Executive Branch Triumphs over Senate in Power Struggle
Written by Deepest House
(Europeia – February 20, 2020) – The executive branch emerged victorious in a power struggle with the Senate after a referendum initiated by Senator Drecq failed to overturn Chief of State Pichtonia’s veto of the Executive Order Scope Amendment. The referendum failed by a vote of 22 to 12 on February 19.
The power struggle began when the Senate passed the Executive Order Scope Amendment in response to former First Minister Calvin Coolidge’s executive order on January 17 requiring all elections to have closed, or hidden, results until the end of the election.
Calvin Coolidge’s executive order was met with decisive derision by many legislative stalwarts as an overreach on behalf of the first minister and executive branch.
“This seems like a clear circumvention of the regular legislative process. This [executive order] makes a permanent change to how our elections are conducted and circumvents the elected representatives in the Senate in the process,” said GraVandius in response to the executive order. “ … Had this been only to force a test in say the next [first minister] election I would be less pissed off but it makes a big permanent change to our elections that, as you admit the members of our primary lawmaking body did not see fit to pursue. That seems like an unnecessary overreach to me, simply to implement a controversial policy that you saw no other way of getting done.”
The Executive Order Scope Amendment sought to reduce the ability of the executive branch to issue wide-ranging executive orders. After passage in the Senate, Chief of State Pichtonia promptly squashed the amendment.
“It weakens the executive's ability to act in good faith to quickly address issues that may come up, as we've seen happen in the past. The emergency legislation fix is one way to address that, but I would find it difficult to leave that solely to the Senate,” the chief of state opined as he explained his veto. “It is, in my mind, an overreaction. As THE senate showed with the [executive order] that started this whole debate, our regional and legislative immune system can deal with overreaching [executive orders] very well.”
Former First Minister Maowi signed the bill prior to Pichtonia’s veto. Immediately following the veto, Senator Drecq began a petition for referendum in the Grand Hall.
“The Executive Order Scope Amendment (2020) was passed in response to an overreaching Executive Order by First Minister Calvin, which attempted to unilaterally impose the most extreme variant of a policy the First Minister supported,” Drecq explained in his petition. “I believe that this reduction in executive power is necessary and beneficial to the good government of our region.”
To trigger a referendum, the petition required the seven signatories, which it quickly achieved. Drecq, TheNationofthePeople, Lloenflys, GraVandius, Malashaan, Olde Deleware, and Xecrio were the first citizens to sign the petition and reach the threshold to trigger a 72-hour debate period. Lloenflys, Drecq, and Malashaan each serve in the Senate.
Drecq’s opening salvo in the debate made clear his preference for legislative solutions over the use of executive orders.
“The Bill restricts the Executive Order power of the First Minister, a power which is rarely used and in those situations is almost always used in ways that would be more proper to go the route of normal legislation, such as the most recent one by Calvin mandating that all elections have closed polls,” Drecq said. “ … Emergency Executive Orders simply are no longer necessary as the Senate has passed and the First Minister has signed legislation that provides a quick route for Senate-passed bills.”
HEM countered Drecq’s arguments by pointing to Europeian history and instances where the executive has made use of such orders in times of crisis.
“This is a power that, in pivotal regional moments has been crucial. Acting President Asianatic used executive orders to be able to detain Falconias when he was exposed as a spy in the region,” HEM stated. “Other less dramatic uses have included clarifying the powers of citizenship review prior to an election, making crucial treaty updates in the realm of [foreign affairs], and implementing tentpole policies that the President campaigned on (i.e. Mandatory Service, as an example).”
HEM was joined in support by Kuramia and Sopo, both of whom have strong histories with the executive, much more so than with the legislature. Meanwhile, Lloenflys weighed in heavily on Drecq’s side in support of the referendum.
“I keep hearing that the Executive may need the power to react to something, but with the exception of HEM's example above of detaining Falconias when he was exposed as a spy - something which I know absolutely nothing of and so cannot comment on - there is nothing in the above that requires the executive to be the driver of these fundamentally legislative changes,” Lloenflys added. “ … [F]rom a matter of first principles, it seems very, very strange to me to leave a loophole open for the executive not only to bypass the legislature, but to overrule a previous act of a legislature and previous executive by changing a duly passed law."
Toward the end of the debate period, Aexnidaral sided with the executive on this issue. “I agree with HEM and what many others in the following comments have said in opposition to the Amendment. While I understand, and even agree, with some of the misgivings that prompted this I feel like the language that this would force into adoption is far reaching and too broad in scope.”
Aexnidaral’s support may be somewhat surprising given his history advocating for greater legislative power and oversight over the executive branch.
Ultimately, Drecq’s arguments gained traction with just a few, as he waged a mostly solitary campaign in the debate with occasional support. While reasoned arguments were made by both sides, by the conclusion of the debate period, commentary weighed more heavily against the referendum than in support.
The final result of the referendum handed a significant victory to the executive in the back and forth power struggles between the branches of the Europeian government. In 2019, a similar power struggle took place in the aftermath of the executive split when the Senate refused to allow the first minister and chief of state to each nominate the same individual to serve in their side of the executive branch government. The executive derided such a move as legislative overreach and argued that manipulating the internal administrative structures of the executive branch was beyond the purview of the Senate. In that power struggle, Chief of State Kuramia simply appointed HEM as an executive deputy, bypassing the Senate’s oversight authority and placing HEM in the best position to serve the region.
Going forward, it remains to be seen how the latest power struggle between the branches of government will inform future relations between them. Traditionally, the branches have enjoyed cordial relations, with the occasional confrontation regarding each’s scope of power and authority. The region quickly recovered from the 2019 conflict, and time will tell what the Senate’s next steps are in response to the failure of the referendum.
