Administrative and Legal Nature of Granting City Status at the Request of the Commune

Abstract

The creation, merging and erasing of municipalities and poviats is the responsibility of the Council of Ministers, which makes these changes by way of a regulation. It is not clear from the regulations what should distinguish a rural from an urban commune. The city should have social and technical infrastructure as well as urban layout and nature of buildings. In the Act on commune self-government, settlement and spatial boundaries, taking into account social, economic and cultural ties as well as ensuring the ability to perform public tasks, were indicated as criteria for changes and establishing the boundaries of communes. The lack of a legal definition of municipal rights and specific conditions to be met by a town or commune seeking to obtain the status of a city seem to be in conflict with the principle of legal certainty, which is also influenced by the wide scope of administrative discretion. Obtaining the status of a city satisfies the ambitions of the inhabitants and gives the town a kind of prestige, mainly associated with promotional and marketing values. The status of the city is granted by way of a regulation of the Council of Ministers, which has a specific character - it does not establish general and abstract norms, but resolves the individual case of a commune or town.