New government – new division of labor between ministries

The new government is to establish an Industry Ministry that is set to launch this March. It will share the competences in the energy sector with the Climate Ministry. Interestingly, the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves is to be supervised by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration.

The draft law on amendments to certain acts related to the functioning of government administration divides the powers between ministries in line with the needs of Donald Tusk’s new government. The changes include the energy and fuel sectors. “Within the framework of the act on the departments of government administration, based on the existing tasks assigned to the departments of government administration: management of mineral deposits and energy, the government will establish a department of government administration for the management of energy resources. It will cover existing responsibilities relating to the management of mineral deposits, qualifications in mining and matters relating to energy resources, fuels, the development and use of nuclear energy for socio-economic purposes, as well as international and EU cooperation in the field of energy resources, fuels and nuclear energy for socio-economic purposes. This area will be removed from the duties of the minister responsible for energy, so as not to lead to overlapping of tasks in this area between the two departments,” the government’s legislative docket says.

“The above mentioned changes in the act on departments will include updates to a number of acts that determine the responsibilities of the minister designated to handle energy matters, which will involve transferring them to the minister responsible for managing energy resources and cooperation with the energy minister where, based on his or her duties, this will be justified,” the legislators wrote. This means issues related to mining, energy sources and fuels will be moved from the Climate Ministry to the Industry Ministry.

“The act on the departments of government administration will also introduce a change in the scope of matters assigned to the economy department, related to the development and use of prosumer and distributed energy, by moving it to the climate department of the government administration within the framework of the development and use of renewable energy sources, which will ensure consistency in the implementation of the tasks of the government administration in this area,” the document said. “This will also mean a change in the above – mentioned scope of the act on renewable energy sources,” the lawmakers explained.

“The purpose of the proposed law is also to regulate the issue of responsibilities related to the functioning of the strategic reserves system and supervision of the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves, hereinafter referred to as the Agency,” the statement continued. “It is proposed to introduce systemic changes in the act of 17 December 2020 on strategic reserves (Journal of Laws of 2023, position 294) and entrust the minister responsible for internal affairs with the supervision of the Agency and the implementation of all tasks related to the functioning of the Agency and the resources of the strategic reserves.

The law will be adopted in the form of a draft of the Council of Ministers in the first quarter of 2024 under the number UD9,” the document said.

Wojciech Jakóbik