Council of the United Federation of Planets

The Federation Council Chambers in 2286.

The Council of the United Federation of Planets, more commonly known as the Federation Council, is the legislature of the Federation government. A unicameral body, the Council is comprised of one Federation Councillor from every Member State, and meets in the Federation Council Chamber on Floor One of the Palais de la Concorde in Paris, Earth.

In accordance with the Articles of the Federation, sessions of the full Council of the United Federation of Planets are presided over by the President of the United Federation of Planets (barring special circumstances, such as the President being off-planet), who stands at a podium near the north wall while the councillors sit in seats arranged in rising rows of twenty. The podium determines who may speak to the Council for the record, and recognized speakers may only address the Council from the speaker's floor, located in the center of the room between two sets of seats for the councillors. Councillors have computer terminals at their work stations that they may use to silently contact one-another or those outside the chambers, and lights on each terminal to indicate a desire to address the Council. No one may speak who has not been recognized by the podium.

The Federation Council conducts its business during sessions that convene once every six months, with three-week intervals. According to the Articles of the Federation, all Federation Councillors must be present at the beginning of a session in order to participate in future meetings of the Council; those that are not present must wait until the next session convenes in six months. (DS9 novella: Bajor: Fragments and Omens.)

The Council conducts much of its business by dividing itself into numerous sub-councils with jurisdiction over specific areas of import to the Federation; the Security Council, for instance, has jurisdiction over areas of Federation security. Membership in sub-councils is determined by the President, who nominates a councillor for a sub-council who is then confirmed by the full Council. Some of the sub-councils, such as the Security and Judiciary Councils, are permanent, while others are created on an as-needed basis; the councillors from the five founding Member States are automatically appointed to the permanent sub-councils. During sub-council sessions, members of the sub-council may speak without having to be recognized by the sub-council chair; sub-council sessions are usually presided over by the chair of the sub-council rather than the President, though the President does retain that option. The President is generally expected to solicit the active participation of the appropriate sub-council in determining executive policies; as such, there is far less separation of powers between the Council and the Presidency than in many traditional Earth governments.

Elevation to the Federation Council is determined by each Member State. The Republic of Bajor, for instance, determines its Federation Councillor by having him or her nominated by the First Minister and then confirmed by the Chamber of Ministers; the Andorian Empire's councillor is determined by which political party holds the majority of seats in the Parliament Andoria, while Betazed's councillor is popularly elected. Membership in the Council was of course a great honor, and as of 2266, only T'Pau of Vulcan had ever refused a seat. (ST novel: Articles of the Federation; DS9 novellas: Bajor: Fragments and Omens, Andor: Paradigm; TOS episode: "Amok Time")

In 2286, the Federation Council (or possibly the Federation Judiciary Council) met to serve as the jury in a special court-martial of Federation Starfleet Admiral James T. Kirk Commanders Montgomery Scott, Nyota Uhura, Pavel Chekov, Leonard McCoy, and Hikaru Sulu following their hijacking and destruction of the USS Enterprise. The Council dropped all but one charge after the group was responsible for saving Earth from an alien Probe, demoting Kirk to the rank of captain and granting him command of the newly re-designated USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A). (TOS movie: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.)

Whether this was the full Council or the Judiciary Council is unknown. Star Trek IV implies that the Council met in a building in San Francisco. Also, the Star Trek: Voyager episode "In the Flesh" explicitly states that the Federation Council chambers are in San Francisco, so it seems to be a note overlooked in "Articles of the Federation."

In 2366, the Council was called into emergency session when a Romulan defector provided information on a possible Romulan invasion fleet arming near Nelvana III. They determined that the crew of the USS Enterprise-D, the Starfleet ship on site, should assume that anything Romulan Admiral Alidar Jarok said was a lie. (TNG episode: "The Defector")

In 2370, two Hekaran scientists proved that conventional warp drive was fundamentally damaging the space-time continuum. In response, the Federation Council imposed a warp 5 "speed limit" on all Federation vessels and vessels within UFP territory except in dire circumstances. This law was removed when improvements in warp drive were achieved. (TNG episode: "Force of Nature"; ST novel: Articles of the Federation.)

Two years later, the Federation Council condemned the Klingon Empire's invasion of the Cardassian Union following a civilian uprising and agreed to provide twelve industrial replicators to help rebuild the devastated Cardassian industrial base. Later that year, Chancellor Gowron sent a message to the Council, telling them that the Klingon Empire would not give up their captured Cardassian planets and to withdraw Federation forces from the Archanis sector. (DS9 episodes: "The Way of the Warrior," "For the Cause," "Broken Link".)

Following the capture of Federation Starbase Deep Space 9 in late December of 2373, the Federation Council declared a state of war on the Dominion. (Articles of the Federation.) In 2374, the Council sent a message to Grand Nagus Zek of the Ferengi Alliance that Starfleet Ensign Nog was to deliver. Jake Sisko believed it might have been a proposal for an alliance between the Ferengi Alliance and the Federation. (DS9 episode: "Valiant".)

In 2375, Starfleet Admiral Matthew Dougherty claimed that the Federation Council had been responsible for the decision to forcibly relocate the Ba'ku from their world in cooperation with the Son'a. (TNG movie: Star Trek: Insurrection). This claim later proved to be false; Dougherty was branded a rogue and recieved blame for the operation after it was made public. Unbeknownst to the public at large, the relocation was actually the work of the rogue cabal known as Section 31. (S31 novel: Abyss.)

Later that year, the Federation Council was responsible for the decision not to give the Founders the cure to the morphogenic virus that threatened to drive their species to extinction, as they felt it would give the Dominion the upper hand in the war. Shortly thereafter, the Council accepted the peace treaty in which the Dominion agreed to leave the Alpha Quadrant and return sovereignty to the Cardassian Union and Breen Confederacy, which it had annexed, and in which the Federation and its allies agreed to occupy and rebuild the devestated Cardassian Union. (DS9 episodes: "The Dogs of War," "What You Leave Behind".)

See also

• List of Federation Councillors