By our EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert Dorota Pudzianowska

On 18 January 2012, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal will consider the new Polish nationality law (case no. Kp 5/09) at a public hearing. The Act of Parliament was referred to the Constitutional Tribunal in the ex ante constitutional review procedure by the President of Poland on 27 April 2007. The Act has not been promulgated awaiting the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal. It provides that Voivods be authorized to ‘acknowledge the Polish nationality’ of specific categories of foreigners. In the motion, it was argued that the new power of the Voivods amounts to a power of granting citizenship (in the special ‘acknowledgment procedure’) and violates the Constitution in that it strips the President of its prerogative of exclusivity in granting Polish nationality. Both Sejm and Prosecutor General presented official positions according to which the law does not violate the Constitution. If the Tribunal finds the law in accordance with the Constitution, the President will be obligated to sign the statute and order its promulgation. Thereafter, Polish nationality law will provide for a discretionary grant of nationality by the President and administrative grant of nationality by Voivods.