Participation budgeting in Poland. Analysis of legal regulations

The realization of citizens (participatory) budgets became one of the fixed duties incumbent upon the authorities of Polish cities. Local governments still more willingly engage their respective citizens and enable them to make decisions related not only to local finances. Social consultations are an exceptionally important process allowing the administration to get acquainted with the public opinion or proposals put forward by the citizens who are – directly or indirectly – affected by the problems in question. Until 2019, Polish participatory budgets were realized based on the provisions of The Gmina Self-Government Act of 8 March 1990; or, to put it more precisely, based on Article 5a, which provided that when it comes to the issues which are important for a gmina, social consultations with citizens may be conducted. However, social consultations are not binding. On the other hand, as for participatory budgets, a different solution was adopted. The authorities of gminas declared that the decisions made by citizens will be recognized as binding by the former (Kraszewski, Mojkowski, 2014). The amendment of the wording of the relevant acts hitherto operative urges the author of the present paper to pose at this point the question about the necessity of legal regulations pertinent to the mechanism of a participatory budget. Did Polish budgets actually call for such wordings? And, will particular solutions included in the Act lead in the near future to diminishing the budget’s role in shaping broadly understood participation among citizens? Taking heed of the imperfections of the said wordings, the present paper constitutes an attempt at pointing to the problems posed by the Act itself that local governments are facing.The main research method applied by the author to the subject matter contained herein is an analysis of sources; and in particular, an analysis of the wordings of the Act of 11 January 2018 on amending certain acts to increase the participation of citizens in the process of electing, operating and controlling certain public bodies (Journal of Laws 2018.130).