Faculty of Social Sciences University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava RETHINKING THE PRESIDENCY: Challenges and Failures Edited by Blanka Říchová Radosław Kubicki Aaron Walter Conference Proceedings, International Scientific Conference 2nd December 2014 Trnava City Hall Trnava, Slovakia Trnava 2015 RETHINKING THE PRESIDENCY: Challenges and Failures Conference Proceedings from International Scientific Conference “Presidential Powers and their Transformation in the Political Systems”, 2nd December 2014, Trnava City Hall, Trnava, Slovakia Editors-in-chief: prof. PhDr. Blanka Říchová, CSc. Radosław Kubicki, Ph.D. Aaron Walter, Ph.D. Managing editors: PhDr. Marek Hrušovský PhDr. Pavol Juhás Cover: PhDr. Viera Žúborová, Ph.D. Reviewers: dr hab. prof. UPH Arkadiusz Indraszczyk doc. Mgr. Peter Juza, PhD., CSc. doc. JUDr. Jana Reschová, CSc. dr hab. Andrzej Florian Dubicki All the submitted papers were individually reviewed in an anonymous double blind peer review process on the basis of which the editor decided about their publication in the conference proceedings. The authors are responsible for technical content and linguistic correctness. © Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovakia, 2015. ISBN 9 SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE BOARD prof. PhDr. Blanka Říchová, CSc. Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic prof. zw. dr hab. Ryszard M. Czarny University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovakia prof. PhDr. Marcela Gbúrová, CSc. Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia prof. Dr. Valeriu Mosneaga, DrSc. University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovakia prof. Jean-Michel De Waele Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium prof. Šarūnas Liekis Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania prof. zw. dr hab. Jerzy Jaskiernia The Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, Poland prof UG, dr hab. Arkadiusz Modrzejewski University of Gdansk, Poland doc. PhDr. Michel Perottino, Ph.D. Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic CONTENTS PRESIDENTS – INSTITUTIONAL GROWTH IN CENTRAL EUROPEAN POLITICS p. 9 Blanka Říchová MY IMPORTANT KEY EVENTS p. 15 Aleksander Kwaśniewski PRESIDENCY OF ALEKSANDER KWAŚNIEWSKI IN POLAND (1995-2005): COMPETENCE, DECISION-MAKING, ANDPOLITICALTHOUGHT p. 19 Arkadiusz Modrzejewski PRESIDENTIAL POWER AND AUTHORITY IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC ACCORDED BY THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT p. 33 Ladislav Orosz JUDICIAL CONTROL OVER PRESIDENTIAL ACTS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC p. 51 Zdeněk Koudelka THE PRESIDENTIAL MODEL IN THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND – CONSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATIONS AND POLITICAL PRACTICE p. 79 Jerzy Jaskiernia THE SLOVAK PRESIDENT AND PARLIAMENT: A COMPLEX HISTORICAL ARRANGEMENT p. 99 Peter Horváth THE PRESIDENTIAL CABINET IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC: A SYMPTOM OF PARLIAMENTARY REGIME PROBLEMS p. 117 Miloš Brunclík THE PRESIDENTIAL MODEL IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND p. 135 Łukasz Pikuła – Hubert Kaczmarczyk ALWAYS THE SAME, BUT CONSTANTLY CHANGING: A COMPARISON OF THE POSITION AND THE ROLE OF THE PRESIDENT IN FRANCE SINCE 1958 p. 145 Michel Perottino DEMOCRACY OR AUTHORITARIANISM – CHALLENGES FOR PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES p. 157 Jakub Potulski IS THERE AN AMERICANISATION OF POLITICAL CAMPAINGS IN SLOVAKIA? PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS 2014 p. 167 Viera Žúborová DIRECT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC – THE CZECH EXPERIENCE p. 187 Pavel Šaradín RETHINKING THE PRESIDENCY: Challenges and Failures PRESIDENTS – INSTITUTIONAL GROWTH IN CENTRAL EUROPEAN POLITICS The position of president was one of the institutions with which in the countries of Central Europe, there was no particular problems during the initial years of transformation. It was counted on that this institution would be a natural part of the newly constructed institutional conditions of a functioning democracy and that it would– should the experiences from history allow – build on the status of this institution from the years prior to the enforcement of socialism. In some cases, such as in Czechoslovakia, it was the tradition and the possibility to look up to the historically first democratic leadership model created after the collapse of the Austro- Hungarian Empire that played a crucial role. The first president, T. G. Masaryk evoked the image that all the following elected presidents in a democracy or more precisely a democratising environment must have; above all morally strong values and as a result of that, individuals that are highly valued and respected, and individuals that almost all the people of the country can identify with regardless of the newly established constitutional rights (any critical views of the acts of the president were after 1989 considered rather incorrect sometimes even heretical). Hence during the first years of the transition the president appeared not only as an important moral authority but also as a significant constitutional institution whose competences and influence apply exclusively or preferentially to the constitutional text. The rules of the game, the political space that is so difficult to defy and get hold of, in which all politicians move, that plays a fundamental role also for the evaluation of political impact and for determination of the possibilities and limits of the factual influence of a particular individual in various political systems. But the president is also an important and significant political actor bound not only by the formal rules of the constitution. As it has been frequently documented over the last quarter of a century by the changes in the political environments of Central European countries, presidents have managed to strengthen their influence not through compliance of the rules but rather through their interpretation (quite often based on the saying „whatever is not expressly forbidden, is allowed“). In the conference proceedings of the international conference called Presidential Powers and their Transformation in Political Systems that took place in December 2014 at the University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava one of the key issues 9 RETHINKING THE PRESIDENCY: Challenges and Failures of presidential powers is its constitutional roots. It can be documented by Ladislav Orosz and Zdeněk Koudelka analysing the legal control of presidential acts in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic which are complemented by the detailed analysis of the Polish situation in the years 1995-2005 carried out by Arkadiusz Modrzejewski. The interpretation of set constitutional rules as a base to strengthen and draw attention to presidential influence on the current situation, aspiration to increase their presence in the political arena (in some cases almost at all times) against other politicians in the political environment, where instead of bipartisanship, partisanship occurs have showed significant trends of the transformation of the Central European political systems after the formal disposal of the socialistic model of leadership – a prime example of this can be the Czech political environment after the election of Miloš Zeman in the first direct presidential elections in 2013 as documented by Pavel Šaradín in his contribution. The Czech Republic is not an exception. Practically all Central European countries have had to more or less gradually cope with the fact that rather than the constitutional framework defining the competences of presidents it was for the new “holders of the post” their personal abilities to increase their presence in the system, use various ways in order to draw attention to their own influence and their political ambitions despite the fact that these were not always carried out in a constitutional way. It cannot be stated that the French Fifth Republic model would be a direct inspiration for new Central European politicians claiming participation in democratic leadership including ambitious personalities applying for presidential office. As the analysis carried out by Michel Perottino shows it is the French system which as a comparative example exploits the flexibility of the constitutional model. Regardless, it is obvious that the tendencies to strengthen the role of the executive body in the new Central European democracies proved to be significant (this fact is documented by the detailed analysis of the position of the Polish president by Jerzy Jaskiernia). This was also mostly connected with the introduction of direct presidential elections as documented by Miloš Brunclík, Peter Horváth or Viera Žúborová and Pavel Šaradín. While political studies’ analyses the praxis of presidential systems (naturally the American system) or the so called Semi-presidential models of leadership such as the French Fifth Republic model for the classification of the political leadership of the presidents, the issue of character of the presidential leadership in the parliamentary system has not yet been sufficiently explored. Hence the aim of this composition of analyses 10 RETHINKING THE PRESIDENCY: Challenges and Failures devoted to the topic of presidential leadership in the parliamentary system in Central European nations. The result of case studies dedicated to Slovak (text by Peter Horváth and Viera Žúborová), Polish (the already mentioned analysis by Jerzy Jaskiernia and Arkadiusz Modrzejewski) as well as the Czech political scene (the contribution by Miloš Brunclík) illustrates, the extent to which the political speeches of the presidents and their active interventions into politics can influence other constitutional and political actors and the impact (quite often morally problematic) they have on the society as