The erosion of the legislative process in Poland

Objectives: In accordance with the provisions of Article 10 paragraph 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, the basic function of the Polish Parliament is a legislative function. However, for years in the field of law making, there have been a number of irregularities related to, among others, overly frequent changes in the legal status, the adverse treatment of public consultations, and undue haste in law making, which all translate into its low quality. Material and methods: The research was conducted using descriptive methods and – due to the legal nature of the publication – the crucial role played dogmatic method, consisting in the interpretation of legal acts and court decisions. Results: During the last parliamentary term, the state of affairs in this field has not improved, and, in many respects, the existing problems have intensified. As a consequence, the standards of the Polish law-making process have deteriorated. The Parliament has become a “manufacturer” of law by which everything can be “produced”. Conclusions: The parliamentary legislative apparatus “spits out” the laws made to order by politicians, and, then, the executive apparatus uses the laws produced in accordance with this political order without taking into account any established principles and universally accepted legislative standards in the democratic world. No one from the ruling group wants to acknowledge that such a law made to be applied on a ‘political order is merely an appearance of law’.