The two national governments and their legislatures…

The two national governments and their legislatures in Vienna and Budapest share a common government consisting of a monarch with almost unlimited powers in the conduct of foreign and military affairs, a ministry of foreign affairs, a ministry of defense, and a finance ministry for diplomatic and military establishments.

In the absence of a shared parliament, discussion of the empire's common affairs is conducted by parallel meetings of delegates from the two national legislatures communicating with each other through written notes.

A key topic of these meetings will be the common commercial policy and customs union that has
to be renegotiated every ten years.