Poland in good constitution? : contemporary issues of constitutional law in Poland in the European context

The institution of constitutional responsibility in theoretical terms 3 Already in antiquity, Tacitus wrote about power as a passion hotter than all the others put together. He pointed out that greed and insolence were the main vices of the mighty and that honours change manners. He reminded us that a 'rotten' state multiplies statutes, and finally he reminded us that 'no power is above the law' . Also, Lord Acton, the English politician and historian, wrote in an 1887 letter to Bishop Creighton that 'Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely ' . 4 This quote has acquired the status of a classic, timeless political aphorism. If the exercise of power corrupts, generating corruption and extreme cynicism and vanity in its holders, then the perpetuation of such a flawed system will cause the political class to alienate itself from society, but society will not remain indebted to it. Rather, society will quickly develop indifference to the affairs of state and politics. The reaction of society to the programmatic distancing of the political class from it will, above all, result in an increasingly low voter turnout. Thus, in the event that the political elite carries out an 'annexation of the state and its procedures' without allowing citizens to express themselves or to feel that they are an important part of the democratic process, the notion of a 'world of unwanted power' is bound to arise in the minds of citizens. Lack of faith in democratic procedures and their institutions will be perpetuated in citizens' understanding. The only remedy for such a situation can be to finally take seriously the idea of responsibility in general and constitutional responsibility in particular and to accept without exception the message 'Ubi imperium, ibi responsibility' ('Where there is power, there is responsibility'). A refusal to unconditionally accept this political motto must ensure that responsibility for violations of the law in the nature of constitutional torts remains a fiction. The solutions adopted even formally in the form of a law will only create the appearance of a democratic state, and de facto will be decorative and tokenistic solutions, the proverbial 'paper sword' , as former US President Woodrow Wilson once called impeachment. If there is a de facto lack of goodwill and purity of intent regarding the enforcement of constitutional accountability, and if power is assumed by casual, depraved people for whom the concepts of ethics, political 3 This part of the study is a revised and updated version of a part of the article: Z. Witkowski, Odpowiedzialność konstytucyjna -'miecz Damoklesa' czy tylko 'miecz papierowy' [Constitutional accountability -a 'sword of Damocles' or just a 'paper sword'], in: Konstytucjonalizm polski. Refleksje z okazji Jubileuszu 70-lecia urodzin i 45-lecia pracy naukowej Profesora Andrzeja Szmyta [Polish Constitutionalism. Reflections on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the birth and 45th anniversary of scientific work of Professor Andrzej Szmyt], eds. P. Uziębło, K.