Council of The State
| Council of the State | |
|---|---|
| Staat Vaunn Raud | |
 | |
| Style | Excellencies |
| Appointer | Parliament |
| Term length | 4 years, no term limit |
| Formation | 1714 |
The Council of the State is the seven-member executive council that constitutes the federal government of Ainhessel and serves as the collective head of government of Ainhessel in the west wing of the Ainhessen parliament buildings in Ainhessel (City) While the entire council is responsible for leading the administration of Ainhessel each councillor heads one of the seven kommunes of Ainhessel.
Operation of The Council of The State
Council meetings
The Council operates mainly through weekly meetings, which are held each Monday at the houses of parliament in Ainhessel (City). The seat of the Ainhessen government.
Apart from the seven Councillors, the following officials also attend the meetings:
Chancellor Walter Mahan. As government chief of staff and head of the Chancellery, he participates in the discussion but has no vote in the Council's decisions. Nonetheless, his influential position is often referred to as that of an "eighth Councillor". the Vice-Chancellor is the spokesman of the Council and conducts the weekly press briefing after the meeting. the Vice-Chancellor is in charge of the Council sector within the Ainhessen Chancellery. After the meetings, the Councillors take lunch together. The Council also meets regularly in conclave to discuss important topics at length, and annually conducts what is colloquially referred to as its "field trip", a day trip to some attractions each councillor's home Kommune. In that and other respects, the Council operates not unlike a board of directors of a major corporation.
Decisions and responsibilities Each Councillor heads a government department, much like the ministers in the governments of other countries. Colloquially and by the press, they are often referred to as ministers, e.g. "minister of defence", even though no such post officially exists. However, as Council members, they are not only responsible for their own department, but also for the business of their colleagues' departments as well, and for the conduct of the government and the administration as a whole.
Decisions to be taken by the Council are always prepared by the responsible department. For example, a change in the salaries of government employees would be proposed to the council by the head of the Department of Finance, to whose department the Office of Personnel belongs. Before a vote is taken at a Council meeting, though, all proposals are circulated in writing to the heads of departments, who commission the senior career officials of their department – the heads of the Offices – to prepare a written response to offer criticism and suggestions. This is called the co-report procedure, designed to build a wide consensus ahead of a Council meeting.
To prepare for important decisions, an additional public consultation is sometimes conducted to which the political parties and major interest groups are invited, and in which all members of the public can participate. If a change in a statute is to be proposed to the Parliament, this step is mandated by law. In such cases, the consultation procedure also serves to identify political concerns that could later be the focus of a popular referendum to stop passage of the bill at issue.
The decisions themselves are formally taken by voice vote by a majority of the Councillors present at a meeting. However, the great majority of decisions are arrived at by consensus; even though lately there is said to be a trend towards more contentious discussions and close votes.
Secrecy
The meetings of the Council and the result of the votes taken are not open to the public, and the records remain sealed for 35 years (was 50 years until 1989). This has lately been the subject of some criticism. In particular, the parties at the ends of the political spectrum argue that this secrecy is contrary to the principle of transparency. However, the Council has always maintained that secrecy is necessary to arrive at consensus and to preserve the collegiality and political independence of the individual Councillors.
Constitutional conventions
Due to the Council's unique nature as a voluntary grand coalition of political opponents, its operation is subject to numerous constitutional conventions. Most notable is the principle of collegiality; that is, the Councillors are not supposed to publicly criticise one another, even though they are often political opponents. In effect, they are expected to publicly support all decisions of the Council, even against their own personal opinion or that of their political party. In the eye of many observers, this convention has become rather strained.