28^th Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities – 24-26 March 2015

Statement by Mr Stanisław Huskowski, State Secretary at The Ministry of Administration and Digitization of Poland

Local and Regional Democracy in Poland

Strasbourg, 26 March 2015

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Dear President of the Congress,

Secretary General of the Congress,

Dear congress members,

At the beginning, I would like to thank the rapporteurs Mr Jos Wienen, Ms Cynthia HUGHES, as well as Ms Sedef CANKOÇAK Co-Secretary to the Monitoring Committee of the Congress and Prof. Dr. Angel MORENO President of the Group of Independent Experts on the European Charter of Local Self-Government of the Congress for the monitoring visit, which took place in May 2014. And most of all I would like to thank for the preparation of the report.

Prepared at the request of Congress the Report coincided with the 25th anniversary of the establishment of local government in Poland.

After regaining its independence, Poland began the process of forming of a new state by establishing in 1990 local self-government in the form of municipality (gmina), as a foundation for further reforms in the country. The model for the Polish experience was the European Charter of Local Self-Government ratified in 1993. In the late 90s subsequent elements of the local and regional self-government in the form of counties (poviats) and regions (voivodeships) were established. Since the creation of the local self-government in Poland, we have worked continuously on improving the idea of ​​self-government by adjusting its functioning so as to meet the needs of local communities as well as face the challenges of the modern European state.

Now we're ready to take the next step, during 25 years of self-government in Poland, we have trained local leaders who have the courage and experience to carry out tasks relevant to the local and regional communities, effectively take advantage of all available legal forms and opportunities guaranteed by the state, and the result of their work is local and regional development of the state. Without the daily commitment of the local self-government representatives the development of the state is not possible.

The last local elections showed that almost half of the elected councillors, especially in the municipalities, and city mayors were non-partisan and represented their local electorate. This demonstrates that the local communities identify themselves to a large extend with their representatives.

To ensure adequate funding for transferred tasks we are trying to develop a methodology to estimate the cost of performing the tasks, by examining the amount of effort and time spent to execute given activity. This will allow for better matching of funds to meet the needs of local and regional communities and ongoing monitoring thereof. On March 25 of this year, at a meeting of the Joint Commission of Central Government and Local Government a debate took place on this issue with representatives of self-government, the Ministry of Finance and governors [voivodes] (representatives of the central government in the region).

 

The best place for a debate on the shape of self-governance in Poland, and directions of further decentralization is the Joint Commission of Central Government and Local Government, which represents a forum for ongoing debate of central government and local self-government in all matters relating to the local self-government. Work in thematic teams covering all aspects of local self-government operations, as well as monthly assemblies allow for reaching a consensus on current issues and the most important ones in difficult cases.

 

Bearing in mind that some areas of activity of the local self-government are overregulated, currently works are underway at the Ministry of Administration and Digitization with important participation of local self-government party gathered in the Joint Commission of Government and Local Government, on the review of the tasks / competencies implemented by local self-governments in order to identify areas where even greater decentralization of tasks is possible. This applies to strengthening of local government in the following areas: competence, economic, institutional, and territorial. The ultimate solution should be financial self-sufficiency of local self-governments, adjusted only in a narrow range with compensatory mechanism. Establishing PIT as entirely self-government tax is also contemplated. Work is also underway on changing the provisions to allow an increase in the minimum monthly wage rates of local self-government employees.

Works are also underway to change the provisions of the compensatory system. Until now, compensatory contributions to the benefit of poorer units of local self-government were made by the richest regions. We hope that the new comprehensive solutions developed in dialogue with the local self-government party will help to stabilize the system of contributions and payments to poorer local self-governments.

 

Another extremely difficult issue is, for example, financing of tasks in the area of ​​education borne by local self-governments. Due to inter alia the demographic low, the question arises whether local self-governments in small communities can maintain schools while providing the adequate level of education. This is difficult challenge, and requires compromise between local self-governments, the central government and the trade unions of education workers, but I believe that we can succeed.

 

Although Poland has not signed the Additional Protocol of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, it guarantees for its citizens, among others, the right to participate in the work of legislative bodies, access to information, the right to organize a referendum, possibility to establish in the municipalities of senior and youth councils as a forum for consultation of issues relevant to given group. This idea also includes village funds as another form of stimulation of local activity, addressed to the smallest local communities - residents of rural areas. The municipality, which transfers money to the villagers to bring to life small investments, gets it back from the state budget. Starting this year, the amount of transferred money from the state budget for this purpose has increased. Noteworthy is the new instrument in Poland in form of civic budget, the idea still under development, and very popular among the residents of municipalities.

The report clearly indicates that Poland fulfils the provisions of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, we thank for the recommendations made at the time of drafting further changes in the local self-government system they certainly will be taken into account.

 

In conclusion, I would like to add, that having a strong self-government enables us to feel that Poland is strong European country. Experience of representatives of local and regional communities acquired in the last 25 years is important for the further reform of local self-government and the state. There are many challenges ahead, and only through constant cooperation between local self-government and the central government we are able to meet them.

 

Thank you for your attention.