Emergency Transitional Administration

The Emergency Transitional Administration is the current ruling government of the country of Draakur, also known as the United Kingdom of Ottonia. Following the collapse of the previous Royal government during the South Ottonian Revolution, government loyalists fled to the Draakur Archipelago, which had been successfully held by military and civil authorities. Rather than relinquish power in the emergency, negotiations were held between the UKO government officials in Draakurr and the mainlanders arriving in the islands, leading to the creation of the Draakurrae-led Emergency Transitional Administration to oversee both final evacuations from the mainland as well as critical structural reforms to the UKO to ensure its ability to persist on Draakurr.

Nominally, the ETA serves at the pleasure of the Storkeneg, Vitus I. However, many observers, especially those members of the previous UKO administration critical of the ETA, have called the government a military junta due to its hard departures from previous UKO policies, including dramatically-increasing taxes on the wealthy (particularly the aristocracy), abolishing the formal legal separation between aristocrats and commoners, terminating discriminatory measures against non-Fabrians, instituting numerous social safetynets (including measures previously unknown or extremely neglected in South Ottonia such as public healthcare, widespread public housing, public pensions, secular public schools, and robust food assistance), additional attempts at rapprochment with the Federation of Ottonian Republics, and providing for the establishment of an elected, proportionally-representative legislature.

In addition, the administration, headed up by former military governor Stevan Grimmeburger, has been accused of Draakurrae nationalist sympathies and "crypto-Wernerism", although these accusations have been deflected by Grimmeburger, claiming "If [the UKO] is to survive, it must begin behaving like a modern nation, with all that that entails. We have seen first-hand what awaits us if we fail to do so."

Formation

The origins of the Emergency Transitional Administration lays in the prior Royal Authority on Draakur, a component of the Royal Civil Service Bureau charged with administering the royal government on Draakur on behalf of the Storkeneg. At the time of the 2022 South Ottonian Revolution, the RAD was led by Governor Ardem Wyatt, who charged his deputies, notably Deputy Governor Stevan Grimmeburger, to negotiate with protestors and insurgents aligned with the mainland Popular Front. The compromises made with the demonstrators, along with the collapsing royal government on the mainland, prompted Wyatt to empower Grimmeburger and others to administer Draakur as necessary during the crisis period, prompting the creation of the Emergency Transitional Authority.

When the royal government of the United Kingdom of Ottonia arrived in Draakur, they found themselves confronted by a united and very much in-control administration managing the peaceful governance of Draakur and prepared to help organize the evacuation of loyalists on the mainland, with a channel of negotiation and communication already opened with the Ottonian mainland government. While Storkeneg Rodrik I was, by all accounts, livid at the manner in which the RAD had disobeyed direct Royal and Senatorial orders on how to handle the demonstrations, due to the nature of the situation he was forced to acquiesce to ETA leadership of the evacuation and end of the Revolution.

Following the successful evacuation of Wyllemspurt in April 2022, a number of meetings were held between the ETA and the rump of the mainland Royal government (and, allegedly, with representatives of the Federal government of the now-united mainland), during which it was decided that Storkeneg Rodrik I would abdicate in favor of his son, Vitus. Although the exact reason for this was not made public, it was widely speculated that Vitus was more amenable to the reforms that the ETA had promised to demonstrators in March. Moreover, it was decided that the ETA would remain in charge of the administration of the Draakur archipelago for a period no greater than 50 months, effective from 1 May 2022; a new constitutional government would be required to be established and prepared to assume power no later than 1 July 2027.

Composition

The ETA is largely consisted of officials from the pre-Revolution Royal Authority on Draakur (RAD). Most notably, it is led by Director of Oversight Stevan Grimmeburger (who serves as the UKO's current head of government) and Chief of Staff Maria Cress. Other notable members include Director of Transportation Arthur Forrester, Director of Commerce Warrik Redmunn, Director of Social Security Estanislao Lentz, Director of Public Works Elena Garsia, Director of Education Andrus Filius, Director of the Home Guard Tyran Grahulm, Director of the Home Fleet Soren Klaussunn, and Director of Justice Rebekah Eriksunn.

There are a total of 16 directors, divided into three "Domains" - Public Safety (Home Guard, Home Fleet, Justice, Interior, State), Economic Administration (Commerce, Transportation, Communication, Treasury, Labor), Public Services (Social Security, Public Works, Education, Health, Environment), plus the Director of Oversight.

In addition, there is a "Municipal Advisory Council", an organ in which the elected mayors of the various municipalities of Draakur are able to provide recommendations and feedback to the ETA. The current President of the Council is Fredrikspurt Mayor Honorius Waalturs.

Reforms

Many of the reforms undertaken by the ETA were officially declared swiftly within a month of the dissolution of the Senate and the assumption of the crown by Storkeneg Vitus, although a goodly number, while officially on the books, will as a practical matter require months or years of work to actually implement.

Legal Reforms

Abolishment of the Nobility

The first and arguably most-significant legal reform made by the ETA was the formal abolishment of the aristocracy. Where prior the UKO had maintained a firm legal distinction between the nobility and commoners, with separate justice systems and bills of rights for each, the ETA's first legal action was to establish a single-track justice and legal system under which all persons were equal before the law. The lone exception to this is the Monarch, who is by statute the country's head of state and thus has special rights and perogatives.

Liberalization of Free Speech and Assembly

Notably in the wake of the South Ottonian Revolution, the ETA also removed most restrictions on public assembly, free association, and political speech, only maintaining restrictions on incitement of hatred towards persons 'based on intrinsic characteristics'.

Social Services

Arguably the most desperately-sought reforms by Popular Fronters were reforms to taxation and social services. As such, these have been an area of priority for the ETA within its first year.

Healthcare

Drawing from models abroad and on mainland Ottonia, one of the first orders of business was the creation of a national public health system, including social medical insurance and a patient's bill of rights. Where previously payment for healthcare was the responsibility of each individual patient (usually managed through private health insurance), henceforth Draakuri citizens would have their medical care paid for via taxation in a single-payer system.

Social Insurance

This was combined with dramatic expansions in the public insurance mechanisms for unemployment, disability, and retirement, dramatically strengthening systems that had either atrophied or been deliberately dismantled over the previous 40 years in South Ottonia.

Childcare

As the need for large numbers of people to work became apparent, it was also clear that free childcare for those with children at home was of crucial importance. In December 2022, the ETA passed measures putting into place a publicly-funded daycare system for working families.

Education

In January 2023 efforts began to reform Draakur's public education system using the (North) Ottonian Standard Education system as a model.