The thesis provides a complex analysis of the activity of NGOs of Poland in the context of its European integration. It was proven that the civil society activation was happening in conditions of transformation processes and democracy transit. The peculiarities of the work of non-governmental organizations during the change of the foreign policy vector were determined. The study systemizes the theoretical and methodological foundations of studying this field for they have an interdisciplinary foundation and are based on the theory of democracy, transitology, system approach, namely, the networks theory, and have the features of neoinstitutionalism. The political and legal basis for civil society organizations’ functioning were analyzed and the system of documents which reflect the conditions and fundamental foundations of NGO functioning was determined.
The paper looks at the long-term program of Polish legislation harmonization with the acquis communautaire, which includes the regulatory acts of the EU (regulations, directives, decisions, resolutions etc.), general principles of the EU law (rulings of the European Court, common strategies, actions and positions within the framework of the common foreign and security policy etc.). It was determined that Polish legislation reacted to the needs of the NGO sector and regulated their activity during 1989-2004. The political and legal component of NGO activities at the current stage depends on the governmental policy and is characterized by a number of laws, which contradict the independence of NGOs.
The initial conditions of the European integration were studied. In historical retrospective, Poland had a long history of state building as well as the experience of functioning in a unity of states. These factors became the historical preconditions of accessing the European Union. Political preconditions reach to the times of activity of the “Solidarity” Independent Trade Union. The economic transformations at the end of the 1980-s led to the civil society activation and in 1990-1997 – to the change of public attitude to the EU and caused the increase of the social position of Poland.
The stages of NGO formation, including the present-day stage, were generalized. The key classification types have been determined, the typology by the activity fields with the consideration of the Euro-integration vector of Poland have been actualized. The emphasis was made on the territorial and quantitative components of NGO functioning, the functioning peculiarities of the NGO development models (continental, Scandinavian, Mediterranean, corporate) and the characteristic model for Poland has been determined, the Eastern European model, for it has principal differences from the general European models.
The thesis defined key pro-European organizations, which functioned in the context of European integration of Poland and facilitated the civil society formation in Poland as well as popularization of European ideas through the attraction of international funding. It was proved that the major financial support from the outside came from the following international organization: Polish-American-Ukrainian Cooperation, National Democracy Foundation, the Embassy of the United States of America and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherland, the Bosch Foundation, Polish-American Freedom Foundation, the European Union, UKIE, MOTTA Foundation.
The paper determines the peculiarities of the NGO functioning during the period of European integration that included the cooperation of the organizations with the governmental and the business structures, which was reflected in the development of the awareness-raising programs, development of the strategy and the program of implementation of the policy aimed at the civil society development.
The analysis of the development of the public sector of Poland has been carried out with the help of such indexes as the Civil Society Organizations Sustainability Index (CSO) and the Civil Society Index (CSI).
It has been determined that during the period of Poland’s full membership in the European Union, NGOs continue to develop within the European vector. At the current stage of their development, the NGOs in Poland are not only the receivers of resources from the EU funds, but also provide assistance in the issues of European integration. The greatest influence of Poland in the international cooperation is carried out through the Visegrad Fund, which was established in 2000 by the governments of the countries of the Visegrad group.
It was found out that after Poland became a member of the European Union in 2004, its cooperation with the European funds has only strengthened and was aimed at the implementation of not only European, but also social projects in accordance with the adopted Programs of the European Union for 2007-2013 and 2014-2020, which are characterized by a considerable increase of the financial inflow into the public sector of Poland.
