Malashaan's Return to the Executive
By United Vietussia
(Europeia – May 29, 2017) - After the resignation of President Calvin Coolidge, Vice President Darcness quickly ascended into his new post as President. Just hours after assuming the position, Darcness took one of his first actions, nominating Malashaan as his VP.
Malashaan is definitely not the first name that comes to mind in the Executive, with names like Writinglegend, Aexnidaral Seymour, and Common-Sense Politics amongst others coming to mind first. Rather, Malashaan is best known for his work in the Legislative and Judicial branches, having served 12 terms as Speaker and 5 terms in the Court, with one of those being a Chief Justice term.
So, just what made Malashaan return to the Executive with his VP nomination?
"I've been involved in all the ministries on and off for the last couple of years," he said. "[Darcness] is supremely talented, but he's very new to the region. As VP, I can provide historical context and experience of the executive as a whole that is really only gained by being President. When [Darcness] asked me to serve, it was an easy decision. Being VP will also allow me to ensure the [Civil Service Officium] is effectively restructured; something I've been working on for a few months now."
I also asked him about what he thought might be the biggest change since the last time he was Vice President and this term.
"Last time I was VP, it was straight off the back of being President and it was mainly about consolidating various reforms," Malashaan told me. "I'd been deeply involved at the top levels of the executive for several terms, so I was really pushing an agenda I had had a major hand in developing. This time, I'm coming in to help [Darcness] implement his agenda. That's not to say I don't have my own ideas (e.g., I have been discussing reforming the [Civil Service Officium] with [Minister of Interior Leo Drakan] and [Darcness] for some time, and will now be leading that project), but they are more specific ideas in particular areas, rather than any overarching agenda. I'm also a lot more experienced now than I was then. I've seen a lot more of what works and what doesn't, so I think I'm better placed to provide support to the cabinet across the board."
Finally, I asked him, with all of his experience in mind, to tell me what he thought was the biggest difference between the Executive and other branches of the Europeian government.
"The biggest difference I see is that the executive has a lot of independent authority," he said. "The Senate discusses things in public and (hopefully) listens to public input before making new law. Even then, it requires the People's assent to become effective and the action of another branch to me implemented. Similarly, the judiciary is constricted to enforcing the law produced by the other branches. In contrast, the executive can and does take a lot of action before the other branches get involved, and they are limited to after-the-fact review."
Malashaan was recently confirmed by the Senate with a unanimous 6-0 vote. He'll look to bring experience to a fresh President and guide him through the rest of the term. Their term will end June 18, leaving 19 days from now for the duo to bring their vision to Europeia.
