Konkrëse

Konkrëse Riograndenser Hunsrückisch
1st Konkrëse
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	House of Aristocrats House of Councillors
Term limits	Life-long (Aristocrats) 6 months (Councillors)
History
Founded	March 8, 2021 (2021-03-08)
Leadership
Lord Speaker	The Marquis of Rozandir, Worker's Party since 10 March 2021
Vice Lord Speaker	vacant, Worker's Party since 10 March 2021
Councillor Speaker	The Duke of Sion, Moderate Party since 8 March 2021
Deputy Speaker	Wellington Muniz, Moderate Party since 10 March 2021
Prime Minister	The Countess of Wittiza, Worker's Party since 8 March 2021
Leader of the Opposition	Prince Fernando of Negromonte, Conservative Party since 8 March 2021
Structure
Seats	28 14 Lords of Congress 14 Councillors
House of Aristocrats political groups	Government (10):      Worker's Party (6)      Moderate Party (4) Opposition (4):      Conservative Party (4)
House of Councillors political groups	Government (11):      Worker's Party (5)      Moderate Party (6) Opposition (3):      Conservative Party (3)
Elections
House of Councillors voting system	First-past-the-post
House of Councillors last election	8 March 2021
House of Councillors next election	7 September 2021
Meeting place
Gillisburgh de jure Discord de facto

The Konkrëse, officialy called Der Konkrëse der Raych (Portuguese: O Congresso do Reino, "The Kingdom's Congress"), and often simply referred as The Parliament, is the supreme legislative body of the Kingdom of Ebenthal. The Konkrëse is a bicameral parliament consisting of the House of Aristocrats, formed by twelve appointed nobles serving life-long terms, and the House of Councillors, formed by twelve elected members serving six-month terms. The political party or party coalition that controls the majority of seats in the lower house (councillors) chooses the national executive for the country, the Prime Minister of Ebenthal, who is also a member of parliament. His and his cabinet's position depends on the parliamentary confidence, otherwise, lose their office.

The Konkrëse was officialy innaugurated in 8 March 2021 with the approval of its creation sanctioned by the King in substitution to Ebenthal's former unicameral parliament, the College of Peers of the Realm, which was active since 2014 and underwent a reformation in October 2020. The Konkrëse was founded with three active parties: The Conservative Party, the Moderate Party and the Worker's Party, but there is no limit to the number of political parties that can act in parliament.

The Konkrëse's upper house, unlike what happens in most countries, is de facto more powerful than the lower house, although both constitutionally holds equal power with some specific powers each. Therefore, the House of Aristocrats's speaker, entitled Lord Speaker, is the acting political head of the parliament, taking the lead in most legislative matters, concurrently with the Councillor Speaker, the House of Councillor's speaker of the house. Legally all legislative power draws from the King of Ebenthal, and thus, the King retains powers to issue decrees with effect of law and to dissolve the parliament at will.

Etimology

The word Konkrëse comes from the Riograndenser Hunsrückisch, a Brazilian-originated German dialect, translating to "Congress", or "Congresso" in Portuguese. It is similar to he original German word "Kongress", but it actually evolved from the Portuguese word phonetics as a "germanization" (Brazilians spell the word konkrëse more similarly to the word congresso than to the word kongress, mainly because of the last vowel).

Legislative functions

The Konkrëse perform powers on the legislative sphere. It enact laws, amends the constitution (this one requires a majority of two-thirds), holds the power to dismiss a government through a vote of no confidence (under the monarch's sanction), to authorize the government to apply or exempt taxes, take and grant loans and to deal in trade and commerce, to ratify treaties and other kinds of international agreements (with very few exceptions), to deal with conciliation and arbitration when required, to legislate on immigration and citizenship, tor recognize the throne's heir and to legislate in matters regarding the military institution. The Konkrëse also creates and appoints members of special comissions and committees.

Political opposition represented in the parliament has the power to review the cabinet's actions, make counter-proposals and mimick the Royal Cabinet with its own (labeled Shadow Cabinet), although with the only goal of scrutinize the government's one.

Procedure

A legislative bill can be formally introduced by any member of both legislative houses, as well as by the Sovereign and the Federal Princes rulers of the Ebenthal's individual federated principalities, although it is more commonly introduced by the parliamentary houses only, specially the House of Aristocrats. The Lord Speaker or the Councillor Speaker read the proposed bill and puts it up to voting by their respective chambers. If a bill is approved in the upper chamber, it is immediatly sent to the King's office for his royal assent or veto; if it is approved in the lower chamber, then it goes to the upper chamber to be voted there, with a few exceptions which may be directly sent to the King's office. If a bill fails, in both chambers, it can be voted on again in the next session; if the second vote is approved, it follows normal procedures; if it is rejected again, the bill is shelved and can only be revived after a month. If a bill approved in the lower house is rejected in the upper house, then it is returned to the lower house and submitted to changes, so it must be voted and approved there again to be sent to the upper house for their judgement.

The King possesses constitutional power to sanction and veto any parliamentary decision at his will regardless of whether they were approved by the majority or not.

Composition

House of Aristocrats

Main article: House of Aristocrats

The House of Aristocrats is the upper chamber of the Konkrëse. Its members, known as Lords of the Congress, Lords of the Parliament or Members of the House of Aristocrats (MA), are members of the nobility appointed by the Sovereign to serve life-long terms. Each federative unit is represented on the house by two lords, who are be appointed by the monarch. The leader of the major party or coalition in the house is appointed Lord Speaker and lead the house, while its deputy is called Vice Lord Speaker. Although members of this house hold their term legally for life, the King holds power to remove them from office and appoint a substitute on their place.

House of Councillors

Main article: House of Councillors

The House of Councillors is the lower chamber of the Konkrëse. Its members, known as Councillors or Members of the House of Councillors (MC), may be either a commoner or a noble, and are freely elected through universal suffrage by the Ebenthali citizens to serve six-month terms, with no limits to re-election. Each federative unit is represented on he house by two councillors. The party or coalition that holds the majority of seats wins the executive role of Prime Minister, whose holder is appointed by the monarch. The leader of the major party or coalition in the house is appointed Councillor Speaker and lead the house, while its deputy is called Deputy Speaker.

Parties

The table below lists parties currently represented in the College.

Name			Ideologies	Leader	Current seats
	PC	Conservative Party Partido Conservador	Conservatism	Prince Fernando of Negromonte	7 / 28
	PM	Moderate Party Partido Moderado	Liberalism	The Duke of sion	10 / 28
	PT	Worker's Party Partido Trabalhista	Democratic socialism	The Countess of Wittiza	11 / 28

Seats

Aristocrats

Appointed MP	Party		State	Took office	Seat #	Notes
Appointed
The Marquis of Rozandir		Conservative	New Switzerland	2 February 2020	1
The Count of Lyns		Conservative	Aldiva	5 March 2019	2
The Countess of Wittiza		Worker's	Gillisburgh	31 December 2019	3	Prime Minister
The 2nd Duchess of Montana		Moderate	Gillisburgh	8 March 2021	4
Prince Fernando		Conservative	Negromonte	30 October 2015	5	Leader of the Opposition
The Count of Icarus		Worker's	Alvorada	7 September 2018	6
The Count of Ardo		Moderate	Belmonte	24 December 2018	7
The Marquis of Recceswinth		Conservative	New Switzerland	13 September 2014	8
The Marquis of Ferea		Worker's	Carlenburg	1 July 2020	9
The Count of Galla Placidia		Worker's	Carlenburg	5 July 2020	10
The Count of Framtan		Worker's	Aldiva	28 February 2020	11
The Marquis of Terra Nova		Worker's	Belmonte	16 February 2020	12
Hugo III of Negromonte		Moderate	Negromonte	10 March 2021	13	former reigning Prince of Negromonte
The Countess of Barcelos		Moderate	Alvorada	10 March 2021	14

Councillors

Elected MP	Party		State	Took office	Seat #	Notes
Elected
The Duke of Sion		Moderate	Belmonte	8 March 2021	1	Councillor Speaker
The Count of Autem		Moderate	Alvorada	8 March 2021	2
The Count of Novesfora		Conservative	Negromonte	8 March 2021	3
The Duke of Guanabara		Conservative	Gillisburgh	8 March 2021	4
Pedro Carvalho		Worker's	Belmonte	8 March 2021	5
Francisco Arrais		Conservative	New Switzerland	8 March 2021	6
Letícia Carvalho		Moderate	Aldiva	8 March 2021	7
Hugo do Amaral		Moderate	Carlenburg	8 March 2021	8
The Duke of Launceston		Moderate	Gillisburgh	8 March 2021	9
Wellington Muniz		Moderate	Alvorada	8 March 2021	10
Yuri Barcelos		Worker's	Aldiva	8 March 2021	11
Eric de Pádua		Worker's	Negromonte	8 March 2021	12	former Count of Three Marys
The Marquis of Liuva		Worker's	Carlenburg	8 March 2021	13
Eduardo Goethe		Worker's	New Switzerland	8 March 2021	14