Constitutional principles and practice of decentralization reform implementation in France, Portugal and Poland

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the constitutional principles and practice of the decentralization reform’s implementation in states that are members of EU. For the study purposes France, Portugal and Poland were chosen as EU countries that are part of the group of unitary states that are at the stage of implementing reform of decentralization. However, it is noted that each of them has different results of the decentralization policy’s implementation at present. It was determined that, regardless of the effectiveness of the manifestations, decentralization in EU countries is based on shared ideas and values. At the same time, it is established by the authors that the nature of the decentralization process reflects the national characteristics of each state provided for by the legislation of countries in EU. However, it is noted that in the constitutions of EU member states, decentralization of power is secured as the basis of the constitutional order. It is emphasized that each of the analyzed states has secured strategic issues of state's power decentralization in its law, and supplementing the existing legislation with additional legal acts related to the decentralization process contributes to more effective implementation of its key provisions in practice. It is accentuated that the nature of constitutional consolidation's manifestations of the decentralization process was influenced by the legal tradition, national-historical features, the past experience of public authorities’ functioning and features of the administrative-territorial organization of states. The processes that are universal for the decentralization policy in the EU member states and that influenced the development of local government in them are identified. The multidimensionality of the decentralization process is emphasized. The characteristic features of political, administrative and fiscal decentralization are specified. The practical aspects of the decentralization reform in France, Portugal and Poland were analyzed using the Decentralization Index, developed by the European Committee of the Regions as part of the analysis of the separation of powers. It was established that the specified measurements of decentralization in each studied country develop asymmetrically, universal factors are the reluctance of central state authorities to transfer part of their powers to local authorities, the desire to maintain influence on the regional level of government, financial limitations of local budgets and the lack of independence in matters of making decisions by local government.