Part VI. Questions About The Accountability of The Authorities of The Our Voivodeship
Question 28: Who supervises commune, county, city and voivodeship authorities and how?
28.1 If a Voivodeship Resolution or a Voivodeship Regulation violates higher-order law, the President of the Republic of Poland may file to the Supreme Voivodeship Court for the judicial review of the Resolution or Regulation in question. If the Resolution or Regulation grossly violates the Constitution of the Republic of Poland or a national statute, and in particular, if it undermines the territorial integrity or state security, the President of the Republic of Poland may declare it invalid before referring it for review by the Supreme Voivodeship Court. In that situation, the [national] Supreme Administrative Court may take over the case for its consideration.
28.2 If a resolution or an order of a commune, county or city council violates the norms of higher-level laws, the Voivode may appeal against them to the Supreme Voivodeship Court. If a commune, county or city resolution or order is grossly contrary to the national or voivodeship law, the Voivode may declare it invalid before referring it to the Supreme Voivodeship Court for review.
28.3 The financial management and public procurement matters of subnational authorities of our Voivodeship and in subnational government organizational units and legal persons in our Voivodeship are supervised by the Voivodeship Chamber of Auditors. The Chamber also supervises business entities and other entities with regard to their use of funds from the commune budget, county budget, city budget or our Voivodeship budget.
28.4 The effectiveness of activities of our Voivodeship authorities is supervised by the College of Voivodeships. The relevant panel of the College regularly organize Peer Reviews of key areas of public affairs in our Voivodeship. In the case of finding a prolonged lack of effectiveness of a voivodeship authority in a specific area of public affairs, the College of Voivodeships issues recommendations or appoints accredited advisers, who support our Voivodeship authorities in improving the effectiveness of activities in a given area on an ongoing basis. In the event that these measures do not result in an improved effectiveness, the College of Voivodeships has the right to appoint a Special Commissioner to temporarily manage a given area of public affairs. The Special Commissioner may be introduced for a period not longer than until the Diet election.
28.5 The Voivode supervises the effectiveness of activities of communes, counties and cities. Provisions of section 28.4. shall apply accordingly. A commune, county or city body which is the subject of supervisory activities of the Voivode is entitled to lodge a complaint to the Voivodeship Senate, which may overrule the supervisory decisions of the Voivode by a majority of 60% of votes. The Voivode may transfer their right of supervision over a specific area of public policy in a commune, county or city to the College of Voivodeships, for a period not longer than two years.
28.6 In the event of a gross and repeated violations of the Constitution or national statutes by the Diet, the President of the Republic of Poland shall, by regulation, shorten the term of the Diet. Such a regulation shall enter into force not less than seven days after its promulgation, during which time the Diet may adopt a resolution to address the Senate of the Republic of Poland with an objection to the decision of the President of the Republic of Poland. The Senate of the Republic of Poland may repeal the regulation of the President of the Republic of Poland by a majority of 60% of votes before its entry into force. In a situation in which the activities of the Diet threaten national security and constitutional order, the President, by regulation, shortens the term of the Diet with immediate effect. In such a situation, the Diet is not entitled to lodge a complaint with the Senate of the Republic of Poland.
28.7 If a gross and repeated violation of the Constitution or acts is committed by the Voivode or the Minister of the Voivodeship (including in the exercise of their supervisory powers over the bodies of communal, county and city government), the President of the Republic shall remove them from office. The Voivode or the Minister of the Voivodeship may appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court.
28.8 If, as a result of supervisory activities of the President of the Republic of Poland, a situation arises in which a new Voivode or Ministers of the Voivodeship cannot be immediately appointed in the procedure specified in this Charter, the College of Voivodeships shall appoint the Special Commissioner.
28.9 In the event of a gross and repeated violations of the Constitution, national statutes, this Charter, Voivodeship Basic Resolutions or Voivodeship Resolutions by a commune, county or a city council, the Voivode shall submit a motion to shorten the term of office of the commune, county or a city council. The Diet, by a majority of 2/3 of its full composition, approves the Voivode’s motion. If, on the other hand, such a gross and repeated violations are committed by a Mayor or a Member of a County Board of Executives, the Voivode submits to the Supreme Voivodeship Court a motion for their removal from office.
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