It is not essential to remind anyone that we presently have 16 voivodships in Poland, which was approved on 1 January 1999. However, there are sometimes doubts as to whether the current administrative distribution model is the most optimal.
The Sobieski Institute issued a comprehensive study entitled “The Correction of the Provincial Agreement – Towards a improvement Balance” by Dr. Łukasz Zaborowski, expert on regional improvement and spatial policy.
As we can read on the IS website, in their opinion the current layout of voivodships is not the consequence of a coherent concept, but a "accidental hybrid". How can we read:
"As a consequence of the behind-the-clock political fair, any centres have maintained regional independency and others have lost it... specified unequal treatment creates a sense of harm in a fewer omitted centres. According to the author of the report, abolishing these inconsistencies is simply a request of justice. akin centres and regions should have equal state-structure status."
The study has 96 pages and is divided into 3 main chapters. The first one, “There are only changes for the worse. Conditions”, explains the importance of voivodships in the country and points to problems arising from the current administrative division. The second chapter, “The corpse is the worst form of refusal. Redevelopment", presents the assumptions of the “correction” in the change of the voivodships and describes 4 concepts.
Total revolution on the map
According to Dr. Łukasz Zaborowski, neglected centres may feel unfair. The study shows that any towns are in the shadow of major metropolises specified as Kraków, Wrocław or Warsaw, which in turn make independently of the remainder of the region. This leads to uneven development. Dr. Zaborowski presented 4 possible scenarios of change.
The first option is simply a insignificant correction, which consists in reducing the borders of larger voivodships in favour of smaller ones.
The second option is to add fresh voivodships, which deficiency is clearly felt – then the number of voivodships would increase to 20, and the position of capitals would be gained by cities specified as Bielsko-Biała or Kalisz.
The 3rd script assumes a further simplification of voivodships with the dominant metropolitan centre for smaller units that have been left out so far. As a result, we would have 22 voivodships.
The fourth, most revolutionary variant, is to reduce the number of voivodships to 12, which would entail crucial changes on the Polish map. All changes can be seen on the view map.
Source: samiski.org.pl/correction-system-voivodzw-ku-rowanga-developmentThird Way politician besides wants change
Only members of the Sobieski Institute do not support changes in the division of voivodships. Until recently, the president of the Opole PSL structures and candidate for the Sejm from the list of the 3rd Way Marcin Oszaniec proposed a referendum on the inclusion of Raciborz and Raciborski region in the Opole Voivodeship. These may not be as powerful changes as those described above, but inactive crucial for a certain area of our country.
As the politician recalled, the thought of connecting Raciborz to the Opolskie Voivodeship appeared already during the formation of the 1999 administrative reform. In his opinion, this subject should return after the forthcoming parliamentary elections.
Oszaniec believes that the inclusion of Raciborski region in the Opole Voivodeship is crucial for the demography of the region. He notes that the number of inhabitants of the Opole state has been steadily decreasing for more than 2 decades and presently is little than a million.
The scandal ❌ PiS and Confederacy are aiming for the partition of the Opolskie Voivodeship 🤦 pic.twitter.com/zBxLEw1dEB
— Marcin Oszaniec (@MarcinOszanca) October 6, 2023
