Council of the Democratically-aligned nations of Argis
Council of the Democratically-aligned nations of Argis
| |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| Motto: "Vox populi - Vox democratiae" "Voice of the people - Voice of democracy" | |
| Type | Regional organization |
| Membership | 9 states |
| Leaders | |
| Legislature | Parliamentary Assembly |
| Establishment | |
| 23 August 2023 | |
• CDANA Treaty enters into effect | 1 January 2024 |
The Council of the Democratically-aligned nations of Argis, officially named by the CDANA Treaty in Latin as Concilium Nationum Argium Democraticarum Conformium, also known by the abbreviation CDANA, is a regional organization of 9 democratic nations located in central and western Argis. It is a mix of a political forum, an intergovernmental organization and a supranational union.
Its stated goals are promotion of political freedoms and democracy in Argis through peaceful means and intergovernmental cooperation on an organized, but voluntary, level.
Rights and competences
The Council is a voluntary organization, which, by design, does not have the necessary political overreach outside within their member states to overrule their institutions. Despite this, various rights have been granted to the Council to help it aide with the tasks it has been created to deal with, most notably the rights to:
- propose bills to national legislatures of the member states
- through the Court of Justice return problematic rulings to national judiciaries
- suspend or remove a member state
- set terms on which new member states may join
- interpellate governmental organs of the member states
- carry out election monitoring within the member states
- request legal evaluations of the laws and constitutions of member states
- speak on behalf of the member states in various international organs, such as Mercy International and the Assembled Nations
- establish new institutions and political systems within CDANA on a voluntary basis to promote regional cooperation
More rights and competences can be added through a mechanism of agreements in the Cabinet of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly as long as it does not contradict Article 6 of the treaty, which states that "The Council was established to promote the ideals of democratic governance, civil rights and liberties, political rights and liberties, climate protection and peaceful cooperation through an international forum of equals", i.e. the reform is democratic, respects civil and political rights and peaceful coexistence between the member states.
Institutions
There are three nominal institutions of the Council:
Cabinet of Ministers
The Cabinet of Ministers is an institution that in its form combines the competences of an international summit and the executive functions of the organizations. It consists of delegations from the member states, which are to have no less than three members from the respective governments, and which each holds one vote, which is cast en bloc through a majority consensus in the respective delegation.
For voting in the Cabinet, a special system named called "undisputable majority" is utilized instead of unanimity common in other international institutions. In the system of "undisputable majority", the vote passes if, after the number of negative votes (NAY) is subtracted from the number of positive votes (AYE), the resulting number is at least as large as an absolute majority (abstaining and non-presence are disregarded and are counted neither as positive nor as negative votes).
Moreover, the Cabinet chooses its President, who is to not belong to any of the national delegations. In case of a tie where the undisputable majority voting lands directly at 50% of the votes, the President acts to break a tie through their own decision to prevent a hung cabinet. This, however, can mathematically occur only if there is an even number of member states.
As defined by the treaty, the Cabinet is to meet at least every 6 months, with a possibility, in case of a crisis, for at most two meetings to be cancelled (i.e. a gap of at most 18 months between two consecutive meetings). In case this rule is broken, the powers of the Cabinet are transferred to the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly, which consists of one member per member state, which are elected by the delegation of the respective member state, and of the President of the Parliamentary Assembly, for a total of 10 members. Once again, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly acts as a tiebreaker who does not regularly participate in voting unless required to break a tie.
Parliamentary Assembly
The Parliamentary Assembly is the international parliament for the member states, serving as an impure legislature of the organization. It consists of a total of 108 members, 12 per member state.
Of the 12 members from each member state, the 10 so-called "ordinary members" are to be elected directly or semi-directly by each of the member state's population in conjunction with their national legislatures using the principles of proportional representation, whereas the other 2 so-called "supplementary members" are appointed by law from ex officio positions, by convention former presidents, vice presidents, prime ministers or other high representatives whose term has ended.
The first ever elections have taken place on 4 and 5 November 2023 in Walneria, with more elections scheduled to take place in conjunction with parliamentary elections in other member states, until all 90 ordinary member seats are filled in.
The President of the Parliamentary Assembly is appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers. By convention, this functions is merged with the function of the President of the Cabinet of Ministers, even though the Treaty does not require it.
The Parliamentary Assembly is located in the Old Senate Building in Tyrámen, Walneria.
Court of Justice
TBA
