Unfortunately in the first half of the 61st Cosa the Defence Ministry has continued to be largely lifeless. The Green Party is therefore even more convinced that the Ministry is ripe for restructuring as proposed in our Pacific Realm Act. So far this term, there have been a couple of terpelaziuns for the Ministry both of which were from the Green Party. One was answered by the named Minister and the other was answered nearly a week late by the Seneschal reporting no updates.
In the Throne Speech, plans for the Ministry were described as follows:
Quote from: King Txec on May 11, 2025, 08:03:21 AMIn his joint role as Minister of Defence, our trusty and well-beloved Bråneu Excelsio will resume the last term's goal of a live promotion ceremony for the Zouaves, as well as all the other regular activities of that body. It has also been brought to our attention that the other branch of Talossa's defence forces, the Royal Talossan Navy, has been sadly neglected in recent years. We hope for a cross-service revival of our military readiness – and for both branches to play a role in whatever plans the College of Arms have for my Coronation.
And Minister Excelsio expanded on these plans in response to one of our terpelaziuns as follows:
Quote from: Bråneu Excelsio, UrN on May 16, 2025, 02:07:28 PMThe Live Promotion Ceremony depens (sic) on the number of promotions and exhibitions, but here's a few things we have planned. We have lined up a Zouaves Recognition Update to happen during May and June. We will support the Royal Navy in updates and new initiatives to be announced. We will create a publicly accessible archive highlighting the history of Talossa's military institutions. Also, we will review and publish a clear, simplified chart of the current Defence Ministry structure.
As with the Avocat-Xheneral, we do need to note there has been mention of several extenuating circumstances which may partly explain the limited activity. The Minister has referred to internet issues which, remarkably, appear to be ongoing for months now. Other officials have mentioned illness and a need for a break during an announcement of a recent Cabinet reshuffle. Whatever the cause of the apparent difficulties for the Minister in achieving the goals stated by himself and in the Throne Speech we hope that life outside of Talossa will allow him to do more inside of Talossa.
As mentioned in the Throne Speech, the live promotion ceremony is a Defence Ministry goal that was set and is still incomplete from the last term. At present, we note no live ceremony of the Zouaves has occurred after the Ministry set a new goal of May or June. After review, we can find no evidence of updates to the Royal Navy, no evidence of the publishing of a chart for current Defence Ministry structure, or of a public archive on Talossa's military institutions. We therefore are concerned that there appears to be little activity within the Ministry.
If there are private activities that show progress on some or all of the above-mentioned goals we welcome that information.