Zasada subsydiarności w organizacji i funkcjonowaniu samorządu terytorialnego w III Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej

This article aims to show the impact of subsidiarity on the shape and functioning of self-government at the local level after the political transformation in the Republic of Poland. The analysis covers the main determinants of implementation of the principle of subsidiarity — from the territorial ones, determining the place of local government in the organizational structure of the State, those relating to the distribution of power (public tasks and competence to perform them) between the central government and the local government (degree of autonomy) and between local government units vertically and horizontally. The principle of subsidiarity in Poland at first (in the first decade after the transformation) manifested itself as a kind of directive for the lawmakers to create institutions in such a way that allows decisions to be made at the lowest possible level, and then as a legal principle that enables verification of the use of powers given to those institutions and assessment of compatibility of their functioning with the subsidiarity. Although the current conditions are not sufficient for the full implementation of the principle of subsidiarity, it seems that the Constitution creates a possibility to deepen this process.