288px|right|thumb|Permanent Council
The Permanent Council (; ) was the highest administrative authority in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1775 and 1789 and the first modern executive government in Europe. As is still typically the case in contemporary parliamentary politics, the members of the Council were selected from the parliament or Sejm of the Commonwealth. 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.
History
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. It was intermittently under consideration, as permitted by Commonwealth's intrusive neighbours, during the period of government reforms, beginning with the Convocation Sejm of 1764.