Interventions

Together with the Institute of Public Finance, we submitted a petition to the Chancellery of the Prime Minister regarding the Central Register of Contracts, which is to come into force in Poland in January 2026. The Central Register of Contracts (CRU) is an ICT system created for entities performing public tasks, whose purpose is to provide access to information about the contracts they conclude.

In the petition, signed by 1,254 individuals and 46 organizations, we appeal not to raise the threshold for publishing contracts in the register from PLN 500 to PLN 10,000. The Central Register of Contracts is intended to be a groundbreaking tool for democratic citizen control, strengthening the transparency of public finances and trust in the state. Increasing the threshold above which information about a contract must be published will result in up to 70% of public sector spending being hidden. Research by the Institute of Public Finance and the Watchdog Polska Civic Network shows that the vast majority of citizens expect full transparency of contracts and hope that the Register will restore trust in public institutions.

The Watchdog Poland Civic Network supported the Freedom Foundation (operating in Lublin, a city in eastern Poland) in preparing a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights. The case concerns the refusal to disclose a contract related to the revitalization of a park in Lublin, which the city authorities attached to their application for European funds.

The city invoked the provisions of the 2022 implementation act, which prohibit the disclosure of documents submitted with grant applications. The administrative courts in Poland ultimately ruled that such an exemption from disclosure was lawful. Our organizations decided to seek justice in Strasbourg.

At the local level

On September 26, the Civic Network began recruiting for the fifth edition of the course “(No) Hope for Small and Large Municipalities”. The course is aimed at people involved in local government – residents, councilors, village leaders – who want to learn more about how municipalities work and the tools of civic control. The course includes 10 online webinars (from November 2025 to March 2026), course materials, a discussion group, and legal consultations with the Watchdog Polska team.

Our organization has also launched a project on transparency in lobbying at the local government level, called “Local Influence, Shared Control.” We focus on education, monitoring, and advocacy in the area of stakeholder relations with local authorities. The first meeting is already behind us!

Daily life at Watchdog Poland

In September, we said goodbye to Zenon Michajłowski, a legend of Watchdog and one of the founders and members of the Watchdog Poland Civic Network. He was with us from the very beginning and remained actively interested and involved in transparency issues throughout his life. Few people in Poland can boast such a long and consistent history of fighting for the right to information. Back in the 1990s, Zenon noted that access to information about the activities of the authorities is not a privilege, but a fundamental right of citizens. In 1996, he initiated one of the first court cases in Poland concerning access to information. The 1997 Constitution of the Republic of Poland and the subsequent Act on Access to Public Information did not yet exist. The case ended with a landmark ruling: the court ruled that in order to be able to make rational decisions, the residents of a municipality should be aware of the activities of the municipal authorities in various aspects, and referred to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights in its justification.