Kilka uwag o bezstronności władz publicznych na kanwie wniosku o usunięcie krzyża z sali posiedzeń Sejmu RP
Some Remarks on Impartiality of the Public Authorities: the Motion for the Removal of the Cross from the Sessions Chamber of the Polish Sejm

Summary/Abstract: On 9 November 2001, a group of MPs requested, pursuant to Article 10(1)(13) of the Rules of Procedure of the Polish Sejm, that the Speaker “issues an order to remove the Latin cross overlooking the sessions chamber of the parliament from the wall.” The submitted justification indicated that the presence of the cross in the sessions chamber of the Sejm does not fall within the provision of Article 25(2) of the Constitution, which lays down the principle of impartiality of public authorities in matters of religious, personal or philosophical persuasion. The author poses a question of whether this view is tenable. In search for answers, the author addresses the following problems: public authorities as an entity of impartiality, impartiality as neutrality in the open sense and case-law concerning the exposure of the cross in the session rooms of local self-government bodies. The author concludes that both the doctrine and the existing case-law shows no contradiction between the constitutional principle of impartiality of public authorities and the exposure of the cross in public authority assembly rooms.

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