Federal Liaison

The position of Federal Liaison is a constitutionally established office under the Executive Council of Fratanica, which deals with federal-provincial affairs and partakes in the simultaneous development of policy. There are currently 15 Federal Liaisons, one for each highest-level administrative division, organized into offices. The position is often considered powerful, serving as an informal form of mediation between the state and its provinces. The offices have no legal regulatory powers, and can not force a province into instituting certain kinds of legislation or enforcing federal statutes. These positions, per prime ministerial decree, may create internal commissions or create working groups to work with provinces and formulate cooperative policy.

Provinces also each maintain their own liaison's offices to the state. In many instances, provinces pass legislation without the invocation of federal-provincial partnerships. However, in times when provincial legislation may go against federal interests or out of preemption, the liaisons may be used to come to a satisfactory consensus between the federal state and the province. Ultimately, this is not binding; the province can choose to pass laws which either collide with federal interests or ignore the aforementioned consensus.

The use of these liaisons often fluctuate depending on the prime minister, and their level of involvement in federal-provincial politics may be varied. The current Prime Minister, Michael Lambert, has opted to use his liaisons quite frequently to influence provincial legislation and increase provincial accountability to the federal government. The overall trend, regardless of political spectrum, has been to use these liaisons sparingly when dealing with areas of policy the federal government wants to influence. Liaisons have also been tools of manipulation and negotiation, used as a means to bring governments to the negotiating table or send a real message.

History
Fratanica had always been occupied historically by many small and medium-sized nation-states. As a result, the notion of federalism had become of contemporary importance, in order to address the diverse political and social needs. Within the Portier doctrine, the author introduced the concept of "concurrent mutualism", which emphasized the need for power balance between the state and subunit governments. The doctrine clearly outlined a vision for utmost cooperation between the various levels of federal units, and especially noted that the federal government should still maintain some level of power over most affairs within its borders. The doctrine had recommended the radical approach of making all reserved powers concurrent powers, however, many of the architects of the current constitution believed that to be pointless with the implementation of federalism. Hence, Federal Liaison offices were created as a constitutional compromise.