A number of administrative reforms, concerning both the structure of local government and how local power is dispensed have been implemented in Poland since the beginning of the transformations in 1989. They are designed to serve two ends: increasing the state's efficiency and adapting it to the European Union. The process is well advanced, but far from completion.
The reforms are nearly finished at the local level. The central-right government of Solidarity Election Action (AWS) and the Freedom Union (UW) launched the administration reform as of 1999. It is one of the four social reforms they are working to implement, with varied degrees of consistency and success.
At the grassroots level, Poland's administration is fully compatible with Western standards, both in its structure and financial independence. The first step towards a more efficient and European-like system of administration was taken shortly after ousting the communists in 1989. This was the reform of communes, and their authorities, who were the first officials to be chosen in free elections. Currently, there are close to 2,500 communes in Poland. Though the disparity in their wealth is at times tremendous—the richest communes have as much as 70 times more resources at their disposal than the poorest ones—they generally manage to look after their needs.
After the reform, commune-level local administration will keep its responsibilities in the area of everyday life—making decisions concerning municipal economy, water supply and sewage systems, roads and public transport within the commune. Communes are headed by a rural commune administrator or a mayor for cities.
The new administrative structures will require many institutions to adapt to the new framework. Among them are tax offices, the Social Insurance Company (ZUS), courts, prosecutors' offices, and draft boards (WKU). This is because the entire administrative division has changed when the number of provinces was cut from 49 to 16 as of Jan. 1, 1999. The new provinces will finance 27 percent of their operations by themselves, instead of the projected 85 percent.
Apart from launching the new provinces' styructure, this year's reform reintroduced county-level administration: 308 regular counties and 64 townships. In 1975 the government chose to abolish the second level of administration, the 392 counties. Counties are now responsible for issues concerning more than one commune, such as roads and public transport, and high schools. The commune will be responsible also for social welfare, combating unemployment, maintaining law and order, and so on. This is intended to simplify the lives of citizens who were previously obliged to turn to the commune office, the regional office (in the case of some nationwide organizations), the province office (in one of more than 60 "special" administration agendas), or even in Warsaw for assistance in local matters.
However, at the second level of local administration a mere 4 percent of counties' operations will be paid for by funds accrued on their own, locally collected resources (that is, 5 percent of personal income taxes from residents) with the rest coming from current and capital subsidies for specific purposes or for general use.
The introduction of the new administrative division was preceded by tremendous disagreements. The ruling coalition originally proposed 12 provinces, which was supposed to best suit the country's needs and enable seamless cooperation with EU members' regions.
Pessimistic visions of "another partition of Poland" spread by the opposition Polish Peasants' Party (PSL), detailed descriptions of difficulties in certain communes, and booklets such as Oh, Kielce Region, How Beautiful You Are, distributed to all senators, seemed to have no influence on the vote in the Senate. But, after long days and nights of haggling, the parliament agreed to a compromise. There were proposals of 12 to 29 provinces from coalition members and the opposition's demand of a 17-part division. In the end, President Aleksander KwaŒniewski signed the bill providing for 16 provinces.
The previous ruling coalition of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and the PSL also had their share in reforming the administration. They altered the central administration by cutting the number of ministries and reorganizing the old ones. As of the beginning of this year, a new law came into force on administration branches, such as public administration, the state budget, finances, transportation and the environment. This law allows the merger of some of the current 28 branches, ending up with fewer ministries with more powers. But this issue entails changes at the highest levels, so a lot of political goodwill and understanding are essential for its success.
Poland has come quite a long way towards Western-style administration, and its local administrators do surprisingly well without any incentives or supervision from the capital. However, it is the central administration that is failing. The process would have gained more momentum if Poland had a fully-fledged civil service, which—as its head Jan Pastwa puts it—would be "politically neutral." Yet, even Pastwa admits that politicians from all camps are only willing to fill many posts with people linked to them.
Anyhow, the authorities, both at the local and central levels, have to learn a lot. Some of the recent examples included coping with illegal protests like farmers who recently blocked roads throughout the country, or passing bills which don't need to be amended right away.

Tomasz Oljasz

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