Council of State (Econia)

Council of State Statsrådetcode: swe promoted to code: sv  (Swedish)
Seal of the Council Seal of the Council
Overview
Established	1 November 2023
Leader	Imperial Sovereign

The Council of State is the on paper most powerful institution within the Imperial State of Econia besides the Imperial Throne. The Council is made up of the 5 Great Officers of State and the Sovereign who serves as the President of Council. It is to collectivley serve as regent in the case of the Sovereign being determined incapable of fullfilling their duties. Each Great Officer has a certain area of responsebility which they keep themselves informed on and in the case of a regency are tasked with overseeing.

History

The Council of State was decided to be the supreme advisory body to the Sovereign and the collective regent in the case of the Sovereigns absence. It consists of the Sovereign (as President of the Council) and 5 Councilors of State. These are the Great Officers of State. This structure was influenced by the former swedish Privy Council which consisted of the Swedish Great Officers of State. The Council of State first met on 5 November 2023 shortly after the 2023 Riksting Elections to be informed about Octavian I plans going forward and to advice him on matters of governance during the early days of the nation. Since then the Council has not met.

Structure

The Council is made up of the 5 Great Officers of State serving as Councilors of State, each with different areas of responebility to oversee in the case of a regency and to advice on in all other cases. The Sovereign serves as President of the Council and presides over it's meetings. It is mandated that the Council meet at least once every 5 years but it can meet more often. Either when called to order by the Sovereign or when all 5 Councilors of State jointly request a meeting be held. During meetings the President begins by delivering a Introduction Speech before announcing a order of affairs to be discussed. Then the President either personally leads the discussions or appoints any Councilor as Lord Deputy to lead the countinuation of the meeting. Is the Sovereign unable to attend they choose a member of the Imperial Family to deliver their introduction speech as Imperial Representitive and announce who has been appointed to serve as Lord Deputy. Then the representitive leaves the meeting and the meetings Lord Deputy is tasked with reporting to the Sovereign about what was said during the meeting.

The Councilors of State and their duties are as follows:

• The People’s Minister. Chief advisor to the Sovereign and responsible for handling Foreign and Internal Affairs as well as the Sovereigns Signature in the case of a regency.
• The Marshal of the Realm. Head of the Imperial Household and responsible for handling matters of defense, national security and the role of Commander-in-Chief in the case of a regency.
• The Chancellor of the Realm. Legal advisor to the Sovereign and responsible for handling matters of immigration, crime and justice including the Sovereigns Pardon in the case of a regency.
• The Great Chamberlain. Constitutional advisor to the Sovereign and responsible for stepping in for the Sovereign as the nations principal diplomat (during for example state visits or diplomatic receptions) and appointing governments in the case of a regency.
• The Lord High Treasurer. Financial advisor to the Sovereign and responsible for handling the nations finances and budget in the case of a regency.

Should the Sovereign not personally exercise or delegate certain powers the Councilor responsible for advicing on that topic assumes those powers. The only Councilor to exercise even some of their council designated powers is the People's Minister. All other powers that otherwise would belong to a member of the council are delegated to ministers within government or kept by the Sovereign. There is however 1 exception: The duties of the Lord High Treasurer. This because of the fact that there is currently no Minister of Finance. Instead these powers are shared between the People's Minister, the Sovereign and the Chairman of the Rikstings Finances and Budgets Committee.

List of council meetings

As of December 2023 the Council of State has only met once. No Lord Deputies have ever served so far.

No.	Presiding Officer		Date	Notes
	Presided over by	In capacity as
1	Imperial Sovereign Octavian I	President of the Council	5 November 2023	Called to order by the President of the Council to discuss the results of the 2023 Riksting Elections. The Director of the City of Bäckahällen attended in the place of the yet to be appointed People's Minister.