Selected legal and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic that impact the organization of participatory budgeting in Poland

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the consequences of the global COVID-19 pandemic that impact the operation and organization of one of the most important participatory processes in Poland—participatory budgeting.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The article discusses selected legal and economic consequences of holding participatory budgeting during the COVID-19 pandemic and at the same time identifies postulates for the future.

FINDINGS: The article has proven that the largest Polish cities, where participatory budgeting is obligatory, did not experience economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the contrary, in a municipality where this obligation did not apply, the authorities decided to suspend the procedure and allocate the funds to other, more important public purposes.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The result of the analysis shows that Polish participatory budgetingrelated legislation is not ready for unforeseeable, emergency crisis situations. The inflexibility of legal regulations magnified by social concerns for the consequences of the pandemic and also uncertainty as to economic effects of such situations unequivocally show that provisions for extraordinary situations must be introduced.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This research is the author’s original study.