Challenges for Legislation Related to Political Transformation and European Integration

Abstract

The aim of the article is to identify the reasons for the declining quality of legislation in Poland since 1989. The focus is not on the substance of regulations, which reflect the political choices of lawmakers, but rather on an assessment of law from the perspective of its formulation and legislative correctness. The current state of Polish law is found to be unsatisfactory, even when compared
to legislation enacted during the period of so-called real socialism, that is, under a non-democratic regime. How can this paradox be explained? According to the author, it is partly a consequence of the inherent characteristics of democratic systems, in which law plays a far greater role in regulating social relations than in autocratic systems. The principle of legalism precludes governance by arbitrary or discretionary acts, while the logic of the post-1989 political system frequently necessitates rapid, often imperfect changes to legal regulations. Although law embodies certain autonomous values, its instrumental use has not been entirely avoidable.
These circumstances, of course, do not excuse legislators from enacting poor-quality law; however, they undeniably create challenges that did not exist under the previous system. The flawed model for implementing secondary European Union law is also worth noting, as it contributes to further inconsistencies within the national legal system.