Self-government of the Masovian Voivodeship

Since 1 January 1999, over 5 million inhabitants of Mazovia, inhabiting an area of ​​35,597 thousand square kilometres, have become, by operation of law, a regional self-governing community. This community and the territory of the voivodeship form the voivodeship self-government.

The inhabitants of a voivodeship constitute a regional self-governing community by operation of law. A voivodeship has legal personality. The system of a voivodeship as a unit of local government is specified by the voivodeship statute adopted after consultation with the Prime Minister. The statute and its amendments are subject to publication in the voivodeship official journal.

The inhabitants of a voivodeship make decisions in a general vote (by way of elections and referendum) or through the voivodeship self-government bodies. The principles and procedure for conducting a referendum are specified in the Act of 15 September 2000 on local referendums (Journal of Laws of 20 October 2000, as amended).

The voivodeship performs its tasks through the voivodeship bodies:

• the elected Regional Assembly of the Masovian Voivodeship (the decision-making and control body),
• the Board of the Mazovian Voivodeship (executive body) appointed by the regional assembly with the Marshal of the Mazovian Voivodeship as its chairman.

Statute of the Mazovian Voivodeship

Since 1 October 2009, the new Statute of the Mazovian Voivodeship has been in force, adopted by resolution no. 145/09 of the Mazovian Voivodeship Assembly of 7 September 2009, amended by resolution no. 201/17 of 21 November 2017 and  no. 148/18 of 18 September 2018. This is a legal act of fundamental importance for the Mazovian Voivodeship, defining its structure and the principles of operation of the voivodeship bodies. It is a kind of “constitution” of the voivodeship.

The scope of activities of the provincial government includes performing public tasks of a provincial nature, not reserved by law for the government administration bodies.

The provincial government, performs public tasks specified by law in its own name and on its own responsibility, water management, including flood protection, and in particular the equipment and maintenance of provincial flood storage facilities. It also has at its disposal provincial property and independently manages finances based on the budget.

In order to perform tasks, the voivodeship creates voivodeship self-government organizational units and may conclude agreements with other entities, in particular with other voivodeships and local government units from the voivodeship area, agreements on entrusting the performance of public tasks. In addition, the provincial government determines the province development strategy, and government conducts a provincial development policy.