Sejm i Senat wobec wyzwań Unii Europejskiej

The article’s goal is to present the consequences of Polish membership in the European Union (EU) for the functioning of the Polish Sejm and Senate at the national and international level. Polish accession to the European Union resulted in changes to the scope of competences of certain organs of the Republic of Poland. This was related to the transfer of specific state competences to an international organization and it applied, in particular, to the Polish Parliament (the Sejm and Senate) which has lost its primary role as legislator of laws applicable in Poland. In order to avoid the marginalization of national parliaments in the EU decision-making process, appropriate legal measures have been introduced at the national and international level. Additionally, after the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force, national parliaments have received new competences which allowed them to exist on the forum of the European Union. The article puts forward the thesis that the Polish Sejm and Senate have lost their position as main legislative bodies at the national level but, at the same time, they have acquired a new European function which can neither be qualified as traditionally understood legislative nor controlling functions.