The Laws on the Organization of the Administration in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia: A Comparative Analysis in the Context of European Integration

Abstract

In this article, the author provides a comparative analysis of the laws on the organization of the administration at the levels of central and local government in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The article includes selected modifications of these laws resulting from European integration. The first part deals with the differences and similarities provided by the constitutions of each of the countries regarding the organization of government, the prime minister and the ministers, their supporting bodies, and the president of state, as well as other central and regional state administration bodies. In this context, the position of the government/council of ministers in relation to other central state organs, the appointment, removal and role of the prime minister and the ministers—as well as the powers of the government/council of ministers—are discussed and related to the parliamentary and semi-presidential systems of government. The second part deals with the levels of local and superior territorial self-government: it describes the structure, organs and responsibilities of these levels of self-government, as well as other forms of (self-)government. Except in Poland, which has three levels of local self-government, there is a two-tier structure of local self-government, comprising communes/municipalities and a superior territorial unit. The organs of territorial self-government usually consist of a directly elected decision-making body, an executive body appointed by the former and a chief executive who is either appointed by the body of representatives or elected by the voters resident in the relevant self-government unit. Finally , the responsibilities of the self-government units can be distinguished as those within the sphere of independent responsibilities and those within the sphere of transferred or devolved responsibilities and, in some cases, also voluntary and mandatory responsibilities.