Cabinet of Ministers (Ministru cabinets) - the government of the Republic of Latvia. According to Article 58 of the Constitution, all public administration institutions are subordinate to it. The Cabinet of Ministers begins to fulfill its duties after the Seimas has expressed its confidence in it. Individual ministers and state ministers appointed by the Prime Minister later require a special decision of confidence from the Sejm.
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If the Sejm expresses no confidence in the President of Ministers, the entire Cabinet must resign. If no confidence is expressed in an individual minister, he must resign, and the President of Ministers must invite another person to replace him. The Sejm expresses no confidence in the Cabinet of Ministers by adopting an appropriate decision or by rejecting the draft of the next annual state budget submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers.
History of Latvian governments
Compound
All cabinets of ministers in Latvia since 1993 have included the president of ministers (head of government) and the ministers themselves - the political heads of the ministries (the administrative heads of the ministries - officials who do not lose their posts when governments change - are the state secretaries of the ministries).
Some rooms also included:
- Comrades of the President of Ministers (Deputy Prime Ministers)
- ministers on special assignments (they did not report directly to the ministers and did not head the ministries, but had secretariats - there were no public administration institutions subordinate to the secretariats, and their administrative heads were not secretaries of state, but the heads of ministerial secretariats)
- ministers of state (subordinate to any minister)
The Cabinet of Ministers makes decisions by a majority vote of the members of the Cabinet of Ministers present at the meeting, and also has the right to make decisions if more than half of the members of the Cabinet of Ministers participate in the meeting. As of January 2011, the cabinet includes the President of Ministers and 13 ministers: welfare, internal affairs, health, agriculture, foreign affairs, culture, science and education, defense, environmental protection and regional development, transport, finance, economics, justice.
Substitution procedure
In the absence of the President of Ministers, or if he is unable to perform his official duties for other reasons, he is replaced and chairs meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers by the member of the Cabinet whom the President of Ministers has appointed as his deputy. The President of the State and the Chairman of the Saeima must be notified about this. In the absence of a colleague of the President of Ministers or a minister, or if he is unable to perform his official duties for other reasons, he is replaced by a member of the Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the President of Ministers as a deputy in that position.
Functions and powers of the Cabinet of Ministers
All public administration institutions are subordinate to the President of Ministers. The Cabinet of Ministers has the right to propose laws, the right to appoint or approve a significant part of civil service officials. The Cabinet of Ministers discusses or makes decisions on all matters that fall within its competence in accordance with the Constitution (Constitution) and laws. The Cabinet of Ministers may publish normative acts - rules - in the following cases:
Until 2007, the Cabinet of Ministers could also issue rules in the manner prescribed by Article 81 of the Constitution, that is, between sessions of the Sejm, in case of urgent need. Until 2008, the Cabinet of Ministers could also issue rules if the relevant issue was not regulated by law.
Rules approved by the Cabinet of Ministers cannot conflict with the Constitution and laws. The rules must contain a link to the basis of which law they were published.
The Cabinet of Ministers and an individual minister may issue instructions binding on the institutions subordinate to them:
- if the law or regulations give special powers to do so to the Cabinet of Ministers or an individual minister;
- if the relevant issue is not regulated by law or regulations.
The President of Ministers, the Comrade of the President of Ministers and ministers have the right to issue orders in cases established by laws and regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers. An order is an administrative act individual character, which refers to individual government institutions and officials.
According to the Japanese Constitution, the Cabinet of Ministers exercises executive power (Article 65). It includes the Prime Minister and other government ministers. The Constitution defines the principle of a civil cabinet (Art.
66). The term “civilian” means a person who is not in military service, who has not been a professional military man in the past, and who is not a bearer of militaristic ideology.
Traditionally, the head of the Cabinet is the leader of the parliamentary majority party. If the chambers propose different candidates for the post of prime minister, or if the House of Councilors does not propose its candidacy within 10 days, then the decision of the House of Representatives becomes a decision of Parliament.
In accordance with the Law on the Cabinet of Ministers of 1 9 4 7, the Prime Minister appoints no more than 20 state (as all members of the Cabinet are called) ministers (Article 2 of the Law on the Cabinet of Ministers), while the majority of ministers must be elected from among the members of Parliament (Article 68 of the Constitution). In fact, all members of the Cabinet are parliamentarians. All members of the Cabinet are approved by decree of the Emperor. The ministries and functions of individual ministers are listed in the Law on the Structure of State Executive Bodies 1 9 4 8. 12 ministers head the ministries of Justice, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Education, Health and Social Welfare, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, foreign trade and industry, transport, communications, labor, construction, local government, in addition, one Cabinet minister is the Secretary General, the remaining 8 ministers are ministers
without a portfolio, they are effectively advisors to the prime minister and traditionally run separate divisions of the prime minister's office. In the Cabinet of Ministers of Japan there are no positions of military and naval ministers, as well as the minister of internal affairs (the self-defense forces are led by the minister without portfolio - the head of the national defense department, and some functions assigned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs are performed by the Ministry of Local Government).
While in office, a minister cannot be brought to justice without the consent of the prime minister (Article 75 of the Constitution). The Prime Minister may, at his discretion, remove ministers from office (Article 68). The Cabinet is collectively responsible to Parliament (Article 66). If the House of Representatives passes a vote of no confidence or refuses to vote for confidence in the government, the Cabinet of Ministers must resign unless the House of Representatives is dissolved by the Cabinet within ten days (Article 69). The Cabinet must also resign if the office of Prime Minister becomes vacant or if the first session of Parliament is convened after elections to the House of Representatives (Article 70).
Article 73 of the Japanese Constitution defines the functions of the government as follows: “The Cabinet shall perform, among other general functions of government, the following duties:
conscientious implementation of laws, conduct of public affairs;
foreign policy management;
conclusion of contracts. In this case, prior or, depending on the circumstances, subsequent approval of Parliament is required;
organization and management of the civil service in accordance with the standards established by law;
Drawing up a budget and submitting it to Parliament;
Issuing government decrees to implement the provisions of this Constitution and laws. At the same time, government decrees cannot contain articles providing for criminal punishment except as authorized by the relevant law;
Making decisions on general and private amnesties, mitigation and deferment of punishments and restoration of rights." The activities of the Cabinet of Ministers are regulated in more detail in the Law on the Cabinet of Ministers, which defines the structure and functions of the Cabinet, the competence of the Prime Minister and other ministers, relationships with other government bodies.
The procedure for Cabinet meetings and decision-making are governed by custom.
Cabinet meetings are closed,
are held twice a week during the parliamentary session, decisions are made unanimously or by consensus.
The powers of the Prime Minister as head of the Cabinet include general coordination of the activities of the Cabinet, appointment and dismissal of government ministers, submission of bills to Parliament, reports to Parliament on general condition government affairs and foreign policy, signing laws and decrees individually (as the relevant minister) and countersigning the signature of the authorized minister, participating in negotiations and signing international treaties, leading the preparation and concluding intergovernmental agreements. There is an office under the Prime Minister.
Each minister has two deputies: parliamentary (Article 17 of the Law on the structure of state executive bodies) and administrative (Article 17-2 of the same Law). The Ministers of Finance, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Foreign Trade and Industry each have two parliamentary deputies. Japanese ministers are not specialists, so the real head of the ministry is the administrative deputy - a professional official with special education. In Japan, the practice of ministerial rotation is often used (for example, Ryutaro Hashimoto, since 1978, has successively held the positions of Minister of Health and Welfare, Transport, Finance, Foreign Trade and Industry in the government).
Directly under the Cabinet of Ministers there is a secretariat headed by the Secretary General of the Cabinet, a legislative bureau, a personnel affairs council and a national defense council. Temporary commissions and councils may be created under the legislative bureau.
Under the Prime Minister's Office and ministries there is a large number of committees and departments. Thus, under the Prime Minister’s Office there is a commission for resolving environmental conflicts, a committee for state security affairs (the police department is subordinate to it), a committee for fair trade affairs, a department for public lands, a department for the imperial court, and a department for environment and etc.
The Cabinet of Ministers - the government of Japan - is the highest executive body.
The first Cabinet of Ministers, created on a European model, began its work in December 1885, and since that time there have been no interruptions in the work of the Japanese government. Initially, the principle of a non-party cabinet was in effect, but from the beginning of the 20th century. it has almost lost its meaning. After World War II, the status of the Cabinet of Ministers was greatly changed.
The powers and work procedure of the Cabinet of Ministers are determined by the Constitution and the Law on the Cabinet of Ministers of January 16, 1947. It must be said that in the post-war era there are two periods of reforms of the executive branch: post-war and modern 11 Constitutional law foreign countries: Textbook for universities / Ed. M.V. Baglaya, Doctor of Law, Prof. Yu.I. Leibo and Doctor of Law, Prof. L.M. Entina. - 2nd ed., revised M.: Norma, 2006. P.690.
During post-war reforms the legislative framework The central executive power was created in less than two years. The main documents are three: the Constitution, the Law on the Cabinet of Ministers and the Law on the Structure of State Executive Bodies of 1948. These laws ensured a high degree of stability of the executive power. This result was achieved mainly due to the fact that the structure of each government body is determined by law and any change relating to executive authorities must be submitted to the next parliamentary meeting. It should be noted that until the end of 1999, almost no changes were made to these regulations.
The current reorganization of the government structure is also being carried out very carefully. Preparations for administrative reform began quite a long time ago, but it began in 1996, when within the framework of the LDP a broad structural reform project was developed in the form of “Hashimoto’s view.” The main emphasis was on reducing the number of ministries and departments, as well as eliminating the system of vertical and fragmented government, in which the orders of various departments are not consistent with each other. Also in 1996, Ryutaro Hashimoto (at that time the Prime Minister of Japan) established and headed the Administrative Reform Council. The concept developed by the Council, which focused on strengthening the role of the Prime Minister and reorganizing central ministries, was published in December 1997. Based on this concept, the Japanese Cabinet prepared a draft Basic Law for the Reform of Ministries and Departments, which was adopted by the Diet in June 1998 The law established two goals of administrative reform: 1) reducing the number of ministries and departments from 22 to 12, 2) strengthening the leadership role of the prime minister. The provisions of this Law were specified in 17 government bills submitted to Parliament in April 1999 and adopted in July of the same year. Thus, the legal basis for a major organizational restructuring of almost all parts of the government apparatus was formed. 1.5 years were allotted for the implementation of the program. Within new structure The government of Japan has been in operation since January 1, 2001.
The most important constitutional provision that determines the place of the Government of Japan in the system of government bodies is the rule that the Prime Minister is elected by Parliament, and the Government is collectively responsible to Parliament. The Japanese Constitution provides that the Prime Minister is elected from among the members of Parliament, and the results of the vote are approved by parliamentary resolution. Traditionally, the head of the Cabinet of Ministers is the leader of the parliamentary majority party. State ministers are appointed by the Prime Minister.
According to the results of the administrative reform of 1998-2000. the composition of the Cabinet of Ministers should not exceed 14 state ministers, but by decision of the head of government it is allowed to have up to three ministers special purpose 11 Constitutional law of foreign countries. Textbook. In -4 volumes. Volume 3. Answer. ed. B.A. Strashun. - M.: 2004. P.328. All members of the Cabinet are ministers of state, including the secretary general and ministers without portfolio.
While in office, a minister cannot be brought to justice without the consent of the Prime Minister (Article 75 of the Constitution). The Prime Minister may, at his discretion, remove ministers from office (Article 68 of the Constitution). As already mentioned, the Cabinet of Ministers is collectively responsible to Parliament and must resign if the House of Representatives passes a vote of no confidence or refuses to vote confidence in the Government and is not dissolved within ten days (Article 69 of the Constitution). The Cabinet must also resign if the office of Prime Minister becomes vacant or if the first session of Parliament is convened after elections to the House of Representatives (Article 70 of the Constitution).
The Japanese Constitution defines the Cabinet of Ministers as “civil” (Article 66 of the Constitution). This means that members of the Cabinet should not be in military service, be former professional soldiers and be carriers of militaristic ideology. The majority of ministers must be elected from among the members of Parliament (Article 68 of the Constitution).
Currently, the Government of Japan has nine ministries: general affairs, lands and transport, labor and welfare, education and science, financial affairs, economics and industry, foreign affairs, justice and agriculture, forestry and fisheries. In the Cabinet of Ministers of Japan there are no positions of the Minister of Defense, the Minister of the Navy, or the Minister of the Interior (the self-defense forces are led by the Minister without Portfolio - the head of the National Defense Department, while most of the functions usually assigned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs are performed by the Ministry of General Affairs).
Article 73 of the Constitution defines the following functions of the Government of Japan:
- - conscientious implementation of laws, conduct of government affairs;
- - management of foreign policy;
- - conclusion of agreements (with preliminary or, depending on the circumstances, subsequent approval of Parliament);
- - organization and management of the civil service in accordance with the norms established by law;
- - drawing up a budget and submitting it for consideration by Parliament;
- - issuance of government decrees in order to implement the provisions of this Constitution and laws (government decrees cannot contain articles providing for criminal punishment except with the permission of the relevant law);
- - adoption of a law on general and private amnesties, mitigation and deferment of sentences and restoration of rights.
The activities of the Cabinet of Ministers are regulated in more detail in the Law on the Cabinet of Ministers of 1947 (as amended in 1998), which defines the structure and functions of the Cabinet, the competence of the Prime Minister and other ministers, and the relationships between administrative bodies. Thus, in addition to those listed, the Cabinet of Ministers performs the following functions: gives advice to the Emperor in relation to all state actions and is responsible for them, appoints judges of the Supreme Court, except the chief judge, and all judges of lower instances, nominates the candidacy of the chief judge for appointment, decides on convening extraordinary session of Parliament, extraordinary session of the House of Councillors, is responsible for spending the reserve fund to cover the budget deficit, annually submits to Parliament reports on government revenues and expenditures, reports on the state of public finances, etc.
The Law on the Cabinet of Ministers provides that the government carries out its functions in the form of meetings, which, according to custom, are held twice a week. In addition to regular meetings, emergency meetings may also be held. Meetings of the Japanese government are closed, decisions are made unanimously or by consensus.
Primary importance in administrative reform is given to changes that should strengthen the leadership of the Prime Minister and ensure his personal and government political leadership. The most important thing seems to be the recognition of the Prime Minister's personal initiative in determining the “principled course on important political affairs of the cabinet.” The “principled course” refers to the fundamentals of foreign policy and security, financial policy, economic management and state budgeting, determining the structure and personnel administrative bodies. The official comments on this amendment emphasize that its result was “a clearer definition of the leadership role of the Prime Minister as head of the cabinet in the implementation of public policy. This will help the Cabinet of Ministers, sharing the main course of the Prime Minister, to fully fulfill the duties assigned to it by the Constitution.”
The powers of the Prime Minister include: general coordination of the activities of the Cabinet, appointment and dismissal of government ministers, submission of bills to Parliament, reports to Parliament on the general state of government affairs and foreign policy, signing of laws and decrees individually (as the corresponding minister) and countersignature of signatures the relevant minister, participation in negotiations and signing of international treaties, management of the preparation and conclusion of intergovernmental agreements.
The Cabinet of Ministers has: a secretariat; the office of the Cabinet of Ministers (until 1998 - the office of the Prime Minister), under which, in turn, there are a large number of committees and government agencies; legislative bureau; Personnel Affairs Council and National Defense Council.
Each state minister has two deputies: parliamentary and administrative (Article 17 of the Law on the structure of state executive bodies). The Ministers of Finance, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Economy and Industry each have two parliamentary deputies.
Japanese ministers are not specialists, so the real head of the ministry is the administrative deputy - a professional official with special education. In Japan, the practice of ministerial rotation is often used (for example, Junichiro Koizumi successively held the positions of Minister of Health and Welfare and Minister of Transport in the government. Even more indicative is the track record of government posts of former Prime Minister R. Hashimoto: Minister of Health and Welfare, Transport, Finance , foreign trade and industry),
In any country in the world, the highest executive authority, in fact, is the cabinet of ministers, although this body can be called differently. In the Soviet Union, the cabinet of ministers is the Council of Ministers, and in Russia now it is the government. In a number of countries, for example, Israel, Latvia, Japan, Uzbekistan, the government is called the cabinet of ministers. All the main functions for managing the current activities of the country lie with this highest executive body.
Main functions
The Cabinet of Ministers is the collegial highest authority in the country. The cabinet may include line ministers and ministers without portfolio (a member of the government who does not manage a ministry or other government body). The cabinet is headed by the prime minister, who is appointed by the head of state and/or parliament. The head of government forms a cabinet of ministers, which as a whole or individual members (for example, deputy prime ministers) must be approved by the head of state or parliament. The main tasks delegated to the Cabinet of Ministers are:
- foreign policy, although in many countries it may largely be the prerogative of the head of state;
- domestic politics, including responsibility for state policy in the field of culture, science, education, healthcare, social security, and ecology;
- state and internal security, including ensuring compliance with legislation protecting citizens and fighting crime;
- national defense;
- economic policy, including developing and executing the country’s budget and managing state property.
In the field of defense, foreign policy and state security, policy is formed by the head of state, and the cabinet of ministers provides measures for its implementation. Decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers are made by voting and formalized in the form of a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers. What exactly the cabinet of ministers is responsible for is usually determined by a special law.
The first cabinet of ministers in Russian history
In the history of Russia, there was also its own cabinet of ministers during the reign of Empress Anna Ioannovna (1731-1741). Then this highest state body of the empire existed as a council under the monarch. The Cabinet of Ministers, which was an advisory body consisting of two or three cabinet ministers, was supposed to facilitate the decision-making process of the empress and increase the efficiency of government. The Cabinet prepared draft decisions of the head of state, announced her personal decrees and resolutions. However, gradually he began to perform full-fledged government functions. The ministers were in charge of the military, police and financial services.
Where are there offices in Russia?
Since Russia is a federal state, each subject of the federation (region, territory, national republic) has its own government. In some republics, the government is the cabinet of ministers. For example, in Tatarstan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Adygea. The activities of the cabinets of ministers of the republics are determined by laws Russian Federation and local law on executive authorities. Regional, regional and republican cabinets deal mainly with socio-economic issues, including the formation and execution of the local budget, economic and internal politics, foreign economic relations, within the limits defined by Russian legislation. In general, with the exception of defense, security and foreign policy (partially) does the same as federal government. Decisions made by the government are formalized in the form of resolutions of the cabinet of ministers of the republic, region, etc.
The most unusual office
Japan for us is a country of all sorts of interesting, beautiful and sometimes strange customs and things. Here is the Cabinet of Ministers of the Country rising sun very peculiar. Currently, it includes 12 sectoral government ministers and 8 ministers without portfolio. According to the constitution, they must be civilians and the majority must be members of parliament. But usually the cabinet of ministers consists only of deputies who are more occupied with affairs in parliament, and ministries are managed by officials. Sometimes a deputy can head two ministries. The prime minister is nominated by parliament from among its deputies, who is then approved by the emperor. The work of the Cabinet of Ministers is carried out on the basis of customs and precedents; there is no law regulating the procedure for meetings and decision-making. All decisions are made by consensus and not by vote.
Great Britain has two cabinets
Living on an island, even a large one, probably has a strong influence on customs. Another example of a peculiar understanding of government is Great Britain, which also occupies a group of islands, and they also have a constitutional monarchy. However, here the cabinet of ministers is a collegial body of the government. The government itself is about a hundred people appointed by the queen from members of parliament. The prime minister, according to the constitution, is appointed by the leader of the ruling party, who recruits a cabinet of ministers, approximately twenty people. The leader of the opposition party forms a shadow cabinet that controls the activities of the government. In the United Kingdom it is an official body. The head of the shadow cabinet and some members receive remuneration.