The Development of Participation Budget in the Civic Society of Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodship
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LAW AND ADMINISTRATION IN POST–SOVIET EUROPE Vol. I/2018: 52–63 DOI: 10.2478/lape-2018-0006 Adam Strzelecki Kolegium Jagiellońskie TSW The Development of Participation Budget in the Civic Society of Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodship Key words: civic budget, participation, identity, kujawsko-pomorskie voivodship, civil society Introduction ing public activity, or citizens` involvement, as electoral participation, or obligatory participation. Within social Taking into account forms of undertaken social ac- participation develops the participation of citizens in tivities, most of all one can distinguish consultations disposing of the budget means to realize tasks referring with inhabitants in issues concerning: landscape man- to the functioning of a city and its administrative units. agement, the functioning of health care, culture and The opportunity to take part in the process of creating sports units, and recently planning the civil budget. a participation budget strengthens the awareness of Understood as such, social participation is possible due each inhabitant of the fact that they can actively par- to the access to public information, information flow ticipate in managing the issues of their local commu- and the exchange of information between citizens and nity. Such a creative opportunity of each citizen`s par- public authorities/ administration. Participation, in ticipation in the selection of aims and means for their Latin particeps, means taking part, and in English par- achievement influences on the sense of worth, and is an ticipation taking part by individuals in a larger group, added value to an individual identity, and additionally formation, project or institution. Bearing such a mean- affects its development. ing, public participation will indicate activities aimed There are various forms of consultations in the in- at the participation of citizens, legal subjects and vari- stitution of civil budget, which in limited way may de- ous organizations in public life of a particular commu- serve the form of direct democracy according to the law nity. It ought to be comprehended as the participation that is currently in force. Yet, in places where civil bud- in processes of undertaking and fulfilling projects and get has been passed, there is an actual participation of decisions concerning the development and functioning inhabitants in spending budget means for chosen city, of a city, borough, residential estate, or even as it is pos- borough or residential area projects. Despite the lack of sible in Ukraine, a street. Therefore, public participa- legal regulation which makes the basis for establishing tion may manifest itself in multitude of ways, includ- civic budgets, one ought to appreciate the increasing Adam Strzelecki: The Development of Participation Budget... 53 the stimulation of inhabitants to activity, which is in- i.e. the opportunity of active participation of citizens in dispensable in creation of civil society. organization of a civil society. The article aims at the assessment of a phenome- The term of social participation includes the involve- non of the development of civil budget basing on the ment of citizens in activities of structures and institu- example of cities in kujawsko-pomorskie voivodship tions in a democratic state, which means the participa- throughout the period of several years. The research tion in the institutions of public authority as well as or- method applied in conducting the study was a com- ganizations of public sector managed by them6. In the parative analysis conducted on the basis of information sphere of public finances one encounters civil participa- included on the Internet sites in cities and communes. tion in the process of establishing the institutions of The study also takes into account the outcome of other participation budget, called also civil budget7. It seems researches. that auxiliary facilities of local self-government, such as councils and administration of boroughs, or coun- cils and administration of residential estates ought to Legal conditioning of participation budget play significant part in the process of establishing civil in Poland budgets8. Although, representatives of these units are closest to inhabitants and know best their problems, ex- The participation of a society in performing power pectations, and needs, in fact they are most frequently affects the shaping of citizens` awareness referring to not treated as partners in taking financial decisions that their legal and actual status, thus it influences their are most important in cities9. Article 5a of the Act on identity. In identity understood as, „a complex of im- Commune Self-government is the legal basis for the in- ages, feelings, judgements, memories and projections of stitution of civil budget10. It grants the authorization to a subject, which he relates to himself, are also such ele- conduct consultations with inhabitants of a commune ments as: self-awareness of an individual, the awareness on its area in cases of significance for a commune. It of continuity and remaining oneself in changing life ought to be remarked though, that it is merely a pos- conditions, the awareness of participation of a subject sibility, not an obligation. Moreover, the result of such in social groups, the ability to make interpersonal and a kind of social consultations is not binding for com- group comparisons1. Regardless of the significance of mune authorities. the ascribed national identity of cultural accents, more In the process of establishing civic budget it is more and more frequently the identity of a higher rank, i.e. a social agreement rather than a legal one, since com- European identity, is being searched for2. There also mune authorities declare that decisions of inhabitants emerged doubts whether the development of Euro- concerning the choice of assignments to be realized pean identity would result in the decomposition of a will be treated by them as binding. However, in case of national identity3. An individual identity, personal one, making such a social agreement between councilors and stems from the need for uniqueness and is shaped by citizens, enforcing it by citizens would not have any so- the need to search for and create the meaning of life4. cial basis, and as such would be impossible. It is so since An identity of a human being is the vision of oneself, imagination of who one is. A personal identity concerns 6 J. Gralczyk, What is Participation, http://www.decyduj- an individual and is shaped due to the need to search myrazem.pl/partycypacja/co_to_jest_partycypacja__.html, [23 10 2015]. and create the meaning of life,which is characteristic for 7 5 A. Strzelecki, Participation Budget,in: Local Self-govern- a human being . The shape of an individual identity ment in Poland.. Selected Aspects of Functioning, ed. Z. Bu- is affected by the opportunity of social participation, kowski and S. Kamosiński, the Publishing house of Kazimierz Wielki University, Bydgoszcz 2014, p. 254–257 1 W. Kamiński, An Adult Individual in the Situations of 8 A. Strzelecki, „The Shaping of the Institution of Civil Bud- Endangered Identity, In: The Introduction to andragogy. Ed. get in Poland”,in: „Zeszyty Naukowe WSG – Ekonomia 7/2015 T. Wujek, Warszawa 1996, p. 7. vol. 26” Wyższa Szkoła Gospodarki, Bydgoszcz 2015, p. 179. 2 Ibidem. 9 The Functioning of Auxiliary Facilities of a Commune in 3 Ibidem. Selected Cities of śląskie Voivodship, http://bonafides.pl/pu- 4 E. Górnikowska-Zwolak, The Social Role of Woman in Si- blikacje/funkcjonowanie-jednostek-pomocniczych-gminy-w- lesian Tradition against the requirements of Modern Society. Di- wybranych-miastach-wojewodztwa-slaskiego/,[09 12 2015]. lemmas of coherent identity, In: Education towards Global Or- 10 The Act of th8 March 1990 on local self-government (Dz. der. Ed. T. Lewowicki Warszawa 2002, p. 223. U. 1990 nr 16, poz. 95 – tekst jednolity. w Dz. U. z dn. 04 04 5 Ibidem. 2016 r. poz. 446). 54 Law and Administration in Post-Soviet Europe a councilor must not be burdened in his free mandate ment in the regulations, that there is the requirement by any obligation referring to the manner of executing of enclosing to the form the list of minimum 25 people it. The fulfilling of promises during the consultation of supporting a particular project, who are over 16 and assignments included in a participation budget on prin- have permanent registration of residence in Chełmno ciple depends on the formulation of procedures regulat- on the day of forwarding of a project15. ing the introduction of civil budget. When they grant The term of an inhabitant who can participate in authorities the possibility to alter assignments selected social consultations concerning the creation of civic by inhabitants, or their voice is treated as a suggestion, budget must not be identified with the legal status of it may be assumed that there is a risk of alteration or the an individual holding the right of franchise. Depriv- collapse of a civil budget. It results from the practice in ing a commune inhabitant of public rights, election other countries (e.g. in cities of northern Italy)11. rights or interdiction does not mean depriving him of A circle of people entitled to participation in social the right to participate in consultations”. It was con- consultations, determined in a law, poses a significant firmed by Wojewódzki Sąd Administracyjny in Opole problem referring to social consultations. The Act on in the decision from the 12th June 2006, stating in the Commune Self-government points at inhabitants di- decision from 12th June 2006 that, „a council does not rectly. It is confirmed by the court sentence issued on have the legislative delegation to limit the circle of in- 29th April 2001 by Wojewódzki Sąd Administracyjny dividuals entitled to participate in consultations to the (provincial administrative court) in Wrocław12, which inhabitants holding franchise”16. What is of interest in emphasised in the judgement that it is not a competence the above case is the standpoint of the Supreme Admin- of a commune organ (art.