Permanent Council

The Permanent Council (Polish: Rada Nieustająca; Lithuanian: Nuolatinė taryba) was the highest administrative authority in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1775 and 1789 and the first modern executive government in Europe.

Although it exerted some constructive influence in Polish-Lithuanian politics and government, within the uniquely liberal framework that permitted free speech, because of its unpopularity during the Partitions period, in some Polish texts it was dubbed as Zdrada Nieustająca - Permanent Treason.

The establishment of an institution of the permanent council, an early form of executive government in the late years of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, was originally recommended by the political reformer Stanisław Konarski.

In reality all the Council's members were nominated in accordance with the wishes of Ambassador Stackelberg, who acted as a representative of the Empress, protectress of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth since 1768.

[1] Although heavily criticized, most notably by the Familia and the so-called Patriotic Party, the Council managed to give rise to a period of economic prosperity in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.