Minister-president

A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. It is an alternative term for prime minister, premier, chief minister, or first minister and very similar to the title of president of the council of ministers. In English-speaking countries, similar institutions may be called premiers or first ministers (typically at the subnational level) or prime ministers (typically at the national level). The plural is sometimes formed by adding an s to minister and sometimes by adding an s to president. The term is used, for instance, as a translation (calque) of the German word Ministerpräsident. From 1867 to 1918, the first minister of the government was known as Ministerpräsident (minister-president), before that Staatskanzler (state chancellor). Today the head of the Austrian Federal Government is called the Bundeskanzler (federal chancellor), while the head of a state government is called the Landeshauptmann (literally "state captain"), not Ministerpräsident. In the city-state of Vienna the head of the state government is called the Bürgermeister und Landeshauptmann (Mayor and state captain). See: List of ministers-president of Austria. The term minister-president (Dutch: minister-president, French: ministre-président, German: Ministerpräsident) is also used in Belgium to describe the head of government of a Belgian region or linguistic community, but not the head of the Belgian federal government who is referred to as the prime minister (Dutch: eerste minister, French: premier ministre, German: Premierminister). According to the Belgian constitution, the federal prime minister is appointed by the king, and approved by the federal parliament with a vote of confidence (in practice the king usually appoints the leader of the winning party as "formateur" to form a government). The federal ministers later swear an oath of allegiance to the king.