National News Eiffelland (from 2009 until 31 July 2020)

[Rheinbund]

28 March 2010

Elections in Eiffelland
Massive loss for Sociodemocrats; Christiandemocrats biggest fraction

The Sociodemocrats lost a historic amount of 42 seats in today's elections. It is for the first time that a political party lost so many seats during national elections. The winners of the elections should be considered the two liberal parties. The rightwing liberal FDV and the socioliberal SLU gained 30 seats together. These are the results:

CDV (Christiandemocrats): Had 135 seats, gets 141 seats.
SPE (Sociodemocrats): Had 161 seats, gets 119 seats.
FDV (Rightwing Liberals): Had 103 seats, gets 118 seats.
SLU (Socioliberals): Had 41 seats, gets 56 seats.
Grünen (Environmentalists): Had 25 seats, gets 35 seats.
PCL (Conservative Christians): Had 10 seats, gets 12 seats.
KPE (Communists): Had 12 seats, gets 10 seats.
VU (Extremist rightwing): Had 13 seats, gets 9 seats.

Tomorrow, the King will receive all the political leaders to discuss the options. It will be the first formation for King Albrecht. He will probably appoint an informateur from the Christiandemocrats. It is widely assumed that a coalition between the Christiandemocrats and the Rightwing Liberals will be formed. That coalition will have 259 of the 500 seats in the Staatstag, and will have 104 of the 200 seats in the new Staatstag.

 

[Großlausitz]

The Ministerpresident of Franken

On behalf of His Majesty King Alfred IV and the Kingdom of Franken I would like to congratulate the Christian Democrats upon their electoral victory.

 

[Rheinbund]

We thank the Ministerpresident of Franken. I can assure you that we won't embarras the faith of the people who voted for us.

Matthias Graf von Seydewitz, Political Leader of the Christiandemocrats

 

[Rheinbund]

30 March 2010

King appoints informateur
Kurt-Georg Seifert to form centre-right government

Today the King appointed Kurt-Georg Seifert informateur. His task is to form a government between the CDV and the FDV. When he succeeds, Schwarz-Blau will govern Eiffelland again after 7 years. It is widely expected that the negotiations will run smoothly.

 

[Telora]

State Department

Telora looks forwards to working with the new government of Eiffelland on common and constructive issues.

 

[Rheinbund]

OOC: Now I wonder about one thing. The centre left (more left than centre) and unofficially antimonarchist Chancellor is kicked out of office, the Sociodemocrats and Communists loose seats in the resulting elections in favour of centre-right and rightwing parties, a centre right government is being formed to replace the current centre left government, and the biggest rival of the former Chancellor is likely to become the new Chancellor, but no words of rejection by any socialist, communist or otherwise leftwing nation.

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

OOC: Well, it's not enjoyable, but a public denouncation may actually strenghten his position with the anti-communist voterbase. Besides, I find your communist party to be rather idiotic and, also, unrealistic in its agenda.

 

[Rheinbund]

OOC: Sorry for my late reply on your comments, Carentania.

First of all, you could have supported the Grünen Because their agenda fits quite well with yours (at least that's how I interpret your postings).

For the remainder, my Communists are rabiate Stalinists. That's why they are idiotic. But maybe in the future I will RP some glasnost in my Communist party

 

[Confederal Republics]

Ministry of External Affairs of the Republic of Anbat

The Republic of Anbat wishes to extend its congratulations to the new Eiffellandian governing parties.

Regards,
Mr. Mikheil Khoury,
Minister of External Affairs of the Republic of Anbat

 

[Rheinbund]

"We thank you for your congratulations, but it is a bit early. The negotiations go smootly, but we are still negotiating, so the new government is not there yet."

Kurt-Georg Seifert, signing as informateur.
Matthias Graf von Seydewitz, signing as political leader of the CDV.
Rudolph Kögler, signing as political leader of the FDV.

 

[Rheinbund]

Rudersbach: “Focus on stability in Europe”
Foreign policy in Sarmatian Europe: “If you’re not with us, you’re against us”

In a press-conference from a hotel in his home-town Weimar, Demissionary Chancellor Prof. Dr. Rudersbach commented on the recent developments after the voting in the CoN. He started with wishing everybody a happy Easter. Then he gave his statement on the situation arisen from the controversy around the votings in the CoN.

Everybody noticed the discussions on the way the EDF-nations voted, and also on the neutrality of Wiese. Those discussions developed in such a way, that even accusations of religion-based intolerance were put up, and that disagreement with the stance of a certain government was explained as being completely against that country or siding with the enemies of that country.
Representants from Oltremare accused EDF-members of Catholic plotting against Oltremare. I wonder very much how the government of Oltremare explains it that all those Catholic countries cooperate closely with one of the most prominent protestant countries in the region, to be precise Franken. I wonder very much how the government of Oltremare explains it that citizens of Oltremare are allowed to build churches in Eiffelland to practice their beliefs, and of course I refer to citizens of Oltremare who are not members of the Catholic Church. I wonder very much how the government of Oltremare explains it that Evangelic people are allowed to build Evangelic churches in Eiffelland. I wonder very much how the government of Oltremare explains it that Islamic people are allowed to build mosques in Eiffelland. I wonder very much how the government of Oltremare explains it that Jews are allowed to build synagogues in Eiffelland.
Furthermore, there is a tendency among the Sarmatian countries to consider each small amount of critic a blatant insult to the Sarmatian people as a whole. Each and every international statement is assessed according to the principle “if you’re not with us, you’re against us”. A blatant example of that was the reaction by a representant from the Vittorian government on a remark made by the new government of Batavia; The representant from the Vittorian government directly said that Batavia was aligned with the EDF but did not react on the contents of the remark made by the representant from the government of Batavia. I’m awfully sorry, but I can’t do anything with such an approach. And I can completely understand it that the international community can’t do anything with this approach, either.
Our observations of the events are as follows. Eiffelland voted for the candidates we considered the best for the job to fulfil. As far as we know, the other EDF-members followed that path as well, and also Wiese voted for the candidates it considered the best for the job to fulfil. As far as I know, that is the way to vote. How else should we have done it?
I also want to say something about the doubts around Wiese’s position on the international stage. Neutrality does not mean that you are not allowed to base your voting behaviour in the CoN on considerations about the quality of the candidate. Neutrality does not mean that you are not allowed to form an opinion on a matter. Neutrality does not mean that you are not allowed to base your voting behaviour on your opinions. Neutrality does not mean that you have to make a list of all countries and indicate on that list when you voted for a certain country so that you can make sure that each country gets the same amount of votes from you in the CoN, or the same amount of compliments or critic in statements by government officials. Or is that what the government of Vittoria wants from Wiese?
Let it be clear that we don’t have anything against the Sarmatian people. But please keep in mind that disagreeing with an action taken by a Sarmatian government does not mean that you hate all Sarmatian people. So assess critic as it is: The opinion of somebody that you did something wrong and not an exclamation of blind hatred.
International politics must focus on international stability. Especially the countries which lost many lives in the Great War, like Większy Sarmatska, must realise that. Otherwise all those people died for nothing, like Dr. Schmelzer pointed out in the CoN. Indeed, as a country, you must be prepared for an invasion by an enemy, but your international politics must be based on making as many friends as possible.

After his statement, Chancellor Prof. Dr. Rudersbach was asked about his opinion on the indication of the CoN-delegation from Większy Sarmatska that that country would leave the CoN. He said about it: “I don’t know what is happening in their minds. The leader of the CoN-delegation from Większy Sarmatska apparently feels that his country gets too few credits for its efforts during the Great War. Let it be clear that the Sarmatians do deserve honour for that. But that does not mean that there can’t be room for critic on actions taken by governments of Sarmatian countries. I repeat, a point of critic is not a blatant insult.”

 

[Rheinbund]

7 April 2010

Fractions of CDV and FDV approve coalition agreement

The fractions of the CDV and FDV in the Staatstag approved the coalition agreement closed by Von Seydewitz and Kögler. During the last days, the coalition negotiations were carried out in several teams to speed up the process. Yesterday evening, Von Seydewitz and Kögler agreed about the last points.
The most striking parts in the coalition agreement are the paragraphs about euthanasia, abortion and same-sex marriages. Euthanasia will become legal in the case of a so-called 'locked-in syndrome', and investigations on other situations in which patients or relatives of patients ask for euthanasia will be started. Methods of euthanasia will be investigated as well.
The period in which abortion for a social indication or at the woman's request will be extended to 16 weeks pregnancy duration, but an abortion for those two reasons will only be possible after the woman consulted about the results for abortion and possible alternatives to find out if she would really want an abortion.
The civil marriage will be opened for same-sex couples. Furthermore, investigations on how children raised by same-sex couples develop will be carried out to decide whether same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt children.


8 April 2010

Informateur informs King; Von Seydewitz appointed formateur

Today Informateur Seifert went to the King to inform him about the coalition negotiations. He completed his task successfully. The King thanked him for that, and appointed Matthias Graf von und zu Seydewitz as formateur. He will form the Cabinet.

 

[Rheinbund]

9 April 2010

Cabinet Von Seydewitz I appointed by King

The Cabinet Von Seydewitz I was appointed by the King this morning. Directly after the photosession in front of Schloß Charlottenburg, all new Ministers went to their Ministries to sign for the hand-over. At the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Von Seydewitz and Kögler signed their handover, after which Von Seydewitz went to Schloß Bellevue to sign for the handover of the Chancellery. In a short speech he had prepared, Von Seydewitz commended Rudersbach for the way he took over from Jörgens, and for his speech from last Sunday.
In the afternoon, the Ministers went to the Staatstag for their first debate. Von Seydewitz gave as reason for abolishing the Ministership for Culture and Recreation that the amount of work to carry out in this functions does not justify a Minister. Instead, a Minister for Scientific Research Stimulation was appointed, because the Cabinet wants to focus on scientific research to find solutions for the complex problems around energy supply in the future, and because it wants to stimulate a traditional strong point of Eiffelland.

This is a list of all ministers in the new Cabinet:

Chancellor: Matthias Graf von und zu Seydewitz (CDV).
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Vice-Chancellor: Rudolph Kögler (FDV).
Minister for Internal Affairs: Philipp Neubauer (CDV).
Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries: Max Modrow (CDV).
Minister for Economic Affairs: Dr. Stephan Röpke (CDV).
Minister for Transport and Public Works: Franz Schumacher (CDV).
Minister for Labour and Social Affairs: Angela Weizmann - Müller (CDV).
Minister for Developmental Cooperation and International Aid: Gisela Möller - Rathenau (CDV).
Minister for Scientific Research Stimulation: Dr. Friedrich Merz (CDV).
Minister for Finance: Heinz-Dieter Lardinois (FDV).
Minister for Education and Culture: Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Gauß (FDV).
Minister for Defense: Daniel Wolzow (FDV).
Minister for Public Health and Welfare: Caroline Genfer (FDV).
Minister for Justice: Peter Steinhauer (FDV).
Minister for Environment, Housing and Country Planning: Walter Koch (FDV).

 

[Rheinbund]

National members of Staatsrat elected

After the last Staatstag elections, a change in the way the Staatsrat is formed became effective. The Staatsrat was extended from 120 to 200 Seats. The first 120 seats were voted upon by the provincial parliaments. That is still the case, but 80 seats were added to these 120 "provincial" seats. After each election of the Staatstag, the provincial parliaments will choose the 80 national seats directly.
That happened today for the first time. The results are as follows:

CDV: 57 seats.
SPE: 56 seats.
FDV: 47 seats.
SLU: 19 seats.
Grünen: 12 seats.
PCL: 5 seats.
KPE: 2 seats.
VU: 2 seats.


Most educational reforms of last cabinet reversed

One of the first deeds of the new cabinet was reversing all educational reforms of the last 5 years. This means that the old curricula will come back again. Quite a lot of functionaries in the Ministry for Education are not needed any more. In some cases, they managed to get another job somewhere else for the government, but most of these functionaries had to be fired. For the coming 5 years, they will be treated as internal people when applying for a job.

 

[Rheinbund]

Headlines

Piëch Gruppe, Rathenau Gruppe, Novartis, Eppendorf and Medtronic present their balances over 2009; Profits of 5 to 7 billion Eiffelland Marks announced. More information to follow.
Maglev line between Trier and Weissenfels opened by King Albrecht.
Government announces the extension of the medical division of Eiffelland's army; several planes and two ships to be refitted as MEDEVACs.
Four skinheads arrested after attack on foreigner.
Investigators of Technische Universität Trier invent a method to make diesel fuel cleaner.

 

[Rheinbund]

Eiffellandian medical divisions enter Northern Batavia as part of EDF peace keeping force

After months of debating in the Security Council of the CoN, the Batavian Prime Minister Alex de Jonghe and the EDF agreed about a peace keeping force in Northern Batavia led by the EDF. With the employment of the EDF peace keeping force, Eiffellandian medical divisions have also become active in Northern Batavia.
Chancellor Graf von und zu Seydewitz said about the situation that "it is of utmost importance that the situation in Northern Batavia is stabilised. The longer it takes to start with a peace keeping mission, the more severe the problems will become. We consider it a missed chance for the CoN, and with that for the international community as a whole, that the Security Council was not able to decide upon this matter. But now the situation has become so severe, that it is more important that something is done than who is going to do what is needed and under which flag. I also want to emphasize that the EDF is deploying a peace keeping force upon request by the government of Batavia. We will operate in such a way that the sovereignty of Batavia is respected, and will listen to all comments from the international community."

 

[Batavië]

Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken | BuZa

We confirm this report and look forward to working with the EDF and Eiffellandian medical team.

 

[Rheinbund]

Robert Koch Universität Weissenfels announces medical breakthrough
New method of artificial respiration developed

Today it became known that physicians from the Klinikum der Robert Koch Universität Weissenfels managed to keep a patient alive who actually had been given up because of pneumonia-induced lung failure. The physicians used a new technique, in which the blood of the patient was led from the body to a machine which took the Carbondioxide out of the blood and put Oxygen into the blood. They kept the patient alive with this technique for 3 weeks, so that the lungs could be given rest. During those 3 weeks, the lungs recovered to such an extent that the patient could breathe on his own again. He is currently revalidating.


Physicians of Charité keep baby alive after 22 weeks pregnancy duration

Neonatologists of the Charité in Trier managed to keep a baby alive after 22 weeks pregnancy duration. A spokesperson of the Charité indicated that it is common practice of the Charité to do everything possible to keep babies alive from 22 weeks pregnancy duration onwards. This is very difficult to do after such a short period of pregnancy. In most cases, the baby does not survive, although successes are booked from time to time and experience is built up. The baby, a girl, left the hospital 2 months ago. She is currently in a good condition and she develops very well.


Bill to open civil marriage to same-sex couples to Staatstag

A controversial bill will be sent to the Staatstag tomorrow. The bill in question will open up civil marriage to same-sex couples. This bill is controversial in Eiffelland for several reasons. It is already known that the orthodox Christian party PCL will vote against it for religious reasons, and also some members of governing party CDV seem to have religious objections against the bill. Also the extremist rightwing Volksunion and the communist KPE will vote against. On the other hand, the Sociodemocrats, the Greens and the Socioliberals also indicated to have problems with the bill, because it does not foresee in adoption rights for same-sex couples. In principle, the votes of the CDV and the FDV will be enough to let the bill pass.
Minister for Justice Peter Steinhauer said the following about the bill. "Homosexuality is accepted in Eiffelland to such an extent that gays are even appointed mayor of an important city. Then we should also grant same-sex couples the same rights as straight couples. This is especially applicable for inheritance rights. In the current situation, the family of a gay can prevent that his boyfriend inherits from him. Furthermore, if a gay becomes severely ill, then his family can prevent that his boyfriend visits him in the hospital. This does not happen very often, but it still happens. Therefore, it is needed to give same-sex couples the same rights as straight couples. We could also do that with a registered partnership, but we as the Government want to make clear that a same-sex relationship has the same emotional value to us as a relationship between a man and a woman. Therefore, we want to go the whole way immediately and open the civil marriage to same-sex couples."
An important question is what the results for the religious marriages would become in Eiffelland. Minister Steinhauer: "We plan to open up the civil marriage of the State of Eiffelland. That is something else than the religious marriages. The rules for religious marriages are not made by the State of Eiffelland, but by the representants of those beliefs. We won't force any religious group in Eiffelland to open up their religious marriages to same-sex couples."
The minister said the following about the adoption rights for same-sex couples: "We are still investigating the influence of having same-sex parents on the development of children. It will depend on the results of those investigations if we are going to give adoption rights to same-sex couples. If there is no negative influence, then we would have to adapt this bill shortly after it was approved, but we considered it better to solve the problems about inheritance as soon as possible."

 

[Rheinbund]

Ex-Chancellor Horst Jörgens missing

As it became public today, Eiffelland’s last Chancellor Horst Jörgens has gone missing. According to his wife, he went on a study journey a couple of weeks ago. Since then, nobody has heard from him. His family fear the worst for his well-being. A search for Mr. Jörgens has been started, without result up to now. People are requested to inform the Eiffellandian police when they know anything on the whereabouts of Mr. Jörgens.
After the elections of 1999, Horst Jörgens became the political leader of the Sociodemocrats. The elections of 2003 were not a big success for him: The SPE lost a few seats, although it remained the biggest fraction. After those elections, Horst Jörgens became Chancellor of a coalition government between Sociodemocrats and Christiandemocrats. The Cabinet Jörgens I faced quite a lot of disputes, mainly about the educational reforms. In spite of that, it completed its term. After the elections of 2007, the only workable combination would be one between Sociodemocrats and Christiandemocrats again. But this government would not complete its term. Last March, Jörgens had to step down as Chancellor after his coalition partner the Christiandemocrats had revoked their confidence in him. After that, he left the political stage.


Staatstag approves 5 bln Eiffelland Mark (approx. 5 bln €) aid package for Batavia

Today the Staatstag approved 5 bln Eiffelland Mark as aid for Batavia as a loan against a small interest rate. Parts of the money will go to Batavia directly, parts of the money will be used by Eiffellandian companies to invest in Batavia. The Staatsrat needs to approve this package as well, but that is considered a formality. Parexel already showed interest in opening facilities for clinical research in Batavia, and the Rathenau Gruppe is planning to build a factory in Batavia.
Furthermore, the Rathenau Gruppe will support an initiative to stimulate Batavian rock bands and classic orchestrae.


Staatstag votes for same-sex marriage with small majority

The Staatstag approved opening the civil marriage for same-sex couples with a majority of 255 against 245. The opposition voted against for several reasons. The Orthodox Christian PCL, the extremist rightwing Vollksunion and the communist KPE voted against because they reject homosexuality in general. The Sociodemocrats, Greens and Socioliberals voted against because the adoption rights for same-sex couples were not arranged for. There were also some members of the governing parties who voted against for several reasons.
The government is confident that the Staatsrat will approve this law soon.


BILD ZEITUNG

What is it with Prince Ludwig?

How to describe the youngest son of King Albrecht and Queen Mafalda? Always quiet, despite an extremely busy life. Artistic, a language wonder and a music virtuoso. On top of that, a great organiser, as many people confirm at his school. Is it needed to organise a charity event for Batavia? Ask Prince Ludwig, and he does it perfectly. And so the Königliches Gymnasium collected 10,000 Eiffelland Mark for Batavia. Extremely popular at school, he is the dreamboy of many girls in Eiffelland.
But all those girls stay behind with a broken heart. No matter how badly in love a girl is with him, Prince Ludwig will not notice. He has many female friends, but he has a blind spot for girls who are in love with hm. I can tell you what it is with him. I have it from reliable sources. His friends already know, his schoolmates already know, his family already knows: Prince Ludwig is interested in guys. Prince Ludwig is gay. His family seems not to have a problem with it, although it is known that his grandfather, the previous King, is not so positive about homosexuality. So problems might arise from there. Future will tell, and then I will tell you.

Beaurégard

 

[Batavië]

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This gracious and generous investment and loan will not be forgotten. We cannot thank the Eiffellander people enough for their country's caring.