National News Eiffelland (from 2009 until 31 July 2020)

[Gunnland]

Officium Legati + Regnum Marpesiae
Foreign Office + Kingdom of Gunnland

The Foreign Office is recalling the Gunnish ambassador to Trier for consultation. As the Kingdom has stated many times, the armed forces of the Kadikistani Union have never been allowed to pass through Gunnish territory. Normal relations cannot continue with Eiffelland until this slander stops.

Stephen G. Larkin
Foreign Minister

 

[Rheinbund]

Aussenministerium
Trier, Eiffelland

We are puzzled about this decision. The only thing we asked, is to do everything you can to prevent Kadikistan from sending troops to Crotobaltislavonia, and offered our assistance to do so.

Rudolph Kögler, Demissionary Minister for Foreign Affairs and Demissionary Chancellor

 

[Rheinbund]

Coalition negotiations succeeded; Minister Dr. Röpke charged with forming new government

Today the negotiators Neubauer and Gerber offered their final report to the King. The negotiations were successful; there is a coalition agreement between the CDV, the SPE and the LDP. Later this day, the King invited Minister Dr. Röpke to the palace, and charged him with forming a new government with himself as Chancellor. The coming week will be dedicated to look for the new ministers. The division is already known: Six CDV-ministers, six SPE-ministers and three LDP-ministers. Rüdiger Zimmermann (SPE) and Andreas Fritschler (LDP) will become Vice-Chancellors; furthermore, Zimmermann will become the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Fritschler will become the new Minister of Finance.

 

[Rheinbund]

New government installed

Eiffelland has a government again. The Cabinet Röpke has been inaugurated by the King. After the inauguration ceremony, the new government went to the courtyard of the Trierer Stadtschloss for the picture with King Albrecht. The order of the ministers on that picture is not random. The Chancellor always stands to the right of the King, and the Vice-Chancellor to the left. Given the fact that the new government has two Vice-Chancellors, the Ministers Zimmermann and Fritschler both stood to the left of the King. The remainder of the order is determined by the age of the ministry. Also part of the tradition is, that the King, the Ministers and the State Secretaries are in morning dress. This tradition applies to the male new Ministers and State Secretaries; the women wear hats and long dresses.

This is the new government:
Chancellor: Dr. Stephan Röpke (CDV)
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice-Chancellor: Rüdiger Zimmermann (SPE)
Minister of Finance and Vice-Chancellor: Andreas Fritschler (LDP)
Minister of Justice: Prof. Dr. Julia Böttcher (CDV)
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries: Dieter Maas (CDV)
Minister of Decence: Ferdinand Jung (CDV)
Minister of Education and Culture: Magda Rädermacher (CDV)
Minister of Transport and Public Works: Roland Rheinfeld (CDV).
Minister of Internal Affairs: Peter Langenhorst (SPE).
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs: Marina Dahles (SPE).
Minister of Public Health and Welfare: Erwin Waagemann (SPE).
Minister of Environment, Housing and Country Planning: Prod. Dr. Wolfgang Schöne (SPE).
Minister for Developmental Cooperation and International Aid: Damaris Adelmann (SPE).
Minister of Economic Affairs: Dr. Habil. Ariel Rubinstein (LDP)
Minister for Scientific Research Stimulation: Monika Bergmann (LDP).

After the ceremony at the Trierer Stadtschloss, the new ministers and state secretaries went to their respective departments to sign for the handover of duties. Chancellor Dr. Röpke first went to the Ministry of Economic Affairs to hand over his duties to Minister Fritschler, and then went to the Chancellery so that Former Chancellor Von Seydewitz could hand over his duties.

 

[Polesia]

די טשאַנסעללערי
Di Tshanselleri
канцылярыя
Kancyliaryja
The Chancellery

The Chancellor of the Free State of Trivodnia Alexander Kahnemann sends his congratulations to Dr. Stephan Röpke for his appointment as Chancellor of the Kingdom of Eiffelland and looks forward to working with his ministerial team to further deepen ties between our two nations.

 

[Rheinbund]

Kanzleramt
Trier, Eiffelland

I thank Chancellor Kahnemann for his friendly words. We will continue to work on keeping the relations between Trivodnia and Eiffelland warm.

Dr. Stephan Röpke, Chancellor

 

[Rheinbund]

Lassisse and Eiffelland close treaty

The Government-Röpke has conducted its first official deed since its installation last week: It closed a treaty with Lassisse. The treaty had already been prepared during the demissionary status of the previous government, but Chancellor Dr. Röpke had the honour to sign it together with King Albrecht during a ceremony with Princess Abigail, who represented the Principality of Lassisse. The treaty covers an increased economic cooperation between Lassisse and Eiffelland by reducing tariffs and stimulating trade, easing border controls and relaxing visa requirements, a cultural exchange program comprising students exchanges and mutual culture programs, and international political cooperation with among others the aim to protect each other's sovereignty.
Princess Abigail also presented a gift to King Albrecht as a sign of friendship: A Lassinian Wolfshound pup. King Albrecht, known for his love of dogs, was very grateful with the gift. Soon it appeared that the Wolfshound pup and the Rottweiler pup that joined the Royal Household just a week ago get on together extremely well.


LDP second power in province Niedereiffel after yesterday's provincial elections

Eiffelland's political landscape is changing dramaticly since the beginning of the year. Yesterday's provincial elections in Niedereiffel turned Eiffelland's traditional fourth power, the LDP, into the second-largest fraction in the Provinzparlament. The cause was not a seat gain for the LDP, but a seat loss for the SPE. These are the results for the elections:

                             2018                      2014
                     ———————————————————       ———————————————————
Political party      Percentage    seats       Percentage    seats
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
      CDV                21.00       22            23.76       25
      LDP                17.42       19            18.05       19
      SPE                15.75       17            20.90       22
      Grün               12.70       13            10.45       11
      FDV                12.04       13            11.40       12
      PCL                 7.29        8             3.80        4
      VU                  6.37        7             1.90        2
      KPE                 1.15        1             4.75        5
      Other               6.28        0             4.98        0

The CDV lost three seats, but remains the strongest fraction in the Provinzparlament. The LDP lost some votes, but that did not result in a seat loss. The SPE lost 5% of the votes and 5 seats in parliament, Grün becomes the fourth fraction before the FDV, and the PCL and the VU continue the trend started in the beginning of the year. The KPE used to have a strong foothold in Niedereiffel, but that foothold faded away. Also this is a trend that already started earlier. As a consequence, the KPE will loose its seat in the Staatsrat that it got from the votes in Niedereiffel.
Another consequence of the election results is that the first provincial government without the CDV lost its majority. SPE, LDP and Grün cannot continue their coalition. The negotiations for the new provincial government started this morning. The negotiations are led by the CDV; this party will negotiate with LDP and FDV to form the new provincial government.

 

[Rheinbund]

Schau! and journalist Michael Vogel found guilty of libel in lawsuit started by Prince Ludwig and Queen Julian

After several process days and a couple of weeks to deliberate, the three judges of the Kreisgericht Trier conducting the trial against Schau! and journalist Michael Vogel announced their verdict today. Both Schau! and Michael Vogel were found guilty of libel when they reported about the supposed love-arrair between Queen Julian and Prince Ludwig, and about Prince Ludwig's homosexuality. After quite a bizarre trial in which Prince Ludwig had to open his medical records to show that he has himself regularly tested for sexually transmitted diseases and that he had himself vaccinated against Hepatitis B, the judges convicted Schau! and Michael Vogel to a 10,000 Mark fine, which is the maximum fine for libel. Vogel was also convicted to a conditional imprisonment of six months. The presiding judge stated that "the articles written by Mr. Vogel and published by Schau! do not reflect the truth and severely damaged the reputations of Queen Julian and Prince Ludwig". "Especially in the case of Queen Julian, the reputation damage has serious consequences given her position as Head of State of Gunnland. But also the claim that Prince Ludwig would not care about infecting his bed partners with sexually transmitted diseases is extremely damaging. Both this claim and the claim about the supposed love-affair between Queen Julian and Prince Ludwig are not based on the truth; therefore, Schau! and Mr. Vogel are guilty of libel."
Prince Ludwig indicated that he was happy with the verdict, and that his lawyers are preparing a civil lawsuit to force Schau! to retract the articles and pay a large compensation. Queen Julian indicated the same. Schau! and Michael Vogel indicated that they are going to lodge an appeal before the Provinzgericht Niedereiffel.

 

[Rheinbund]

15 June 2018

Violence against gays and refugees on the rise

Since the March on Trier in January, but especially since the national elections, the number of attacks against gays and refugees has increased. Investigations among the people of Eiffelland indicate an increase in the willingness to attack gays and refugees among certain parts of the Eiffellandian society as well. Mainly in the 1980s and 1990s high-rise quarters of the big cities, like for instance Trier-Hohenschönhausen, Trier-Marzahn and Trier-Hellersdorf, But also in the countryside, the willingness to violence is rising.
The situation is a bit different in Helgoland and Rügen. Because of the mixed ethnic nature of those islands, the Crotobaltislavonian refugees are more accepted there. But violence against gays is rising there as well. This forces the governments of both islands to take action, although gays in Helgoland generally don’t dare to go to the police after they were attacked, because homosexual intercourse is still forbidden there.
The police in Mainland Eiffelland have increased their efforts to fight aggression against gays and refugees. This was already ordered by the former Minister of Internal Affairs Markus Möller, but it was reinstated by the current Minister of Internal Affairs Peter Langenhorst. Furthermore, Minister of Justice Prof. Dr. Julia Böttcher ordered the public prosecutors to demand the maximum sentences in these cases and seizure of all their possessions except their clothes to compensate the victims by default, unless the suspects cooperate. The judges indicated that they see the problem as well, but that they would not follow the increased sentence demands by default, but would continue to determine the appropriate sentence case-by-case. “Also in these cases, the public prosecutors will have to conduct their work with the highest precision and the most care possible,” said the president of the Hohe Staatsgericht, de facto leader of all judges in Eiffelland.


15 June 2018

Severe punishments for people maltreating Crotobaltislavonian refugees

Two trials against people attacking refugees and gays drew the attention today because of the harsh punishments issued by the judges. The public prosecutors followed the orders of their Minister, and demanded the highest sentences possible.
The case of the murder of Samuel Brezynski was trialed before the Kreisgericht Trier. Three young men were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and paying a compensation of 34,000 Eiffellander Marks each to the family of Samuel Brezynski. The sentence was for “severe maltreatment resulting in the death of the victim”. The prosecutor indicated that he regretted not to have enough proof to charge one of the men with homicide.
The case of the severe maltreatment of Sepp Jürgens and Vassily Porotkin was trialed before the Kreisgericht Villach. The 16 year old Sepp and the 17 year old Vassily are still in hospital after they were attacked on 24 May of this year. Their four attackers were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and paying a compensation of 7500 Eiffellander Marks each to both Sepp and Vassily. The sentence was for “severe maltreatment resulting in life-threatening injuries”.
It is obvious that the men sentenced for these crimes will not be able to pay the compensations immediately. Therefore, they will be subjected to the following procedure. First their bank accounts and other financial assets will be checked and seized. Then all their possessions except their clothes will be seized and sold by the government until the money for the compensations has been collected. If there is still not enough money to pay the compensation after that, the government will pay the rest and the attackers will pay a monthly fine to the government until they have paid everything.


OOC: I presume that the RL 1960s and 1970s are our 1980s and 1990s, in which city planners wrongfully followed Le Corbusier’s ideas on city planning, resulting in high-rise problem quarters in cities all over Europe, as well as in the American continent. Think of Parisian suburbs.

 

[Polesia]

די טשאַנסעללערי
Di Tshanselleri
канцылярыя
Kancyliaryja
The Chancellery

The Chancellor of the Free State of Trivodnia Alexander Kahnemann wishes to extend a formal invitation to Chancellor of the Kingdom of Eiffelland Dr. Stephan Röpke to visit Amstov to discuss matters of shared interest and renew the ties that have binded our two nations for decades.

 

[Rheinbund]

Kanzleramt
Trier, Eiffelland

It is also Chancellor Röpke's wish to meet Chancellor Kahnemann. He will travel to Amstov to meet his Trivodnian counterpart.

 

[Rheinbund]

Occitania joins Trier Concord

Negotiations between Occitania and the memberstates of the Trier Concord have been concluded with Occitania joining the Trier Concord. Today the leaders of the governments of the involved countries showed their signatures to the world. In a joint press conference, they emphasized the benefits all countries will enjoy because of this move: "This is not only a military treaty, but also an economic one. We are building an economic partnership of countries around the Retalian Sea and the Long Sea."


King Lothar's last will?

Various broadcasting stations and newspapers received an envelope today. The envelope contained a document that was described as "King Lothar VII's last will" in the attachment. According to the historians, King Lothar VII died in 1784 without children and without a will. At least no children of King Lothar VII were known. The existence of a last will of King Lothar VII was not known, either. Therefore, the emergence of this last will comes as a shock. It remains to be seen, however, if this last will is real or not.
Historians are highly interested in the original, especially given the contents of this last will: It indicates that the child of the King's only love, a woman callled Lisa Egonstochter, would inherit the Throne of Eiffelland. The notary had one year to search this person; after that year, the last will of King Lothar's father was to be followed and the Throne would go to the eldest son of King Lothar's sister Charlotte, who was Duke of Sauerland at that time. This is what actually happened: Charlotte's eldest son Duke Albrecht V became King Albrecht I of Eiffelland. However, this happened within two months after King Lothar's death as part of a de facto military coup to push through the stipulations of King Lothar's father's last will. This meant that no attempt was made to find the child of Lisa Egonstochter. Why not? Was King Lothar's will unknown? Or was it known but ignored because of the implications? But then why was King Lothar's will not destroyed?
Many questions remain unanswered. The main question will probably remain unanswered as well: The accompanying letter indicated that the original will not be made available to investigate its authenticity. The sender of the letter, who remained anonymous, indicated that he was a member of a group of people that abjured King Albrecht III as King of Eiffelland.
Chancellor Dr. Röpke indicated in a press conference that the government will investigate what happened here: "I think we can safely presume that this will is fake. If King Lothar really had a last will, it will definitely have been opened after his death. The inheritance of the Crown of Eiffelland to Duke Albrecht V is legitimate; His Majesty King Albrecht III is the legitimate King of Eiffelland. There is no reason to doubt about that. There is no rason, and no legal ground, to abjure King Albrecht as King of Eiffelland, either. I even want to go further: Abjuring the King is an act of treason. We will contact this group of people and discuss matters out."

 

[Rheinbund]

Trier Concord and Rurikgrad Pact on crash course while everyone mobilises
Chancellor Röpke formulates compromise for conflict between Trier Concord and Rurikgrad Pact

During a press conference broadcasted on prime-time television, Chancellor Röpke prepared the country for a prolonged conflict with Serenierre and the Rurikgrad Pact. He emphasized that the Trier Concord is meant to be a defensive alliance. He also emphasized that each country should be free to choose the countries it wants to cooperate with: "This is a principle we have to fight for." He also said that "we have never contested the freedom of Serenierre and the Rurikgrad Pact to choose systems that are different from ours". He also said that he has a rough sketch of a compromise to mitigate Serenierre's objections against Occitania's membership of the Trier Concord: "Occitania remains in the Trier Concord, but at peacetime only Occitanian troops will be stationed in Occitania. Serenierre is allowed to send in observers to check this, possibly in cooperation with observers from a neutral country, for instance Virumaa. I have not discussed this option with the government of Virunaa, by the way. Furthermore, we offer Serenierre and the Rurikgrad Pact easier access to our markets, or other kinds of economic benefits."

OOC: @Virumaa

 

[Serenierre]

Commissariat for External Relations

The Republique Populaire shall not be opposed to such a diplomatic effort wherein tensions are diffused however the terms of such a compromise can not be dictated to and must be arrived at after careful negotiations and discussion at the highest level.

 

[Rheinbund]

Kanzleramt
Trier, Eiffelland

Of course my outline of a possible compromise was not meant as a dictate, but as a suggestion. I invite the Heads of Governments of Serenierre, Kadikistan, Xinhai, Crotobaltislavonia, Trivodnia, Retalia, Bourgogne and Occitania to Trier to discuss the situation at hand and find a solution that will suit us all.

Dr. Stephan Röpke, Chancellor

@Serenierre @Kadikistan @Xinhai @Crotobaltislavonia @Retalia @Bourgogne @Occitania @Trivodnia

 

[Natal]

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Riigikantselei​

From: Koit Sisask, Chancellor of the United Republic of Virumaa
To: Stephan Röpke, Chancellor of the Kingdom of Eiffelland

Dear sir,

It is with grave concern that I hear about the tensions arising in southern Gallo-Germania. The United Republic of Virumaa has declared its neutrality and I hope it also has the trust of both the Rurikgrad Pact nations and of the Trier Concord nations. The need of peace is imperative, though we too might understand the aggressiveness of the Rurikgrad Pact in regards to the surprise and rushed ascension of Occitania into the Trier Concord. While we believe that peace must prevail, we urge the nations of the Trier Concord to keep Gallo-Germania as stable and as balanced as possible, maybe even following the models of the Status Quo treaties that Pelasgia (a Trier Concord nation), Virumaa and Gunnland have signed with Kadikistan.

As for the struggle to keep the peace, the United Republic of Virumaa has a long history of peacekeeping operations, which started in the 50s in Cymru and Loago, the last one taking place just merely a few months ago, when it deployed observers and peacekeepers in Trivodnia and the Krasnislavian Socialist Republic to oversee the demobilisation of the Kadikistani and Trivodnian Armed Forces. We would be ready for such an operation, though this time it would be much more costly as it would expand on two to three fronts. But first we would need to have the acceptance of the Rurikgrad Pact nations for that.

To provide a safe environment for such discussions, we would say that a conference in which the Trier Concord and the Rurikgrad Pact leaders would meet and discuss the recent tensions would be the perfect way to start defusing this powder keg. We propose the spa resort town of Loksa in the centre of Virumaa for this conference. We wish the proposal to be coming from the Kingdom of Eiffelland as it might show the world that there is nothing but peace in its interest.

Signed,
Koit Sisask
Chancellor of the United Republic

 

[Polesia]

Ministry of External Affairs

The Free State of Trivodnia would be open to multi party talks hosted in Virumaa.

 

[Serenierre]

Commissariat for External Relations

The Republique Populaire draws concern to the Eiffellander Government's expansion and invitation to the Government of Bourgogne, which remains not connected to the issue of the Retalian maritime disputes or to the expansion of the Trier Concord. We propose that the Burgundians participate as merely observers as they do not possess any direct stake in the matter.

 

[Rheinbund]

Kanzleramt
Trier, Eiffelland

We thank the United Republic of Virumaa for taking up the role of mediator and hosting the multi-party talks. I myself and Vice-Chancellor Fritschler will attend on behalf of Eiffelland.

Dr. Stephan Röpke, Chancellor

 

[Rheinbund]

Serenierre declares war on Occitania; Rurikgrad Pact declares war on Trivodnia
Gallo-Germania at war

After a week in which the tensions between the Trier Concord, Serenierre and the Rurikgrad Pact suddenly increased, Occitania and Trivodnia came under attack of Serenierre and the Rurikgrad Pact. In his speech to the nation, broadcasted over radio and television, Chancellor Dr. Röpke indicated that "politics of the Trier Concord has always been focused on guaranteeing our own freedom and trying to prevent totalitarian countries from imposing their will on other countries". "As a result, we answered to the request from Trivodnia to help its economy on its feet, and to help it out against an aggressive neighbour which has the goal to spread its totalitarian philosophy over the world. Nothing less, nothing more. The fact that the Rurikgrad Pact interpreted that as an attempt to 'increase the sphere of influence of the Trier Concord' says nothing about our intentions and everything about the way the leaders of Serenierre and the Rurikgrad Pact think. These countries consider the world a cake to be cut in pieces for the powerful nations to gobble up. That is not the way the Trier Concord works. That is not the way the Trier Concord wants to work. Trivodnia came to us for help, we didn't impose our help. Occitania joining the Trier Concord was the result of mutual agreement after negotiations, not of Chancellor a.D. Graf von Seydewitz or me traveling to Occitania together with Prime-Minister Grauholzer and forcing His Majesty Rex Mercator Julius faure to sign for the membership of Occitania in the Trier Concord. That is how we have always worked: We showed our willingness to cooperate, and countries started to cooperate with us. Not the Trier Concord is craving for domination, the Rurikgrad Pact and Serenierre are craving for domination. Apart from the fact that the government of Serenierre considers everything that happens around the country a serious threat."
Chancellor Dr. Röpke indicated that Serenierre's attack on Occitania is an attack on the Trier Concord, and that the Trier Concord will help out Trivodnia.
The government announced a set of measures to handle the threat. The Navy and the Air Force were already on Alarmstufe 4; the Land Army goes to Alarmstufe 4 as well. The 1st and Second Army will be mobilised, and measures to call conscripts back to arms are in preparation. Food and fuel will be rationed. A 100 km/h speed limit on the motorways will be in effect immediately. The State of Emergency was also announced; as a result of this measure, all Serenien, Kadikistani and Xinhaiese citizens currently in Eiffelland will be detained, as well as all members of the KPE and organisations associated with the KPE, all people known to sympathise with the KPE and all people known to be radical left in any other sense.


Also Provinzgericht Niedereiffel considers Schau! and Michael Vogel guilty of libel

The Provinzgericht Niedereiffel confirmed the verdict of the Kreisgericht Trier in the libel case of Prince Ludwig and Queen Julian. Schau! and the journalist Michael Vogel were found guilty of libel also by this court. Schau! and Michael Vogel immediately lodged an appeal at the Hohe Staatsgericht against this verdict.