Are national institutions implementing European Union funds part of the EU institutional system sensu largo? Observations from the perspective of Poland

Abstract

The measure of the efficiency of any international organization is its institutions equipped with appropriate powers and executive apparatus. The European Union, like other international organizations, has its own structures that form a kind of institutional system. Practice shows that the elements that make up this system sensu stricte are not self-sufficient, which means that their work for the implementation of EU policies often requires the involvement of the national institutions of member states. This kind of practice is characteristic of the implementation of EU cohesion policy. The questions therefore arise: whether and on what basis do national institutions implementing EU funds in member states become part of the institutional system of the European Union sensu largo? and what effects does this have on the system of implementation of European Union funds? The article analyzes the concept of the EU institutional system sensu largo. It also discusses the special significance of the principle of subsidiarity for the functioning of the EU institutional system. It concludes with a reconstruction of the "subsidiarity" of the institutional system of the European Union and points out its national consequences. The author's thesis is that national institutions implementing EU funds are part of the institutional system of the EU sensu largo through the implementation of the EU principle of subsidiarity, which in turn causes certain consequences for the Polish system of implementing EU funds. The article was written using a dogmatic and descriptive method.