National News Eiffelland (from 2009 until 31 July 2020)

[Wazistan]

Statement from the Office of the President

President Hamid Najibullah congratulates His Royal Highness Crown Prince Albrecht on his upcoming coronation. Deputy Foreign Minister Rafik Hossein will represent the Islamic Republic at the ceremony.

 

[Radilo]

L’Office du Président de la République

On behalf of the Radilan Republic and myself, I would like to extend my congratulations to His Royal Highness Albert on this occasion, and confirm that I will be attending the ceremony.

~ M. le Président, Jean-Jacques Auguste

 

[Aquitania]

Secretariate of the Palace Royale

His Most Catholic and Royal Grace, Grand Duke Jean III, sends his congratulations to His Royal Highness, Crown-Prince Albrecht and will attend the coronation ceremony.

 

[Rheinbund]

Schloss Schönhausen
Trier, Eiffelland

We thank you for your kind words. Of course you are all welcome at the ceremony.

Florian Freiherr von und zu Cloppenburg, on behalf of Crown-Prince Albrecht

OOC: Now I'm asking myself something. Maybe I should RP the coronation, but I will have an extremely busy schedule then. I will also have a prince who will marry around the start of April, and then I will have more time to RP, so I prefer to RP that.

 

[Rheinbund]

26 January 2010

Schwarz-blau in Emsland
Results of provincial elections in Emsland official

The results of the Emslander provincial elections are official. The Sociodemocratic SPE lost 5 seats in the provincial parliament, and the extremist rightwing VU lost 1 seat. The winners of the elections were the Christiandemocratic CDV and the rightwing liberal FDV, because they gained enough seats to form a coalition together.

The new provincial parliament will be formed as follows:

SPE (Sociodemocrats): 30 seats.
CDV (Christiandemocrats): 28 seats.
FDV (rightwing liberals): 24 seats.
SLU (Socioliberals): 8 seats.
Grünen (Environmentalists): 5 seats.
KPE (Communists): 2 seats.
VU (extremist rightwing): 2 seats.
PCL (Orthodox Christian): 1 seat.

It is generally expected that the CDV and the FDV will form a coalition, although the SPE will have the initiative. Emsland is traditionally a sociodemocratic stronghold. It will be the first time in 90 years that a coalition without socialists or sociodemocrats will be formed in that province.
The provincial elections will also lead to a change in the Staatsrat: The SPE will loose one seat, and the Grünen will gain one seat.


31 January 2010

King Heinrich abdicated; King Albrecht crowned
Eiffelland has a new King: Albrecht IV

All Eiffellandian eyes were focused on Weissenfels today. In the morning, King Heinrich signed his abdication in the Weissenfelser Stadtschloss, formerly the palace of the Duke of Sauerland. After then, he introduced his son Albrecht as the new King to the people gathered together in front of the palace.
Five hours later, King Albrecht IV was crowned in the Weissenfelser Hofkirche, in the presence of the Government, the presidents of the Staatstag and the Staatsrat, and many international guests.
After the coronation, there was a special session of the Staatstag and the Staatsrat, in which all members of the Eiffellandian Parliament and all the members of the government took the oath of loyalty to the new King. The special session took place in the Semperoper.
Currently, there is a banquet in the Weissenfelser Stadtschloss.

The former King Heinrich, who will use the title of Prince again, and the former Queen Alienora, who will use the title of Princess again, will stay in Schloss Charlottenburg for one week. After that week, they will move to Schloss Glienicke, which was renovated for them. Then Schloss Charlottenburg will be renovated, so that King Albrecht can move there on 1 March.
Prince Heinrich received the title Duke of the Harz. Automatically, Princess Alienora became the Duchess of the Harz.
Crown-Prince Friedrich received the title Duke of Sauerland, the title which is traditionnally given to the Crown-Prince. He and his fiancée Laura von Bamberg will stay in Weissenfels until their current projects at the Staatsuniversität Weissenfels have been finished.

 

[Rheinbund]

Common practice becomes legal
King signs 20 year old laws on age of consent and abortion

Two laws which the previous King never wanted to sign have been signed by the current King. One laws equals the age of consent for heterosexual and homosexual intercourse (16 years, and 14 with parental consent or when the age difference is not more than 2 years). The other law legalises abortion for social reasons and at free will until 12 weeks pregnancy duration.
The Staatstag and the Staatsrat approved both laws in 1989. Up to now, they had never become officially effective, but they had already become part of of common practice. The ban on abortion for other reasons than the health of the mother or congenital malformations was already not enforced until 12 weeks pregnancy duration, and homosexual intercourse was already tolerated according to the new legislation.
Ironically, the new law on the age of consent slightly restricts heterosexual intercourse. Under the previous law, heterosexual intercourse was legal from age 14 onwards in all cases; At present the parents need to consent for people between age 14 and 16, unless the age difference is 2 years or less.

 

[Rheinbund]

Elections in Obereiffel

Next weekend will be election day in Obereiffel. The new provincial parliament will be elected in the only province of Eiffelland with a leftwing government. The people in Obereiffel will vote on Sunday 21 February.


Deployment of A400M put forward

Due to the tensions around Batavië, the government decided to accelerate the deployment process of the new military transporter aircraft A400M, produced by Airbus. Additional budget for payments to Airbus was made available for this. The Luftstreitkräfte will receive the first aircraft this month.

 

[Rheinbund]

Votings closed in Obereiffel
Exit polls: Dramatic loss for Sociodemocrats

The ballot-boxes have just been closed in Obereiffel. A dramatic loss has been forecasted for the Sociodemocrats, indicating that the current coalition will loose its majority, although the Sociodemocrats would remain the biggest fraction in the Obereiffeler parliament.


Crown-Prince Friedrich and Laura zu Bamberg will marry at 8 May

King Albrecht was proud when he announced that his eldest son, Crown-Prince Friedrich, and Laura zu Bamberg will marry at 8 May this year. The wedding will take place in the Trierer Dom. Initially, the wedding was planned for 10 April, but it was decided to postpone it one month so that it would not clash with the festivities in Talemantros to celebrate the 1400th anniversary of de accession to the throne of Benimiano I, which marks the start of the De Vesci dynasty.
Invitations have been sent to royal families and heads of state throughout Europe.
Crown-Prince Friedrich and Laura zu Bamberg have been in a relationship for 2 years. They met each other in Erlangen, as the Crown-Prince was there as an exchange student, and renewed their relationship as Laura zu Bamberg came to Weissenfels as an exchange student. Currently, the Future Princess Laura is finishing her studies in Weissenfels, and Crown-Prince Friedrich is working on his Ph.D. thesis there.


Other news:
The Trierer duo Rosenstolz will give a 2 hour concert during the 1 May festivities at the Alexanderplatz in Trier.
Robbers sentenced to 25 years imprisonment after series of violent robberies in Emden.

 

[Rheinbund]

23 Feb 2010

Elections Obereiffel: Eiffelland's only leftwing provincial coalition looses majority
Dramatic loss for Sociodemocrats in Obereiffel

The results of the elections in the province Obereiffel are official. The Sociodemocrats lost 10 of their 35 seats, and the Communists lost 1 seat. Winner of these elections are the Rightwing Liberals, who gained 6 seats. There were also gains for the Christiandemocrats (2 seats), Socioliberals (2 seats) and Greens (1 seat). The Obereiffeler parliament will look as follows:

CDV: 25 seats.
SPE: 25 seats.
FDV: 22 seats.
SLU: 13 seats.
Grünen: 8 seats.
KPE: 3 seats.
VU: 3 seats.
PCL: 1 seat.

The CDV got slightly more votes than the SPE. Therefore, the CDV will start the negotiations for a new coalition. From a political point of view, two coalitions will be possible: One between Christiandemocrats, Sociodemocrats and Socioliberals, and one between Christiandemocrats, Rightwing Liberals and Socioliberals.
These elections will also have results for the seats in the Staatsrat. The Christiandemocrats will become the largest fraction there.

　
25 Feb 2010

Carentania's ambassador in Trier summoned by Minister Von Seydewitz

Today Minister for Foreign Affairs Von Seydewitz summoned Carentania's ambassador in Trier to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to talk about Carentania's plans in the straight between Danzig and Carentania and recent remarks about the EDF made by representants of the Carentanian Government. Minister Von Seydewitz spoke out his concerns about these events and lined out that they could harm the relations between Eiffelland and Carentania.

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Carentanian Ambassador to Eiffelland
Press Conference

"... and I have made it very clear to my colleagues from Eiffelland, that in the event of an implementation of these naval defense plans, there would be no infringement on Eiffellandian sovereignity or their right to free shipping in international waters, nor on the sovereignity of their allies or their respective rights to free passage, or on the sovereignity of any other nation or their rights in international territories such as the straight, as long as neither Carentania nor one of its friends and allies is acted aggressively against by said nation. Any plan by the Commissariate for Defence is of purely defensive nature and will remain entirely unnoticed by the states of Europe to the day they should make the fateful decision of attacking the Workers' Republic and their people. As I do not see Eiffelland now or in the future participating in such an effort against the rights and the wellbeing of the Carentanian people, there really is nothing they should worry about."

 

[Rheinbund]

27 Feb 2010, 2 a.m.
Press conference after weekly cabinet meeting

"The Carentanian ambassador did not adress one important problem we have with Carentania blocking the straight between our two nations. Actions like that should not be carried out on an unilateral basis, like Carentania is intending to do, but should be based on a resulution by the CoN." – Matthias Graf von Seydewitz, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Vice-Chancellor.

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Carentanian Ambassador to Eiffelland

"Obviously, my Eiffellandian colleagues are to preoccupied with their version of what my country is discussing as possibility to improve its defensive assets, to adress the actual issues at hand. Why von Seydewitz is believing that Carentania is planning to blockade the strait is beyond my knowledge. If I may make myself clear again: the Commissariate for Defence is discussing, as one of many possibilities for the next expansion of Carentanian defense forces, a group consisting of ships and airplanes, backed up by a sophisticated radar system located near the city of Dravinja, serving the purpose of long-range interception of enemies in the waters near Carentania. Blockading the strait becomes, of course, easier with any kind of stronger naval force, but the version of things von Seydewitz seems to believe to be true is one, where he would also have to suspect Marquette, the Levantine States and even his own country to do this. Why a possibility to do an action becomes the action itself seems unexplainable to me."

 

[Rheinbund]

Aussenministerium
Trier, Eiffelland

We indeed object against the intention to undertake an action not backed by a CoN resolution. Furthermore, the extra units the Carentanian government wants to send to the strait give us a very uncomfortable feeling. That is why we object against them.

Matthias Graf von Seydewitz

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Carentanian Ambassador to Eiffelland

"We wonder: when was the last time Eiffelland had to get approval for their national defense budget from the Council of Nations?"

 

[Rheinbund]

Aussenministerium
Trier, Eiffelland

"I give my compliments to the Carentanian ambassador for his rhetorical skills. His last remark was a very nice try to steer the attention away from our concerns about Carentania's military plans, especially the intention to block a complete sea strait without prior approval by the CoN.
But we still have our concerns, and obviously the Carentanian government is not wiling to talk about them."

Matthias Graf von Seydewitz.

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Carentanian Ambassador to Eiffelland

"We don't have anymore to say about fictional concerns than, well, that they are exactly that: fictional. If Mr. von Seydewitz would rather look at the facts at hand, than at what his prejudices seem to tell him to be true, he would realize that never once there has been any plan by Carentania to block the strait. We have said so. We have clarified that we have here no more than one of several possible plans for the expansion of the Carentanian military. The Commissariate for Defence, in other words, is merely examining possibilities to improve our national defense. We don't see what the Council of Nations could possibly have to do with this. I understand that there has been blatant scaremongering by anti-communist forces and that, apparently, von Seydewitz has fallen victim to their misinformation. I repeat myself: Carentania has no plans to block the seas north of its shores. This is a blatant misrepresentation of the fact that, of course, any expansion of our naval capabilities would increase our abilities to do so. But as I have as well pointed out, the mere capability to do an action does not constitue the action in itself. If that were the fact, Eiffelland would have to direct the same attention it is currently giving my homecountry to the nations of Marquette, the Talemantine Empire and the Levantine States - all of which have the capability to block the strait between Carentania and Eiffelland, and even more so than Carentania does.

Frankly, it has been very frustrating to realize that my person has been summoned by the Eiffellanders when there has been no intention at all to listen to my explanations."

 

[Rheinbund]

Chancellor: "We still have a cabinet"
Crisis in the coalition

It is common knowledge that the athmosphere in the Cabinet is not very good. Sources from close to the ministers talk about personal tensions between Chancellor Jörgens and Vice-Chancellor Von Seydewitz. But there are also political differences in opinion between the two coalition partners, especially about education and the economy.
Another indication of the tensions in the coalition is the time at which the weekly press conference with the Chancellor takes place. Officially, it is scheduled on Friday afternoon at 5 p.m., after the weekly Cabinet meeting. However, since the start of the first Cabinet-Jörgens, the actual starting time of the press conference becomes later and later, because the cabinet meetings last longer. Nowadays, the journalists arrive at Schloss Bellevue at 7:30 p.m., because the Cabinet meeting usually ends around that time, sometimes around 8 p.m. and occasionnally even around 9 p.m. Yesterday evening, the Chancellor arrived at the press conference at 9 p.m. and told that the meeting was not over yet. He rescheduled the press conference to this morning at noon.
At this morning's press conference, he told that the recent reforms of education would be investigated by the Ministry for Education and Science. Upon questions by journalists, he admitted that there was much to discuss last night, but denied that there were any tensions in the Cabinet.
The political leader of the FDV, Rudolph Kögler, indicated that he would request a debate in the Staatstag about the problems in the Cabinet.

 

[Rheinbund]

Renovations are ready
King moves to Schloss Charlottenburg

The recent renovations in Schloss Charlottenburg did not only include the usual maintenance and the traditional lick of paint, but also a modernisation. The whole palace has been equipped with a LAN-network, and all rooms have got earthed plug-sockets. A wireless network has not been installed, because it was deemed not safe enough and too easy to hack.
This weekend the King moved from Schloss Schönhausen to Schloss Charlottenburg, which is the official residence of the Eiffellandian King. The renovations of Schloss Schönhausen will start tomorrow. After the Crown-Prince and his future wife have finished their tasks in Weissenfels, they will move to Trier.


OTC system expanded

One of this week's Cabinet decision was the expansion of Eiffelland's Over The Horizon radar system. The Chancellor indicated that it is needed for a proper defence of Eiffelland to have a powerful and reliable early-warning system. Eiffelland will cooperate with its allies from the EDF to develop and build the system.


Emergency debate Staatstag scheduled for tomorrow
Chancellor ignores safety risk Royal Family

Today it became known that the Chancellor did not inform the King about a safety risk involving one of the members of the Royal Family. After this became known, several Staatstag-members, among them even members of coalition party

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, immediately contacted the president of the Staatstag to schedule an emergency meeting. According to Rudolph Kögler, political leader of the opposition party

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, this meeting would also cover the general problems in the coalition.

 

[Rheinbund]

9 March 2010, morning news

Motion of distrust against Chancellor passes

Yesterday night's emergency debate, initiated because of the tensions in the government, ended with a vote on a motion of distrust against the Chancellor. Thanks to some members of the Christiandemocratic fraction, this motion passed.
During the debate, it became clear that the Chancellor had committed a severe dereliction of duty with regards to the safety of the Royal Family. This was unacceptable to a majority of the Staatstag, including the Christiandemocrats.


9 March 2010, evening news

Chancellor and ministers offer resignation

The Chancellor and all the ministers offered their resignation to the King this morning in response to the motion of distrust against the Chancellor. The King started the consultations immediately afterwards. Ministers of State, the presidents of the Staatstag and the Staatsrat and the political leaders of the Staatstag were invited to the Palace to give their advice.


10 March 2010, evening news

Elections on 28 March

In response to the Cabinet crisis, accelerated elections will be held on 28 March. After those elections, a new Cabinet will be formed. The King formally accepted the resignation of the Chancellor, but asked the other ministers to stay until the new Cabinet will be installed. Prof. Dr. Hans-Jochen Rudersbach will switch from the Ministry for Education and Science to the Chancellery, and Kerstin Matula will take up the Ministry for Education and Science together with her function as Minister for Culture and Recreation.

 

[Rheinbund]

Elections on 28 March
Election programs of political parties taking part

SOCIODEMOCRATS

Colour: Red.

Political party: SPE.

Political leader: Hans-Jochen Rudersbach.

General: We strive for social equality as much as possible. Production means should remain in private hands as much as possible, and there should remain a possibillity to start your own company, however, the differences in income should remain as small as possible.

Foreign politics: Eiffelland should take a principal stance against non-democratic countries. Ties with EDF-members should be maintained, but more contacts with left-leaning and leftwing countries should be made. Eiffelland should remain a member of the CoN.
We are currently working on the extension of our OTH radar systems. We must continue that. No extension of Eiffelland’s armed forces.

Economy: Currently, the Eiffellandian economy is doing well. However, the differences between rich and poor are too big. This should be corrected. Netto income of families should not exceed 200,000 Eiffelland Mark a year.
The government should take more care of the poor people. More money should be invested in poor relief.

Education: Education is mainly organised by the state. We agree with that. We are against private schools, for the state is the only body which can guarantee the quality of the schools.
A good system to evaluate schools should be implemented. Such a system should not only take the notes of the final exams into account, but also the severity of the subjects chosen by the pupils, and the beginning level of the pupils.
Currently, Eiffelland knows three levels of education from age 12 years onwards, after the end of primary school. It is our opinion that the pupils are split according to intellectual abilities too early. According to us, the education level of the pupils should remain the same until the age of 15 years. This should be done in the form of the “Mittelschule”, an extended primary school. This plan could not be implemented during the last two legislation periods in which we governed with the Christiandemocrats, but we managed to carry out a restructuration of the curriculum, making Eiffelland’s schools fit for the future. These restructurations need to remain intact.

Environment/Transport/Country planning: Speed limit on all motorways of 130 km/h outside rush hours and of 100 km/h during rush hours, and on all city rings a speed limit of 100 km/h outside rush hours and of 80 km/h during rush hours. No extra motorways, and no extension of the A3 between Köln and Weissenfels from 6 to 8 lanes.
The industries in Eiffelland are almost perfectly clean. Also the research regarding non-fossile fuels is progressing well. We pledge for a continuation of the current policies regarding this.
We voted for planning and building of the MagLev network proposed by the government. We want to continue to build it and even extend these plans.

Social: Currently, abortion is only free until 12 weeks pregnancy duration. We want to extend that period to 24 weeks.
Same-sex couples must be offered the possibility to register their relationships. These registered relationships must get the status of a marriage. Furthermore, same-sex couples should be able to adopt and raise children.
We wish to abolish the prohibition of euthanasia.

Justice: Eiffelland has one of the most severe punishment systems in Europe. Suspects are sentenced to imprisonments of enormous durations, due to the high minimum punishments. Furthermore, the police are sometimes very agressive when arresting criminals. Despite the rehabilitation programs introduced in 2001, during the Cabinet Poppe, the Eiffellandian justice system is still too much based on repression of crime and too little on rehabilitation of criminals. We want to lower the minimum punishments and extend the rehabilitation programs.
Drugs are currently divided into soft-drugs and hard-drugs. Cannabis is considered a soft-drug, while drugs like XTC, GHB, Heroin and Cocaine are considered hard-drugs. Soft-drugs are legal, but hard drugs are fought in an extreme way. We want XTC and GHB to become soft-drugs, and we want to soften the policy regarding hard-drugs. Currently, drug dealing is considered attempt to murder. That is a too severe policy according to us.
Currently, Eiffelland does not have the death penalty. We want to keep it that way.
We want to maintain the monarchy, but make it more ceremonial.


CHRISTIAN-DEMOCRATS

Colour: Black.

Political party: CDV.

Political leader: Matthias Graf von Seydewitz.

General: Our policy is based on the spirit behind the Bible. We don’t follow the Bible literally, but try to find the motives behind the written text. Where the spirit behind the Bible doesn’t match the written text, we follow the spirit.

Foreign politics: Eiffelland should maintain good relationships with all countries in Europe, but especially with the EDF and Talemantros.
Eiffelland should follow the principle of not openly criticising political systems differing from ours. We won’t be able to change the way other countries are governed anyway. However, we should not be afraid of criticising severe violations of human well-being, severe cases of environmental pollution or severe cases of inflicting damage to nature.
We are currently working on the extension of our OTH radar systems. We must continue that. The defence budget must be raised, but those budget raises must go to the air force solely.

Economy: Eiffellandian companies are doing well, partly because of Eiffellandians seeing and using chances, and partly because of the governmental policy. The social market economy has proven its robustness during the last decades. We want to continue with it. People who were economicly successful should be able to reap the fruit of their success. Therefore, we don’t want an upper limit to the amount of money families can earn.
Social security is organised well in Eiffelland. The safety net for the really unlucky ones should be maintained, but we must keep our social security affordable.
According to us, everyone who can work, should work. The best poor relief is a job, not money. The government’s efforts around poor relief should be aimed at getting as much people to work as possible. The current system of government sponsored adjusting of working places for handicapped people should stay in place.

Education: Education is a duty of society to its young members. Therefore, society should organise it and pay for it. Currently, both primary and secondary education are subject to end terms defined by the Ministry for Education and Science. That system should stay in place. Most schools and all universities in Eiffelland are owned by the state. We neither discourage nor encourage the grounding of private schools and universities, but private schools should meet the end terms of the Ministry as well, which is already stated in the school laws.
In the old system, the Eiffellandian pupils have a very good knowledge of the subjects they studied when graduating from school. However, the new system, which is the result of the reforms carried out during the last two legislation periods, exhaust the pupils while they learn less skills and less knowledge. According to us, those reforms failed. Therefore, they need to be reversed. The fact that the pupils in the old system are doing well is enough proof that the old system works well.
The result of our education system is that our graduates from university are quite old, compared to other countries. However, our university graduates generally have a broader knowledge than graduates from foreign universities, without having to pay a price when it comes to in-depth knowledge. Therefore, there is no need to change that.

Environment/Transport/Country planning: The national policy around the speed limits should remain the same: No speed limit on the motorways with an advisory speed limit of 130 km/h, a speed limit of 130 km/h on the city rings, and differentations by time and place, determined by the provinces.
The industries in Eiffelland are almost perfectly clean. Also the research regarding non-fossile fuels is progressing well. We want to continue the current policies regarding this.
We also want to continue the development of the MagLev network as decided in 2005.

Social: Currently, abortion is free until 12 weeks pregnancy duration. We want to introduce Abtreibungsberatung for women who want to undergo abortion for social reasons and at their own free will.
We don’t want to give adoption rights to same-sex couples, because the interest of the child should be more important than the interest of the adults wanting to raise that child. According to us, a child needs the father as the male role figure and the mother as the female role figure, at least during a certain period of time in his or her life. Therefore, we are against allowing same-sex couples to raise children.
Euthanasia is currently forbidden in Eiffelland. We want to maintain that policy. Physicians should not be forced to kill their patients. However, we also want to look at the reasons why patients want euthanasia. If we know these reasons, then we may be able to take them away.

Justice: Eiffelland has low crime rates, partly due to the severe punishment systems. Rehabilitation projects are in place for criminals having been condemned for the first time. We should maintain that policy. However, a line should be drawn somewhere. We want to maintain the current policy at the first conviction for lesser crimes, i.e. conditional early release after a rehabilitation program.
Eiffelland has a division between soft-drugs and hard-drugs. This division was made, because Cannabis was considered to be a drug without many negative side-effects. In that way, it could be legalised and monitored. Recent publications, however, indicate that Cannabis is more dangerous than it originally seemed. Severe psychoses often occur after Cannabis use, especially among the psychologically less stable persons, and sometimes people even remain in a psychotic state after Cannabis use. Therefore, we propose to start an information campaign to make people aware of the negative side-effects of Cannabis, and we want to close Cannabis pubs in the neighbourhood of schools and city centers.
XTC and GHB are too dangerous to give them the status of soft-drug, according to us.
The policy regarding hard-drugs should remain the same. We have an obligation to protect our citizens against these substances.
Eiffelland does not know the death penalty. A re-introduction of it is not part of our policy.
We want to maintain the monarchy as it currently is.


RIGHTWING LIBERALS

Colour: Blue.

Political party: FDV.

Political leader: Rudolph Kögler.

General: Our policies are based on 19th century Liberalism. The state should interfere in society as little as possible.

Foreign politics: Eiffelland should maintain good relationships with all countries in Europe, especially with the EDF.
Eiffelland should follow the principle of not openly criticising political systems differing from ours. We won’t be able to change the way other countries are governed anyway. Condemnations of other countries should be kept to a minimum. We should only criticise the extremely severe cases of violations of human well-being, environmental pollution or inflicting damage to nature.
We are currently working on the extension of our OTH radar systems. We must continue that. The defence budget must be raised, but solely for the air force.

Economy: Eiffelland’s economy is performing well, among others due to the Social Market Economy principles. We want to continue working according to those principles, but they need some fine-tuning. Enterprises should be given more economic freedom.
The current social security system is too expensive. It needs some revision. The safety net for the really unlucky ones should be kept to an absolute minimum.
The best poor relief is a job, so economic policy should focus on robust enterprises.

Education: Education is a duty of society to its young members. Therefore, society should organise it and pay for it. However, more private schools must be grounded. Currently, both primary and secondary education are subject to end terms defined by the Ministry for Education and Science. That system should stay in place.
In the old system, the Eiffellandian pupils have a very good knowledge of the subjects they studied when graduating from school. However, the new system, which is the result of the reforms carried out during the last two legislation periods, exhaust the pupils while they learn less skills and less knowledge. According to us, those reforms failed. Therefore, they need to be reversed. The fact that the pupils in the old system are doing well is enough proof that the old system worked well.
The result of our education system is that our graduates from university are quite old, compared to other countries. However, our university graduates generally have a broader knowledge than graduates from foreign universities, without having to pay a price when it comes to in-depth knowledge. Therefore, there is no need to change that.

Environment/Transport/Country planning: We do not want to change the current system regarding the speed limits on the motorways and the city rings, so no general speed limit on the Eiffellandian motorways and a 130 km/h speed limit on the city rings. It is up to the provinces to decide where and when the limits should be different. We favour the extension of the A3 between Köln and Weissenfels from 6 to 8 lanes..
The industries in Eiffelland are almost perfectly clean. No additional policy is needed regarding that. Despite the fact that Eiffelland itself has enormous gas fields and quite big oil fields, it is good on the long run to invest in the use of non-fossil fuels.
The MagLev network is our current big infrastructure project. We should continue it along the plans of 2005.

Social: Currently, abortion is only free until 12 weeks pregnancy duration. We want to extend that period to 24 weeks.
Same-sex couples must be offered the possibility to register their relationships. These registered relationships must get the status of a marriage. Furthermore, same-sex couples should be able to adopt and raise children.
We wish to abolish the prohibition of euthanasia.

Justice: Eiffelland’s crime rates are low compared with other countries. This is partly due to our system of severe punishments. Therefore, we don’t see the need to change it. We were against the rehabilitation project started in 2004, but now we see the advantages. This project should be continued without change.
Recent inquiries indicate that Cannabis is more dangerous than we initially thought. Therefore, Cannabis use should be discouraged. We want to finance an information campaign about Cannabis like the ones in place for Tobacco. We are against the closing of any Cannabis pubs.
We want to keep XTC and GHB in the category of hard-drugs. The current policy regarding hard-drugs should remain the same.
We want to maintain the monarchy as it currently is.


SOCIOLIBERALS

Colour: Yellow.

Political party: SLU.

Political leader: Julia Leverkühn.

General: Our politics are based on 19th century Liberalism, while we take some elements from Socialism to fight the disadvantages of Liberalism.

Foreign politics: Eiffelland should maintain good relationships with all countries in Europe, especially with the EDF.
Eiffelland should follow the principle of not openly criticising political systems differing from ours. We won’t be able to change the way other countries are governed anyway. However, we should not be afraid of criticising severe violations of human well-being, severe cases of environmental pollution or severe cases of inflicting damage to nature.
We are currently working on the extension of our OTH radar systems. We must continue that. The defence budget must remain the same.

Economy: Eiffelland’s economy is performing well, among others due to the Social Market Economy principles. We want to continue working according to those principles, but they need some fine-tuning. Enterprises should be given more economic freedom.
Social security is organised well in Eiffelland. The safety net for the really unlucky ones should be maintained, but we must keep our social security affordable.
According to us, everyone who can work, should work. The best poor relief is a job, not money. The government’s efforts around poor relief should be aimed at getting as much people to work as possible. The current system of government sponsored adjusting of working places for handicapped people should stay in place.

Education: Education is a duty of society to its young members. Therefore, society should organise it and pay for it. However, more private schools must be grounded. Currently, both primary and secondary education are subject to end terms defined by the Ministry for Education and Science. That system should stay in place.
In the old system, the Eiffellandian pupils have a very good knowledge of the subjects they studied when graduating from school. However, the new system, which is the result of the reforms carried out during the last two legislation periods, exhaust the pupils while they learn less skills and less knowledge. According to us, those reforms failed. Therefore, they need to be reversed. The fact that the pupils in the old system are doing well is enough proof that the old system worked well.
The result of our education system is that our graduates from university are quite old, compared to other countries. However, our university graduates generally have a broader knowledge than graduates from foreign universities, without having to pay a price when it comes to in-depth knowledge. Therefore, there is no need to change that.

Environment/Transport/Country planning: It is not needed to change the current system regarding the speed limits on the motorways and the city rings. An extension of the A3 between Köln and Weissenfels is not needed according to us.
The industries in Eiffelland are almost perfectly clean. No additional policy is needed regarding that. Despite the fact that Eiffelland itself has enormous gas fields and quite big oil fields, it is good on the long run to invest in the use of non-fossil fuels.
The MagLev network is our current big infrastructure project. We should continue it along the plans of 2005, but should also look at the possibilities and needs to extend it.

Social: Currently, abortion is only free until 12 weeks pregnancy duration. We want to extend that period to 24 weeks.
Same-sex couples must be offered the possibility to register their relationships. These registered relationships must get the status of a marriage. Furthermore, same-sex couples should be able to adopt and raise children.
We wish to abolish the prohibition of euthanasia.

Justice: Eiffelland’s crime rates are low compared with other countries. This is partly due to our system of severe punishments. A change is not needed according to us. The rehabilitation project started in 2001 should be continued, because it proved to have its effects.
Recent inquiries indicate that Cannabis is more dangerous than we initially thought. Therefore, we want to discourage Cannabis use. We want to start an information campaign about Cannabis like the ones in place for Tobacco. We are against the closing of any Cannabis pubs.
We want to put XTC and GHB into the category of soft-drugs. The current policy regarding hard-drugs should remain the same.
We want to make the monarchy merely ceremonial.


ENVIRONMENTALISTS

Colour: Green.

Political party: Grünen.

Political leader: Franziska Trittin.

General: Our principles are based on Socalism and on respect for Nature and environment.

Foreign politics: Eiffelland should take a principal stance against non-democratic countries. Ties with EDF-members should be maintained, but more contacts with left-leaning and leftwing countries should be made. Eiffelland should remain a member of the CoN.
We are currently working on the extension of our OTH radar systems. We must continue that. No extension of Eiffelland’s armed forces.

Economy: Currently, the Eiffellandian economy is doing well. However, the differences between rich and poor are too big. This should be corrected. Netto income of families should not exceed 100,000 Eiffelland Mark a year.
The government should take more care of the poor people. More money should be invested in poor relief.

Education: Education is mainly organised by the state. We agree with that. We are against private schools, for the state is the only body which can guarantee the quality of the schools.
A good system to evaluate schools should be implemented. Such a system should not only take the notes of the final exams into account, but also the severity of the subjects chosen by the pupils, and the beginning level of the pupils.
Currently, Eiffelland knows three levels of education from age 12 years onwards, after the end of primary school. It is our opinion that the pupils are split according to intellectual abilities too early. According to us, the education level of the pupils should remain the same until the age of 15 years. This should be done in the form of the “Mittelschule”, an extended primary school. The reforms in education carried out during the last years need to remain intact.

Environment/Transport/Country planning: Speed limit on all motorways of 100 km/h, and on all city rings of 80 km/h. No extra motorways, and no extension of the A3 between Köln and Weissenfels from 6 to 8 lanes.
The industries in Eiffelland are not clean enough. More should be done regarding that. The research regarding non-fossile fuels is progressing well, however, their funds should be raised.
We voted for planning and building of the MagLev network proposed by the government. We want to continue to build it and even extend the planning of the MagLev network.

Social: Currently, abortion is only free until 12 weeks pregnancy duration. We want to extend that period to 24 weeks.
Same-sex couples must be offered the possibility to marry. Furthermore, same-sex couples should be able to adopt and raise children.
We wish to abolish the prohibition of euthanasia.

Justice: Eiffelland has one of the most severe punishment systems in Europe*. Suspects are sentenced to imprisonments of enormous durations, due to the high minimum punishments. Furthermore, the police are sometimes very agressive when arresting criminals. This is far too much based on repression of crime and far too little on rehabilitation. This needs to change. We want to abolish the minimum punishments and drasticly reduce the maximum punishments.
The rehabilitation programs introduced in 2001 should be extended to all criminals, and the highest punishment should change into 20 years imprisonment instead of life imprisonment.
According to us, all drugs should be legalised. In that way, the drug problem will solve itself.
Re-introduction of the death penalty is out of the question for us.
We want to abolish the monarchy, however, the Von Dietz-Hadamar family will be welcome to stay in Eiffelland.


EXTREMIST RIGHTWING

Colour: Brown.

Political party: Volksunion.

Political leaders: Günther Ziesche.

General: This party is extremely nationalist. It wants to close Eiffelland’s borders for immigration, and to expel foreigners. It is said to be involved in violence against foreigners, leftwing politicians and gays, but that could never be proven.

Foreign politics: Eiffelland should leave the EDF and become a member of the LFS. Furthermore, Eiffelland should be more active in the fight against Communism and Socialism. The defense budgets should be raised, and the armies should be more equipped on attacking instead of defending.

Economy: The Eiffellandian companies are flourishing. Partly because of Eiffellandians seeing and using chances, partly because of our Social Market Economy. We want to continue the policies of the last five years.
Social welfare should be taken care of completely by the government. A good safety net should be in place for the really unlucky ones, but only if they live like good Eiffellandians. No social security for gays and lesbians.
According to us, everyone who can work, should work. The best poor relief is a job, not money. The government’s efforts around poor relief should be aimed at getting as much people to work as possible.

Education: Education is an obligation of society to its children. We want to keep the current structure in place, but want to add military training to the curriculum. Every child is to serve three years in the army before entering any education level above secondary education.

Environment/Transport/Country planning: The national policy around the speed limits should remain the same: No speed limit on the motorways with an advisory speed limit of 130 km/h, a speed limit of 130 km/h on the city rings, and differentations by time and place, determined by the provinces.
The industries in Eiffelland are almost perfectly clean. Also the research regarding non-fossile fuels is progressing well. We want to continue the current policies regarding this.
We also want to continue the development of the MagLev network as decided in 2005.

Social: We want to restrict abortion to severe congenital malformations and to cases in which the mother’s life is in danger. In the case of rape, a child should be given birth, but the Government should take care of it.
Homosexual deeds must be punished with at least ten years imprisonment.
Euthanasia should be allowed.

Justice: We want to keep the current judicial system in place, want to abolish the rehabilitation program attached to it and want to re-introduce the death penalty for murder and high-treason.
We want to dissolve the difference between soft-drugs and hard-drugs, and want to prohibit Cannabis at once. Punishments for the possession of drugs should be raised from the current 2000 Eiffelland Mark per gram fines to 10 years imprisonment.
We want to abolish the monarchy, but the Von Dietz-Hadamar family will remain welcome in Eiffelland.


CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIANS

Colour: Purple.

Political party: PCL.

Political leader: Hans-Otto Austerlitz.

General: Our politics are based on the Bible. We want to abide by the written text of it as much as possible, because that is the way to stay as close to God’s will as possible.

Foreign politics: Eiffelland should maintain good relationships with all countries in Europe, especially with the EDF.
Eiffelland should follow the principle of not openly criticising political systems differing from ours. We won’t be able to change the way other countries are governed anyway. Condemnations of other countries should be kept to a minimum. We should only criticise the extremely severe cases of violations of human well-being, environmental pollution or inflicting damage to nature.
We are currently working on the extension of our OTH radar systems. We must continue that. The defence budget remain the same.

Economy: Currently, the Eiffellandian economy is doing well. However, the differences between rich and poor are too big. This should be corrected. Netto income of families should not exceed 200,000 Eiffelland Mark a year.
The government should take more care of the poor people. More money should be invested in poor relief.

Education: Education is a duty of society to its young members. Therefore, society should organise it and pay for it. Currently, both primary and secondary education are subject to end terms defined by the Ministry for Education and Science. That system should stay in place. We are against private schools, for the state is the only body which can guarantee the quality of the schools.
In the old system, the Eiffellandian pupils have a very good knowledge of the subjects they studied when graduating from school. However, the new system, which is the result of the reforms carried out during the last two legislation periods, exhaust the pupils while they learn less skills and less knowledge. According to us, those reforms failed. Therefore, they need to be reversed. The fact that the pupils in the old system are doing well is enough proof that the old system worked well.
The result of our education system is that our graduates from university are quite old, compared to other countries. However, our university graduates generally have a broader knowledge than graduates from foreign universities, without having to pay a price when it comes to in-depth knowledge. Therefore, there is no need to change that.

Environment/Transport/Country planning: Speed limit on all motorways of 130 km/h outside rush hours and of 100 km/h during rush hours, and on all city rings a speed limit of 100 km/h outside rush hours and of 80 km/h during rush hours. No extra motorways, and no extension of the A3 between Köln and Weissenfels.
The industries in Eiffelland are almost perfectly clean. Also the research regarding non-fossile fuels is progressing well. We pledge for a continuation of the current policies regarding this.
We voted for planning and building of the MagLev network proposed by the government. We want to continue to build it and even extend the planning of the MagLev network.

Social: We want to restrict abortion to severe congenital malformations and to cases in which the mother’s life is in danger. In the case of rape, a child should be given birth, but the Government should take care of it.
Homosexuality must be forbidden.
Euthanasia should remain forbidden in Eiffelland. Physicians should not be forced to kill their patients. However, we also want to look at the reasons why patients want euthanasia. If we know these reasons, then we may be able to take them away.

Justice: Eiffelland has very low crime rates, partly due to the severe punishment systems. Rehabilitation projects are in place for criminals having been condemned for the first time. We should maintain that policy.
Eiffelland has a division between soft-drugs and hard-drugs. This division was made, because Cannabis was considered to be a drug without many negative side-effects. In that way, it could be legalised and monitored. We want to keep the distinction between soft-drugs and hard-drugs in place.
For Cannabis, recent publications indicate that it is more dangerous than it originally seemed. Therefore, we propose to put Cannabis into the category hard-drug.
XTC and GHB are too dangerous to give them the status of soft-drug, according to us.
The policy regarding hard-drugs should remain the same. We have an obligation to protect our citizens against these substances.
Eiffelland does not know the death penalty. We are against re-introduction of it.
We want to maintain the monarchy as it currently is.


COMMUNISTS

Colour: Red.

Political party: KPE.

Political leader: Ludz Liebknecht.

General: We strive for a society like it used to be in Batavië.

Foreign politics: Eiffelland should leave the EDF and start a pact with the remaining communist dictatorships.

Economy: Immediate nationalisation of all Eiffellandian industries, and immediate collectivisation of the agriculture.

Education: Education is an obligation of society to its children. We want to keep the current structure in place, but want to add military training to the curriculum. Every child is to serve three years in the army before entering any education level above secondary education.

Environment/Transport/Country planning: Speed limit on all motorways of 100 km/h, and on all city rings and all motorways in the city provinces of 80 km/h. No extra motorways, and no extension of the A3 between Köln and Weissenfels.
The industries in Eiffelland are almost perfectly clean. Also the research regarding non-fossile fuels is progressing well. We pledge for a continuation of the current policies regarding this.
We voted for planning and building of the MagLev network proposed by the government. We want to continue to build it and even extend the planning of the MagLev network.

Social: We want to restrict abortion to severe congenital malformations and to cases in which the mother’s life is in danger. In the case of rape, a child should be given birth, but the Government should take care of it.
Homosexuality must be forbidden.
Euthanasia should be allowed.

Justice: We want to keep the current judicial system in place, want to abolish the rehabilitation program attached to it and want to re-introduce the death penalty for murder and high-treason.
We want to dissolve the difference between soft-drugs and hard-drugs, and want to prohibit Cannabis at once. Punishments for the possession of drugs should be raised from the current 2000 Eiffelland Mark per gram fines to 10 years imprisonment.
We want to abolish the monarchy, however, the Von Dietz-Hadamar family will be welcome to stay in Eiffelland.