Kompetencyjny charakter art. 126 Konstytucji RP

Article 126 of the Polish Constitution depicts the position of the President of the Republic. It is claimed that this provision does not provide for any competences of the Head of State. It only shows his or her functions and political role. The President exercises his or her powers by the competences specifi ed in other constitutional provisions and statutes. The authors of the article do not share that view. They contend that, in some circumstances, Article 126 of the Constitution can be a mere basis for President’s competences for which there are no other legal grounds. According to this, the Head of State is entitled to act authoritatively, especially to compel other authorities to do something or to refrain from doing something. The President has the right to take actions based on Article 126 of the Constitution in two situations: (1) when this is legitimated by constitutional tradition; (2) when this is legitimated by political necessity. Some duties and functions of the President have been formed outside the legal system. In a political system some actions of authorities are legitimated by practice, customs, habits, conventions and precedents. The state of political necessity is a situation of a very serious political or structural crisis of the State when there is no possibility to dissolve the problem by ordinary constitutional instruments. Constitutional provisions do not include any regulations which allow to obviate the threat. In such situation, the President as a guardian of sovereignty and security of the State is legitimated by Article 126 of the Constitution to take actions to defuse the crisis.