussed and a comparison of the results of the analysis with the guarantees resulting from the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2007 exposed numerous structural flaws in the architecture of the euro area. From today’s perspective, it is known that without quick action going beyond the legal framework of the treaties and the competences of EU bodies, the euro area would most likely collapse. These design flaws are slowly being removed through the implementation of “unconventional” monetary policies conducted by the European Central Bank, as well as by new institutional tools aimed at increasing the coordination of economic policies and supervision over the financial condition of individual euro area Member States. With these changes, fundamental questions have arisen about the legitimacy of emergency reforms. The state of emergency has been lifted, but questions about the legitimacy of the new competences and methods in overseeing the euro area leave doubts as to their compliance with the principles of democracy and respect for fundamental rights. The aim of the article is to present the challenges related to the current and postulated shape of the Eurozone reforms seen through the prism of European fundamental values, i.e. democracy and human rights.

The subject of the discussionis the problem of the rule of law, considered from the perspective of the European Union and the Republic of Poland, as a member state of this organization. The rule of law is considered to be one of the cornerstones of the functioning of the EU and individual Member States. Determining the content of this concept raises difficulties related to the lack of its legal definition. However, it may be helpful to refer to the findings of legal theory regarding the distinction between the formal and material understanding of this principle. At the level of the European Union, there is also a reference to other concepts that also describe the issue of compliance with the law by authorities. Not only acts of EU law, but also the case-law of the Court of Justice are important in determining the content of the concept of the rule of law. Similar problems also exist at national level. An additional source of controversy, however, is the different approach of the Polish authorities to the way of understanding the rule of law, and especially the qualification of actions of public authorities that are accused of violating this principle. The aim of the analysisis to determine the causes of such a state and to propose possible solutions to the problems resulting from it.

Democracy is the oldest value of the civilized world. Without it, there is no question of the rule of law, protection of human rights or non-discrimination. Democracy is realized through the law, and the violation of the rule of law always damages it and triggers an accountability mechanism aimed at assessing the actions of governing bodies directly in relation to the democratic standard (accountability). This standard is expressed and measured by the degree of trust which ruling authorities in a democratic society must inspire in subjects of the law. The stronger the trust is, the democratic standards are higher, and the legal protection becomes stronger. The constitutional democratic standard in the EU is thus a derivative of the standard of effective legal protection provided by independent courts. The independence of the judiciary is a key element of democratic accountability as it builds public confidence in the courts as authorities and trust strengthens democratic accountability. Being a member of the EU, it is impossible to avoid this accountability, and the standard of democracy for the EU Member State cannot remain purely national.

The principle of the primacy of European Union law is one of the most important and, at the same time, the most controversial principles of this law. The jurisprudence of the Court of Justice pointing to the absolute primacy of EU law, even over national norms of constitutional character, is not unconditionally accepted by the Member States. They are challenged in particular by constitutional courts, which want to retain the status of a last word court, reserving the right to assess the constitutionality of EU law at least in terms of fundamental rights, acting within the limits of competences conferred in the Treaties and the protection of fundamental constitutional identity. Recently, there are more and more judgments of constitutional courts that refuse to apply EU law, and the allegations against the priority principle are often financial or political. Denying the principle of priority, which is an exception, as in the case of the Czech, German or Danish, in some cases, especially Poland, becomes a rule that allows, under the misuse of constitutional identity, to lower the standard of legal protection resulting from EU regulations.

This presentation attempts to tackle some of the complex relations between ideology and human rights by referring to two interesting texts on ideology and to outline some of the discursive ways in which human rights can function as ideology. By way of doing that we aim to pose some important questions for further research concerning the ways in which human rights discourse can assume various ideological uses and functions.

The article is a reflection on how unnoticed and underestimated in everyday life the phenomenon of corruption has a disastrous impact on the foundations of the European Union built over the years. Currently, it is a serious challenge and a threat to the integration project which, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, is experiencing another crisis. In view of this, the author of the article recognizes the problem and, in this context, begins her consideration of the issue by outlining the origins of European integration and its consequences by drawing attention to the issue of uniformity in the creation and application of Community law under conditions of multicentrism and, above all, by showing the consequences of corruption, which puts Europe in a situation of duty and obligation to protect fundamental rights and democracy. It then analyzes the positions of experts, the opinions of citizens and the results of studies of international organizations. In addition, she refers to the results of his own research and, to this extent, mentions the Polish corruption reality seen through the eyes of young Poles in order to show that Europe is not only the West and we are also a part of this Community. Ad extremum she points out the key decisions taken at the European Union level and the remedies recommended by its bodies to counter the problem.

Current challenges of economic diplomacy make even more urgent the need for strong human rights legislation, involving not only democratically elected governments but also non-state actors such as civil society, local authorities (mega cities outnumber many countries), businesses, and universities. The paper focuses on three problems of the delicate relationship of economic diplomacy with the protection of human rights:
– the new shift in economic and commercial power from the Northwestern developed countries to Southeastern emerging economies with serious deficits in the functioning of democratic institutions, but with a rapidly emerging middle class, with serious ambitions for change (in a positive or negative direction),
– the “energy security”, as the Russian military intervention in Ukraine, revealed,
– and economic sanctions, since poor design and implementation of sanctions policies often mean that they fall short of their desired effects, endangering human rights.
How, then, could the exercise of modern economic diplomacy (promoting exports and investment abroad, attracting FDIs, aid and trade negotiations, but also strengthening the functioning of other civil society actors), not only helps protect human rights but also be an opportunity for high strategic scope and great social value? Applying human rights’ evaluation criteria of economic diplomacy, with the help of policy experience and technology, should concern societies in democracies. The research results can be taken into consideration by policymakers to create an appropriate economic diplomacy framework shaped by European democratic values and respect for human rights.

The aim of the study is to show the opportunities for the development of civil society in the European Union. The results of the Democracy Index and the Gender Equality Index have been used to assess the possibility of realising this idea.
The authors consider what civil society is and how it should be perceived, presenting various definitional traditions and reviewing the definition of the term. The second part of the article analyses the scores that individual European countries have achieved in the two indices under consideration. It allows conclusions to be drawn about European integration in the context of the values that should be cultivated in order to strengthen civil society.

The process of creating cadres of managers was not uniform, so it can be periodized. The professionalization of management initially involved individual industries, and then other branches of the economy. There were views that particular managerial skills, such as selecting personnel, motivating or solving leadership problems, are achieved both through practical experience and through mastery of management theory. A new social role for the emerging group of managers was recognized. The New Public Management Model includes proposals for changes in the system of governance. D. Osborn and T. Gaebert presented ten new principles that modern decision-makers should follow in exercising power. It is often criticized, but undeniably represents a code of rational conduct for government employees. The NZP concept implies: a new approach to the recipient of public services (separating the customer from the provider or contractor of services, realizing that the public is the customer); introducing a quasi-market mechanism (contracting services, regulating the process of service delivery); generating savings and revenues, controlling results; a new pay policy; separating management processes from political activities. To contribute to the success of an organization, managers can instinctively focus on: building the optimal business strategy, hiring the best employees, using the fullest knowledge, streamlining business processes, "squeezing" efficiency out of their organization, responding to market demands. Managers perform many functions: leader, leader, administrator, controller, planner, coordinator, mediator, motivator and advisor.