Government
For the current Cabinet, see Fourth Schivă Cabinet.
The Government of Talossa is formed after each general election, at intervals of around eight months. After the election, the political party or coalition of parties holding a majority of seats in the newly elected Cosa organizes a new administration, recommending to the King a particular person for the office of Seneschal, or Prime Minister.
Members of the Government abide by a Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct was first introduced in 2018 during the Third Da Schir Cabinet and has been upheld ever since.
Cabinet
The Seneschal appoints a Cabinet of ministers to enact various functions specified in the Organic Law and in the Lexhatx. The current Cabinet consists of the following serving ministers:
Portfolio | Minister |
---|---|
Prime Minister | The Most Hon. Dame Miestră Schivă, UrN MC |
Deputy Prime Minister | The Rt Hon. Bråneu Excelsio MC |
Immigration Minister | The Most Hon. Dame Miestră Schivă, UrN MC |
Finance Minister | The Rt Hon. Senator Ian Plätschisch, UrN |
Attorney-General/Justice Minister | The Rt Hon. Senator Ian Plätschisch |
Defence Minister | The Rt Hon. Bråneu Excelsio MC |
Foreign Affairs Minister | The Rt. Hon. Bentxamì Puntmasleu MC |
Technology Minister | The Rt Hon. Mic'haglh Autófil MC |
Culture Minister | The Most Hon. Dame Miestră Schivă, UrN MC |
STUFF Minister | The Rt Hon. Bråneu Excelsio MC |
History
The composition of the Cabinet has changed over time. The first "Cabinet" ever appointed in Talossa was formed between January and February 1983/IV and included Danihel Laurieir as Prime Minister, Robert Murphy as Foreign Minister, and Ián von Metáiriâ as War Minister. None of the positions are considered to be the same as their modern equivalents, and were very much ephemeral.
During the 6th Cosa, the first modern Cabinet consisted of the Prime Minister (Ian von Metairia), his Deputy and the Ministers of STUFF, Defense (Weston Erni) and Foreign Affairs (William Renzi). In 1999, under Tamorán dal Navâ, the Immigration Minister was recorded by 25RZ19 as also being part of the Cabinet, as it was created sometime in 1997, and the Minister of Micronational Affairs and Culture Minister also attended Cabinet without being statutory posts.
The post of Attorney-General became a regular feature from the following First Pope Cabinet, from where on the Cabinet took its more or less final shape for some years as consisting of the Prime Minister, his Deputy, and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Culture, Immigration, Defence and STUFF, the Attorney-General, in addition to number of "also attending" positions which varied over the years.
An expansion of the Cabinet happened in 2005, when the Finance Ministry was created and solidified from the duties of the Burgermeister of Inland Revenue and the President of the Royal Bank and Post, and in 2007, when the Ministry of Home Affairs was created, bringing the number of full Cabinet posts to 10.
Those between 2007 and 2009 remain the largest Cabinets to date by number of actual appointees, with later Prime Ministers typically choosing to combine certain portfolios. Indeed, the Cabinet was ultimately reduced by statute to 8 full members in 2014 by the merger of Home, Immigration and Defense into the Interior Ministry.
The years following the end of Tripolarism have seen an uptick in the number of Cabinet posts: Defense was made a full Cabinet post again in 2019, and Immigration followed in 2022, while Interior was disestabilished. Finally, the Ministry of STUFF was split up, its technical duties given to a new Ministry of Technology much reminiscent of the early-cybercit era Telecommunications Ministry. However, this hasn't necessarily translated in an increasing in the number of people attending Cabinet, with double- and triple-jobbing increasingly popular from 2020 onwards; as of the Excelsio Cabinet, the three most recent Cabinets were all attended by at most five people.
Composition
The Government is formed by the following Ministries, whose heads form the Cabinet:
Ministry | Head | Job | Creation or first mention | First recorded holder |
---|---|---|---|---|
Office of the Seneschal | Seneschal (Prime Minister) | Head of government, oversight of executive projects | 1985 | Ián von Metáiriâ |
Distain (Deputy Prime Minister) | Deputy to the Seneschal (whatever job is delegated) | 1985 | Brook Pànetâ | |
Ministry of Culture | Culture Minister | Promotion of Talossan culture | 1999 (first mention, not full member) | Tomas Gariçeir |
Ministry of Defence | Defence Minister | Oversight of the defence of the Kingdom | 1987 (abol. 2014, reest. 2019) | Weston Erni |
Ministry of Finance | Finance Minister | Setting and implementing economic policies, requesting and receiving disbursals from the Treasury | 2005 (modern form) | Javier Gold |
Ministry of Foreign Affairs | Foreign Minister | Conduction of diplomatic relations with other entities | 1987 | William Renzi |
Ministry of Immigration | Immigration Minister | Oversight of immigration and provincial affairs | 1997 (abol. 2014, reest. 2022) | Ián Plätschisch |
Ministry of Justice | Attorney-General | Legal advice and representation for the Government | 1999 (modern form) | Matt Dabrowski |
Ministry of STUFF | Minister of STUFF | Advertising Talossa to non-citizens, management of state media assets | 1987 | Ben Madison? |
Ministry of Technology | Minister of Technology | Administering Talossa's websites, domain names and social media | 2022 | Miestră Schivă |
Former positions
Some positions that are no longer of Cabinet level, or that no longer exist, include the following. Some were fully fledged positions, others were only created as sinecuraes for a certain person; this former misuse of Cabinet positions is evident from the provisions of Lexhatx D.1, some of whose language dates to the late 1990s.
- Minister of Home Affairs - Created in 2007, merged into the Ministry of the Interior in 2014 as the Bureau of Home Affairs, transferred first to the Ministry of Culture in 2022 and later to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2023
- Ministry of the Interior - Created in 2014, disestablished in 2022
- Minister of Wargaming - Often used in the King Ben Era; duties mostly absorbed by the Culture Ministry
- Minister of Law Reform - Secondary title for the Attorney-General in 2011
- Women's Affairs Minister - Given to Maureen O'Hara in 2005
- Minister of Propaganda - Appointed in 1999-2002
- Minister of Administrative Affairs
- Minister of Internal Affairs
- Minister to the Provinces
- Minister of Silly Walks - Created for Brook Paneta in the first 2000s.
- Minister for Micronational Affairs - Non-statutory office closed by the Semi-Permeable Wall Act in 1999.
- Minister of Telecommunications - Created by 20RZ3 in 1995 to oversee Talossa's "computer revolution".
- Minister for Internal Security - Created in 1993 to oversee Talossa's security force, la Sigürità, later renamed into "Law and Order Minister".
- Ministry of Native American Affairs - Created in 1990 for Jack Schneider in response to a racial attack in the Greater Talossan Area.
- Minister of Athletics - Created in 1984 for Harry Wozniak, later given to Andrew Wozniak by act of the Ziu, though he was never acknowledged as such by then-Seneschal Sandee Prachel.
Full list of appointees
File:File.Executive 2019-01-01.pdf
File:File.Executive 2019-02-23.pdf
File:File.Executive 2019-04-30.pdf
File:File.Executive 2019-08-01.pdf
Cabinet Posts of the Government | |||||||||
Seneschal |
Distain |
Culture |
Finance |
Justice |
STUFF |
Immigration |
Foreign |
Defence |
Technology |