Council of the Union (Tepertopia) (Pacifica)
Council of the Union Bundesrat | |
|---|---|
| History | |
| Established | 14 December 1889 |
| Preceded by | Council of the Union (Harmonist Tepertopia) |
| Leadership | |
Gerhard von Selingen, Independent since 08 March 2002 | |
Councilor for Defense | |
Councilor for Domestic Affairs | |
Councilor for Finance | |
Councilor for Foreign Affairs | |
Councilor for Justice | |
Councilor for Progress | |
Councilor for Special Affairs | |
Councilor for Welfare | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 9 |
 | |
Political groups | |
Length of term | 4 years |
| Elections | |
| Evaluative Satisfaction System | |
Last election | 17 July 2022 |
Next election | On or before 12 July 2026 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Palace of the Union Adaca | |
The Council of the Union (Alman: Bundesrat, [ˈbʊndəsˌʁaːt]), colloquially simply called the Council, is the collective head of government of Tepertopia. Its nine members comprise the Protector of Tepertopia ex officio as well as eight directly elected representatives of the Constituent States of Tepertopia.
Under the Tepertopian Articles of Union, every Councilor heads one of the eight executive departments of the federal administration in their own authority, but is required to coordinate with their fellow Councilors in good faith. The Protector, while legally speaking a member and chairperson of the Council, traditionally does not interfere in its business and delegates the chair to another Councilor in order to prevent implication in political decisions.
Elections to the Council take place every four years using the Evaluative Satisfaction System. The Articles of Union require that each State of Tepertopia be represented with at least one (elected) Councilor. Once in office, the Articles grant Councilors extensive immunity, with no possibility of recall or motion of no confidence during their term; only a High Court conviction for wilful violation of the Articles can involuntarily remove a Councilor from office.
Origins
First Protectorate
The Council of the Union as an institution was first established with the Tepertopian First Protectorate. Staffed with the leaders of the States, it served as a check on the powers of the Protector of the Union, the common monarch of the newly-established union, which it also elected.
Interregnum and Second Protectorate
Harmonist Tepertopia
Third Protectorate
Powers
The Council is established by Title Ⅲ of the Tepertopian Articles of Union, which also describes the majority of its powers. Generally, the Council "executes the government of the federation in the name and on behalf of the Protector" (Art. 29). Details are described in subsequent Articles.
General
The Council designates all judges, senior civil servants, and military officials for appointment (Art. 36). By two-thirds supermajority, it can nominate a Justices to an open seat on the High Court of Tepertopia (Art. 65).
The Council, as well as two Councilors jointly, are empowered to submit cases to the High Court for consideration (Art. 70 Sec. 1 Nrs. 2 and 2a). An indictment for impeachment before the High Court can however only be filed by the Council as a whole (Art. 72).
Execution of Federal law, whether by Federal executive agencies or by the Constituent States, is overseen by the Council (Art. 82). Councilors are empowered to issue Administrative Regulations as general instructions to agencies executing Federal law (Art. 84).
Legislative
According to Art. 97, the Council, as well as any Councilor by themselves, can submit bills to the Presidium of the Tepertopian Assembly for formal introduction before the Assembly. Bills submitted by an Assemblyperson are also forwarded to the Council, which has the right to compile a written comment with criticism and suggestions within 30 days; for urgent bills, comment must be made within 15 days. The Council can force a referendum on an bills adopted by the Assembly.
As a whole, the Council can compel the Presidium of the Tepertopian Assembly to convene a special session of the Tepertopian Assembly (Art. 52 Sec. 3). Councilors may attend all ‒ even non-public ‒ sessions of the Assembly and speak to it on matters relevant to their departments (Art. 55).
Where enabled by an Act of the Assembly, the Council or a specific Councilor may issue Decrees (Art. 102). However, Art. 102 expressly forbids the Assembly from indiscriminately delegating legislative power to such executive Decrees and exempts "[f]undamental legislative decisions" from the possibility of regulation by Decree completely. A narrow exception is Art. 103, which allows the Council to "address pressing matters of legislative urgency by Decree" when the Assembly is currently dissolved; such decrees automatically cease to have force of law when an Assembly next convenes.
Diplomatic
Article 35 governs the Council's diplomatic powers.
During a state of national defence, the Council is empowered to officially declare war by a two-thirds supermajority. It can likewise make peace, which however doesn't require the presence of a state of national defence. States of national defence are recognised by the Assembly upon motion by the Council (Art. 123). When the Assembly is dissolved, the Council can, by consensus, temporarily recognise the state of national defence itself, but an Assembly must make the final decision as soon as it convenes next.
The Councilor for Foreign Affairs is tasked with leading the negotiations of treaties. Since subsequent ratification requires approval by the Assembly, its delegates are usually heavily involved in the negotiation proceedings. The actual signing of treaties as the Protectorate's binding declaration of will under international law is done by the Protector.
Generally, "[a]ny execution of the Protector's powers requires the countersignature of his competent Councillor before taking effect" (Art. 16a). This mechanism guarantees the Council great control over the actions of the Tepertopian monarchy and makes the publicly accountable Council responsible for all such actions.
Under Art. 24, it is the duty of the Council to keep track of the order of succession to the Throne of Tepertopia. It must formally notify the Protector in case no heir apparent exists, triggering the procedure for the instalment of an Assembly-approved successor. Should succession to the Throne be triggered absent an heir or successor, the Council "shall instead elect, by consensus, a righteous Tepertopian to the Throne".
Art. 26 gives the Council the power to find the Protector "unable to properly execute the duties of his office" by consensus. The duties of the office are then assumed by the Protector's heir (or approved successor) until this condition has lapsed. Should no heir exist, the Council as a whole assumes the duties of the office.
The Council elects two members of Regency Councils, which are formed either when an underage Protector ascends the Throne or assumes the duties of the office under Art. 26.
Legal status of Councilors
Election and composition
The selection of Councilors is governed by Articles 32 and 32a of the Articles of Union. They require the Councilors to be appointed by the Protector as a result of an election, with the Council Elections Act (Bundesrats-Wahlgesetz) regulating the details. The status of Council elections as direct elections contained therein is thus codified only as federal law, but not on a constitutional level.
Mode of election
All eight elected seats are up for election every four years, with no limits on reelection. Elections use the semi-proportional Evaluative Satisfaction System, where the Constituent States of Tepertopia themselves serve as electoral districts for the election, each sending a single member. In addition to the five seats thus elected by a (relative) majority in the States ‒ the so-called Majority Mandates (Mehrheitsmandate) ‒ three additional seats are awarded to the best losing candidates from underrepresented parties in a compensatory manner, called Compensatory Mandates (Ausgleichsmandate).
The biggest parties usually nominate one candidate per State. Often, due to the required State-wide recognition of candidates and the high esteem of the office, esteemed long-time party members who have served in the parties' highest offices are nominated; in practice, most Council members will have served in the Presidium of the Tepertopian Assembly, head of government of the respective State, or their party's parliamentary faction leader. Members' prospects of nomination are greatly helped by fluency in both Austral and Alman for ease of communication in the close collegial setting of the Council.
If elected, party members are allowed to remain in their party, but are expected to relinquish any leading office within it. While not uncommon in the Federal and State legislatures, independents have seldom been successful in bids for a seat on the Council.
The winners of the election are required to be formally appointed to the Council by the Protector before a session of the Tepertopian Assembly. Between election and appointment, the Councilors-designate negotiate among themselves over who will head which department. Traditionally, they choose their departments in descending order of seniority (measured by when they were first appointed to the Council), but majority votes can be called to settle cases of otherwise unresolvable disagreement.
In order for the Councilors-designates to take their seats, they must swear the following oath of office during the appointment ceremony:
I solemnly swear that I will bear true allegiance to the constitutional order, that I will govern in faithful service to His Grace The Protector with a righteous heart devoid of fear and hatred, that I will dedicate my efforts to the well-being of the people, their protection and welfare, and that I will do justice to all.
Removal from office
Once appointed, Councilors enjoy great political immunity under the Articles of Union. Art. 32a forbids the Protector from involuntarily removing a Councilor prior to the election of a successor, and Art. 61 explicitly exempts them from the otherwise far-reaching recall powers of the Tepertopian Assembly. Only the High Court of Tepertopia can remove a Councilor from office involuntarily through impeachment, by finding them guilty of a wilful breach of the Articles (Art. 72 and 73). Voluntary resignation is possible at any time, with the seat then allocated anew like a Compensatory Mandate, using the result of the last election.
Current members
Following the 2022 Tepertopian Council election, the members of the Council are, in descending order of seniority:
| Member | Party | State | Mandate | Since | Department | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gerhard von Selingen | - |  Lotze
|
(ex officio) | 08 March 2002 | - | ||
| Christoph von Ottenburg | _(cropped).jpg)
|
Canon |  Grimmen
|
Majority | 30 August 2010 | Domestic Affairs | |
| Frances Emerton | 
|
Welfare Party |  Valetria
|
Majority | 25 August 2014 | Welfare | |
| Jane Aldwell | _(cropped).jpg)
|
The Moderates |  Vickel
|
Majority | 25 August 2014 | Foreign Affairs | |
| Andrea Rouxel | 
|
The Future is Ours! | Grimmen
|
Compensatory | 20 August 2018 | Progress | |
| Jade Hayes | 
|
Welfare Party |  Pluvy
|
Majority | 20 August 2018 | Special Affairs | |
| John Collins | 
|
The Moderates | Lotze
|
Majority | 15 August 2022 | Defense | |
| Robert Scheffelmann | 
|
Merchants Guild | Vickel
|
Compensatory | 15 August 2022 | Finance | |
| Ulrich Gütcke | 
|
The Moderates | Valetria
|
Compensatory | 15 August 2022 | Justice | |
Operation
The operation of the Council is governed by its rules of procedure under the fundamental directions of Articles 37 and 38 of the Articles of Union.
Chair of the Council
Art. 37 Sec. 1 S. 2 stipulates that the Protector themselves is the chair of the Council. Sentence 3 however also allows the nowadays exclusively practiced option for the Protector to delegate the chair to another Councilor. By convention, this role is filled by the longest-serving Councilor.
The chair does not give the respective Councilor additional powers in law. At the original adoption of the Articles, the possible authority to render urgent decisions alone until a meeting could be arranged rested with the chairing Protector by virtue of his office as Protector; today, with the Protector's powers themselves largely subject to countersignature by the Councilor whose department would be responsible, this power was factually assumed by the respectively responsible Councilor, who doesn't necessarily have to be the Council's chair.
Furthermore, the chairperson is not the head of government, since this function is carried out by the Council in its entirety. For practical reasons in receiving foreign official visits and conducting own ones, however, the Councilor for Foreign Affairs acts as the official representative of the whole Council; at receptions for foreign heads of state, the whole Council will be present.
Accordingly, the chairperson nowadays is simply primus inter pares.
Sessions
As demanded by Art. 37, the Council meets weekly, usually on Fridays. Meetings are held in the Palace of the Union in Adaca, the formal seat of the Protector's court. If at least two Councilors request an extraordinary session, the Council's chair is obligated to convene one as quickly as possible.
During sessions, the Councilors update each other about important developments within their departments and discuss their common policy. While Councilors are empowered to propose bills before the Assembly in their own right, such proposals are usually debated and filed together by the Council as a whole, since this already conducts some balancing of the different parties' viewpoints and thus raises the bills chances in the legislature.
The contents of sessions and the results of votes taken by the Council are not open to the public, remaining sealed until all Councilors party to them have left office. While subject to criticism, the Council maintains that this is necessary to ensure the political independence of Councilors and a collegial, trustful working atmosphere. In a 1997 case, the High Court last denied a legal duty of the Council to release a session protocol to a committee of inquiry of the Assembly.
Decision-making
Collective decisions of the Council get prepared by the Councilor whose department is responsible. At its sessions, the Council then decides by voice vote of the present Councilors. Unless the law requires otherwise, a simple majority suffices; by convention, Councilors are expected to try reaching a consensus opinion first, however.