Rheinian news

[Rheinbund]

14FEB2024
Denn wenn et Trömmelche jeiht …

The Carnival Season starts on the 11th of the 11th and ends on the day before Ash Wednesday. To the joy of the Tiburan Catholics, the chagrin of the Protestants, and the despair of the people in high positions (because which jokes are going to be made on them this time). On the 11th on the 11th, people go on the streets in costumes to celebrate the start of the Carnival Season. Then until Carnival, the Carnival associations regularly hold Sitzungen with Büttereden. Then finally, it all starts on the days before Carnival, in Ripuarien and the South of Wetterau on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday with the Weiberfastnacht (during which the cities are reserved for the women), in Ruppertswald on the Friday before Ash Wednesday with the televised Prunksitzung of the Carnival associations of Mainbad, and in the remainder of the Tiburan Catholic regions on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday. The Carnival in Cöllen is the most famous one, because it is the Rheinbund’s biggest and most extravagant one.
Carnival in the Rheinbund is very region-specific. Traditions and customs associated with the Carnival in one region can completely differ from those in other regions. For instance, the Carnival greet in Ripuarien and Wetterau is the well-known “Alaaf”, but in Ruppertswald and Heilbach it is “Helau”. The event itself is also called differently in the various regions. Wetterau and Ripuarien talk about “Karneval” or “Fastelovend”. Spessart, Tirolstein and Casparringen talk about “Fasching”. All other regions celebrating Carnival call it “Fastnacht” or “Fassnacht”.
But one thing is common to all the Carnivals in the Rheinbund: Judging the authorities, other people in high positions, and current trends. And the Rheinians do not keep themselves limited to judging only Rheinians; also foreign leaders are subjected to mocking. During Büttereden, but also in the Cavalcades on Rosenmontag.
The relationship between Tarusa and the rest of the world is one of the topics. The cavalcade in Grefrath contained a cart in which Emperor Konstantin (depicted as a devil) stands as a tamer in circus outfit amidst a group of cats depicting Csengia, Ostmark and Angliarique, and looking threateningly towards two cats depicting Ebria and the Rheinbund, an eagle depicting The Federation who is surrounded by cats depicting its direct allies, and a lone dragon representing Tianlong. A cart in Cöllen showed Emperor Ivan throwing mines into the sea. Another cart in Cöllen showed Emperor Konstantin depicted as a devil in the uniform of a prison guard holding Csengia and the countries bordering Tarusa to the west prisoner. A cart in Mainbad showed Emperor Konstantin as a devil firing up a fire in a bush called “Gallo-Germania” with bellows. Tianlong was shown again on another cart in Mainbad, on which a dragon flies away from former CETO countries.
The demise of the European Forum was a topic as well. One cart showed the President of The Federation with a lighter igniting the fuse of a bomb under the European Forum. Another cart showed Emperor Konstantin as a devil burning down Frescania with a blowtorch coming out of his mouth.
The Emperor of Angliarique is a popular topic as well. All the cavalcades contain carts with him, the main theme being the Emperor living in a parallel world. A cart in Grefrath showed the Emperor in a bathtub playing with 18th century galleons. A cart in Cöllen showed the Emperor ordering a complete batallion of soldiers to buy a package of butter in a supermarket. A cart in Mainbad showed the Emperor with the expression of a lunatic on his face and constantly spinning eyes who commanded a cruise ship with an 18th century gun on its roof. Another cart in Mainbad showed the Emperor in an 18th century outfit walking the Spascirians as his dogs.
Also the new relationship between Tarusa and Angliarique was a topic: A cart in Cöllen showed Konstantin as a devil who fucked the Emperor of Angliarique (depicted as a pig) in the ass. For instance. But there were more carts on this topic.
As per tradition, the Carnival festivities ended in the night from Tuesday to Ash Wednesday at Midnight sharp. Litterally at that moment the taps were closed, and everybody went home. This morning, all the Catholics went to Church to get an Ash Cross: “dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return”. Now it is the Lenten Season, lasting till Easter. The Rheinian Catholics will not drink alcohol, will not eat candy, will not eat meat and will not put sugar or sweeteners in their coffee and tea during the Lenten Season, apart from the Sundays.


Extracts from several Prunksitzungen

“But this yearning for Ebria and the Rheinbund is not exclusive to Konstantin. All Tarusans want to come to Ebria and the Rheinbund. Not only Konstantin. But there is a difference in the reasons why they want it: Konstantin wants to come to Ebria and the Rheinbund to install a puppet government; the common Tarusans want to come to Ebria and the Rheinbund to escape from Konstantin’s rule.”

“The Emperor of Angliarique was very sad that his dog passed away. To be very honest, I feel sad about that, too. A dog who is able to love the Emperor of Angliarique is really a very special dog.”

“We all presume that Konstantin is the ruler of Tarusa. I personally have my doubts about that. I think that the vodka that Konstantin drinks on a daily basis is the thing that rules Tarusa.”

“But now I am doubting about what will happen to Csengia. Will the lady who was turned into the Queen of Csengia by Konstantin’s father and then arranged into a marriage with Konstantin join her husband in Kremlyov, or will she return to Csengia to take up her tasks as Queen? Maybe she will indeed return to Csengia, to escape from a man who in essence is only a little less insane than his brother was.”

“But maybe we have to be thankful to have Angliarique around. That operetta king they have as an Emperor is entertainment to observe.”

“You are aware of that enormous horse statue that the Angliarisians have to worship each day? I am waiting for the moment that the Emperor orders to build such a statue for his deceased dog.”

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[Rheinbund]

16FEB2024
Inquirer Herzog von Walsrode to form a CDV-FDV-Grün-LDP coalition

During a press conference at the Haus des Volkes (the building of the Rheinische Volksversammlung), Inquirer Herzog von Walsrode announced that he will lead the negotiations to form a coalition of Christiandemocrats, Free Democrats, Environmentalists and Liberal-democrats. He mentioned the following reasons for forming this coalition: "We have to acknowledge that the former coalition of the CDV, RSP and LDP has been voted off with a large loss of votes. Just adding a fourth party to the coalition that has been voted off would deny the election results. On the other hand, it is not possible to form a working coalition without two of the parties from the former coalition. The choice for a CDV-FDV-Grün-LDP will get the two parties with the largest gain in votes in the government."

 

[Rheinbund]

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Bund der rheinischen Fürstentümer und Bürgerschaften
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Schloss Schöneweide
Fehrbellin, Rheinbund

It is with very much sadness that we hear about the terrorist attack on the Alcaraz in Valls, taking away the lives of many government members, and of King Manuel of Ebria. We remember how Ebria went through dire teams during last year's Summer, and how the people whose lives were taken away managed to reach an agreement on how to govern the country further. It is sad to see that their great legacy is destroyed so tremendously. Our condolences the people of Ebria, and to family and friends of the deceased, especially his wife and his sister Maria. We pray for Ebria that the country manages to stabilise itself again.

Philipp von Homburg-Gosta, König des Rheinbundes
Gustav von Badenau-Rotenburg, Fürst von Badenau
Wulf Bingen, Bürgerschaftslegat von Bramsfeld
Caspar von Homburg-Gosta, Fürst von Casparringen
Leonore von Detmold-Liepen, Regent von Detmold im Namen des Fürstes Ferdinand von Detmold-Liepen
Rainmund Behrendt, Bürgerschaftslegat von Emsland
Rudolph Strelecki, Fürstbischof von Heilbach
Albrecht von Heidemar-Loorburg, Fürst von Lotharingen
Hildetraud Stocker, Bürgerschaftslegat von Ripuarien
Gregor von Koblenz-Lahnstein, Fürst von Ruppertswald
Karl-Friedrich von der Lausitz, Fürst von Sauerland
Anke Sonnenfeld, Bürgerschaftslegat des Scharmbeckerlandes
Sigmar von Schallenberg, Fürst von Sigmaringen
Luitpold von Weidenbach, Regent von Spessart im Namen des Fürstes Ludwig von Weidenbach
Clovis von Steinfurt-Rüdershausen, Fürst von Thorsringen
Karl von Görisburg, Regent von Tirolstein im Namen des Fürstes Karl von Görisburg und des Erbprinzes Pippin von Görisburg
Amalia von Matzenfeld, Fürstin von Wetterau

 

[Rheinbund]

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Bund der rheinischen Fürstentümer und Bürgerschaften
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Korrespondenznummer / Correspondence number: RR/KA/2024-02-23/008802 ; 23. Feb 2024
Steht in Bezug zu den Korrespondenzen / Related to the correspondences: ———
Öffentlich / Public: ■ │ Vertraulich / Restricted: □ │ Streng geheim / Top Secret: □
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Kanzleramt
Fehrbellin, Rheinbund

We are shocked by the events in Ebria, especially by the terrorist attack on the Alcaraz, which killed several members of Ebria's government as well as His Majesty King Manuel. These persons played a key role in the Amerida Accords, stabilising Ebria during the Summer of last year. It is with very much sadness that we see the legacy of these people being destroyed in the current revolts. We hope for a speedy stabilisation of the country. Our condolences to family and friends of the deceased. Our thoughts are with them. The flags at our Embassy and Consulates in Ebria will be flown half-mast with a black banner.

Hans-Georg Lauritzen, Demissionary Chancellor

 

[Rheinbund]

Formation of CDV-FDV-Grün-LDP coalition failed

It is official now: The formation of a CDV-FDV-Grün-LDP coalition has failed. Inquirer Herzog von Walsrode has offered his final report to King Philipp.
It was already expected that such a wide coalition as the one negotiated, with the Market Liberal FDV on one edge and Grün on the other edge, would be difficult. Grün wanted to go further with environmental measures than the Market Liberals, and also the Social-Liberals had quite a green agenda. The Christiandemocrats and the Market Liberals on the other hand feared for the economic position of the Rheinbund. Political leader of the FDV Winfried Dressler said about that: "We must take measures to fight climate change and to reduce environmental damage, but that cannot be done too much at the expense of our industry. If we force our industry to make higher costs than competitors abroad, we make it harder for our industries to compete. That might make enterprises to decide to leave the country and produce abroad. That won't reduce emissions, but only relocate them. The climate and the environment will not be helped by that. We can't lean too far out of the window with that."
But there was also another topic that led to a rift, mainly between the Greens and the Christiandemocrats. Grün went into the elections not only with an economic program focused on climate change and the environment, but also with a program to legalise abortion and same-sex marriage nation-wide, and make the vaccination campaigns compulsory nation-wide. Political leader of the Christiandemocrats Bastian Wiltberger said about that: "The CDV is fully in favour of same-sex marriages. I personnally as well. The FDV is fully aware that women sometimes have no other choice than to undergo an abortion. We want to keep the number of abortions to a minimum, but not by forbidding or restricting it; instead we want to understand the reasons why women choose for abortion, we want to take those reasons away, and we want to make it as easy as possible for women whose contraception failed to give birth to and raise their unexpected babies, to prevent that women who in their hearts don't want to abort the pregnancy feel forced to do it due to their circumstances. But even then the possibility of an abortion must be there. And the CDV totally understands the benefits of a good vaccination programme, wants to stimulate the Rheinian vaccination programme, and will also have it extended when vaccines against new diseases enter the market. We also voted for the inclusion of the vaccines against Human Papilloma Virus and Bacterial Meningitis. On the other hand, the Rheinbund is a very diverse country, ranging from the very conservative Bramsfeld to the ultraliberal Lotharingen, which even border each other. This can only function when we all agree to disagree on certain topics. That is the reason why we give the memberstates the power to decide on ethical matters, i.e. matters we cannot reach a compromise on. And that is also the reason why same-sex marriages are allowed in one memberstate and not allowed in another memberstate. I also have to point out that this problem is not as big as Grün indicates: Abortion is legal in 14 of the 16 memberstates, same-sex marriages is legal in 11 of the 16 memberstates, and three more memberstates have the possibility of a registered partnership, and the vaccination program is compulsory in 13 of the 16 memberstates. Imposing any of this nationwide will only increase the sentiments against such measures. And that is something we already saw last year: When suddenly eight memberstates decided to make the vaccination programme compulsory, hundreds of thousands of people moved to the last three memberstates where vaccinations are not compulsory. Like I said earlier, the Rheinbund is a very diverse country, and it can only function when we allow ourselves to disagree on certain topics."


Rheinian sovereign houses reject claim of "Alphonso Duke of Calatrava" to the Throne of Ebria

King Philipp and the heads of the Sovereign Houses of Homburg-Gosta, Detmold-Liepen, Heidemar-Loorburg, Koblenz-Lahnstein, Von der Lausitz, Schallenberg, Weidenbach, Steinfurt-Rüdershausen, Görisburg and Matzenfeld announced in a joint statement that they reject the claim of "Alphonso Duke of Calatrava", who calls himself King Alphonso VII of Ebria, to the Throne of Ebria. Their statement cited the Alphonsists' "bestial acts against the Ebrian people" as the reason why the Duke of Calatrava has "forfeited his right to reign over Ebria as King". In his weekly press conference, Demissionary Chancellor Lauritzen said that the government is considering joining this declaration.

 

[Rheinbund]

12MAR2024
King appoints new inquirer: Angela Weizmann-Müller

After a new consultation round with the chairperson of the Volksversammlung, the fraction leaders and the Oberpräfekte, King Philipp has appointed a new inquirer: Angela Weizmann-Müller. Mrs. Weizmann-Müller is a member of the CDV, and was Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in the first two Cabinets Von-Seydewitz, from 2010 to 2014. Her task will be to investigate which coalitions with at least the Christiandemocratic CDV, the Market Liberal FDV and the Social-Liberal LDP are possible.
With Grün leaving the negotiations, a CDV-FDV-SPE-LDP coalition is on the table again, although the objection of the FDV that such a coalition would too much look like a continuation of the coalition that has been voted off with large numbers in the last election still stands.
Coalitions with the far-right Volksunion are not on the table, because the CDV and the LDP refuse to form a coalition with them.
A third option would be a coalition of CDV, FDV and LDP with the conservative Tiburan-Catholic TKP, but that could be a sensitive topic in the LDP.
Meanwhile, the coalition negotiations have hit a record in history: They have become the longest coalition negotiations in Rheinian history.

 

[Rheinbund]

21MAR2024 20:00

SatTV2 Nachrichten

Army sets up refugee camps while number of refugees increases

The civil war in Ebria and the Pelasgo-Radilean war have started a stream of refugees into all directions, also into the Rheinbund. Pelasgians fleeing for conscription and oppression, Ebrians fleeing for the civil war, Radileans fleeing for the war, but also the number of refugees from Csengia is increasing. Recent experiences with the Pannonian civil war and more recently the Tarusan civil war have converted the refugee shelter facilities into a flexible system that can react and expand quickly with the help of the armed forces. But now there are some complicating factors. Oberstleutnant Friderike Zwerling: "We have to keep the Csengians, Pelasgians, Radileans and Ebrians apart from each other, because otherwise we may get unrest in our refugee camps. Despite the fact that the Pelasgians and Csengians who fled to us are on the side of the Radileans and Ebrians. Another complicating factor is, that the Radileans and Ebrians clearly reproach us for not joining the war, even if they are thankful for getting shelter here."
Meanwhile, the government has set up refugee camps throughout the country. Flexible barracks systems in the North due to the still somewhat chilly weather, tent camps in the warmer South. Minster of Internal Affairs Wilhelm Pfeiffer: "There is one matter in which I consider myself missionary, and that is in the matter of housing the refugees. Taking into consideration that some of them will stay, we will accelerate building houses in the social housing sector throughout the country."
There is a refugee camp for Ebrians near Rheinberg. We went there for making a documentary that will be broadcasted at a quarter to ten. We interviewed some Ebrians, some of the soldiers running the camp, but also some people living in the neighbourhood: "When people are in need, we have to help as much as we can. There must be an understanding for people who flee for catastrophies they can't control, like indeed a civil war. And I can also understand the Ebrians' and Radileans' anger about us not joining the wars on their sides. I don't know what happened last December, but something went seriously wrong in Fehrbellin. But on the other hand, this is already the third civil war in Ebria in nine months. My goodness, why do they suddenly have to escalate their political disputes into massive strikes and massive fights? OK, having been without a missionary government for months is not a good sign, either, but here at least the political fights remain limited to some verbal mud-slinging, falling governments and government formations dragging on for months while the country continues running."

 

[Rheinbund]

05APR2024
Surreal debate in Volksversammlung; ministers of RSP and LDP leave government

How to debate when you can't speak out where you debate about? Normally the Friday morning is reserved for the weekly Cabinet Meeting, but that meeting fell out. Instead, there was an emergency debate of the Volksversammlung where the government had to be present. An emergency debate filled with unclarities, because the topic at hand was a state secret. The two Vice-Chancellors Veltheim (LDP) and Pfeiffer (RSP) as well as Minister Eisenberg and the fraction leaders of the RSP and the LDP indicated that Chancellor Lauritzen and State-Secretary of Finance Michaela Hettich (both CDV) would have committed a malfeasance while overstepping a cabinet decision. Minister of Finance and Vice-Chancellor Veltheim said about that: "State-Secretary Hettich overstepped her competence by signing approvals on my behalf on days that I was not at the Ministry. This resulted in the disappearance of 100 billion Goldmark from the Emergency Fund that were spent on matters that the Government had voted against. The fact that she overstepped her competence is a malfeasance. But the fact that Chancellor Lauritzen made her do so is also a malfeasance. I also accuse the officials Dieter Jentsch, Silvana Liebreich and Raphael Bierkamp of malfeasance, because they cooperated with Chancellor Lauritzen and State-Secretary Hettich."
Fraction leader of the FDV Winfried Dressler remarked: "100 billion Goldmark is a lot of money, and the way it was gathered is indeed faul. But in this case, we should not only look at the "what", but also at the "why". The question "what happened" has been answered. The question "why did it happen" is also interesting, however. Minister Veltheim, you know the why. It was discussed in the Core Cabinet, so you know why. Also I know why, because it was discussed in the Commission of Secrets as well. We cannot answer the "why" here though, because it is a state secret. But think it all through. Yes, Minister Veltheim, steps were made on your behalf without you knowing it, and I completely understand why you are angry about this. But it was needed. Think it through, and then you understand why it was needed."
Then the fraction leader of the Volksunion Günther Ziesche interrupted: "Minister Veltheim describes a course of events that understandably undermines his trust in Chancellor Lauritzen and State-Secretary Hettich. Apart from the malfeasances. And then the "why" is indeed interesting. But the answer to that question "why" is frenetically refused to answer. We only get told that it was "needed" by Mr. Dressler. Does he say so because it was really needed, or does he say so to not upset the party he is planning to form a government with? In any case, I have the feeling what this is all about. At this moment, there is nothing that upsets the RSP and LDP more than the thought that we are dragged into a war. Something that killed CETO and even severed our relations with the Meridian Union. This can only have to do with the Ebrian civil war or the Pelasgo-Radilean war. Or both."
Dressler immediately replied: "The suggestion that this all has to do with the Ebrian civil war or the Pelasgo-Radilean war is completely Mr. Ziesche's responsibility. I will not comment on that."
After Dressler's last comment, the fraction leader of the CDV Bastian Wiltberger took the floor: "As you all know, the destination of the 100 billion Goldmark are a state secret. Let's not discuss it. The only thing we need to know for our decisions now, is that Chancellor Lauritzen's decision in this was correct. I also think that we should leave the accusations of malfeasance for now."
This led to an angry outburst from the fraction leader of the RSP, Mareile Denzinger: "I consider it disturbing that the envisaged new Chancellor is downplaying what Chancellor Lauritzen did. I don't want to know what kind of cabinet that is going to become. I do know that the RSP is not going to be a part of it. I also want to announce a motion of distrust against Demissionary Chancellor Lauritzen and Demissionary State Secretary Hettich."
The debate continued for a quarter of an hour, and after a break the motion of distrust was brought into vote. Grün, the RSP, the LDP and the Volksunion voted in favour, leading to 351 votes. The CDV, the FDV, the Tiburan Catholic TKP and strange enough also the anarcho-collectivist AKA voted against, leading to 387 votes. The reformatorial CRVP, the Post-Delegationists and the Communists abstained from voting. The motion was rejected.
Then the RSP and the LDP announced that they would withdraw from the coalition negotiations and from the demissionary cabinet, creating a constitutional novum.


05APR2024
King accepts resignations of RSP and LDP-ministers, and appoints new demissionary ministers to fill the gap

King Philipp has accepted the resignations of all demissionary ministers from the RSP and the LDP, leaving the CDV as the only political party in the cabinet. Immediately thereafter, new demissionary ministers were appointed, partly by means of giving current ministers an additional ministry, and partly by "promoting" state secretaries to minister. Minister of Foreign Affairs Kohlscheiber becomes Demissionary Vice-Chancellor.
In the meantime, he also scheduled a consultation round with the fraction leaders and the Oberpräfekte.


06APR2024
Angela Weizmann-Müller continues as inquirer

Today it became clear that several political parties indicated to go for new elections in May, but King Philipp decided differently. He changed the task of inquirer Angela Weizmann-Müller. She is going to attempt to form a cabinet of the Christiandemocratic CDV, the market liberal FDV, the Tiburan Catholic TKP and the Reformatorial CRVP. This decision immediately led to reactions from politicians belonging to the Greens: "Hear hear. King Philipp is catapulting the country back to the 1950s. No more abortions and no more gay rights."

 

[Rheinbund]

RSP, LDP and Grün organise protest marches for new elections

Today the RSP, LDP and Grün held protest marches all over the country to demand new elections. Demissionary Chancellor Lauritzen was denounced for violating a cabinet decision and "secretly grabbing large sums of money from the state treasury for his own plans". Former Minister of Internal Affairs Wilhelm Pfeiffer said on one rallye: "The rightwing parties, self-proclaimed champions of sound budgeting, suddenly approve that somebody grabs a hundred billion Goldmark out of the state treasury behind the back of the government. The people of the Rheinbund have to have their say on this. We cannot have a Chancellor who goes against a decision of his own government, especially not if he withdraws sums as large as 100 billion Goldmark from the state treasury for his own plans."
Meanwhile, the comments on social media are mixed. People are demanding new elections there as well, but there are also people who doubt about that: "I really wouldn't know what to vote then. What Lauritzen did was wrong, but I disagree too much with the other parties to vote something else than CDV or FDV." Others are asking themselves what the Demissionary Chancellor wanted to do with the money: "Lauritzen must have a very good reason to do what he did if he wants to get away with this."

 

[Rheinbund]

12APR2024 19:30

RFR Nachrichten

Lauritzen breaks the silence: "I freed the money from the Emergency Fund for Ebria and Radilo"

During his weekly press conference on Friday afternoon, Demissionary Chancellor Lauritzen explained why he had freed the 100 billion Goldmarks from the Emergency Fund. He indicated that it was not a state secret any more, and told that he disagreed with the decision to remain neutral in the Ebrian Civil War and the Radilo-Pelasgian war: "The proper way to deal with that would have been to resign, but 1. the world around us was on fire, because of which also we had to take quick decisions, and therefore I did not want to leave my post under such circumstances, and 2. I wanted to really do something. Seeing how dire the situation was, with Ebrian cities shot to pieces and chemical weapons used in Ebria, I decided to use the special powers that a Chancellor has also in demissionary status to channel funds to the Ebrians and the Radileans so that they could buy weapons, and for humanitary aid. Please do realise that we left two Meridian Union members alone in a very bad manner, even taking into consideration that we did not sign the military treaty of the Meridian Union. You can argue that it is none of our business if a civil war erupts in Ebria, and that we don't have to join a war if we are not obliged by a treaty. However, the Ebrians under President Gallego fought for their freedom against a claimant to the Ebrian Throne who did not shy away from killing his uncle to be able to exercise his claim, who did not shy away from massively assassinating the people he considers his underlings, and who even used chemical weapons against the people he considers his underlings. Furthermore, Radilo was assaulted by a country that had suddenly joined the Pressburg Pact, whose most important member even threatened us in a terrible way. I had to act, even against the will of the government I was, and still am, the Chancellor of. If what I did is indead a malfeasance, then I am happy to face the consequences."
Upon the question where the money had gone to, the Chancellor answered: "80 billion is still in the emergency fund, but it has been earmarked for Ebria and Radilo. The rest has already been used for humanitary aid for Ebria, and for military aid for Ebria and Radilo. I also understood from the Koalitionsverhandlerin that the parties currently in the coalition negotiations will continue the aid for Ebria. I can also announce that we will send temporary residential barracks to Ebria to meet the acute need for housing, and that we will pay for Rheinian construction companies to help rebuild Valls."
I would like to ask your attention for the broadcasting by RFR Hintergründe at 22:00, with a documentary that was made in Ebria to show the extent of the destruction and the suffering, as well as evidence of atrocities and rape committed by Alfonsist soldiers and Silver Shirts, and a documentary on the person of Infante Alfonso, whom the government calls the Duke of Calatrava to indicate that it does not recognise Alfonso's claim to the Ebrian Throne.


Koalitionsverhandlerin Weizmann-Müller: We are close to a government

Koalitionsverhandlerin Weizmann-Müller indicated in a news release that the coalition negotiations are coming to an end. She indicated that before the end of the month the new government could be sworn in, if no new elections would be held.
In the meantime, King Philipp is gathering advice on whether to organise new elections or not. A reason not to do so, is that the seat division in the new parliament could make it even more difficult to form a government than it is already now, leading to yet another half-a-year without a missionary government. And that while the current coalition negotiations are coming to an end. On the other hand, if the public opinion considers the situation with Chancellor Lauritzen's decision to bypass the government so fundamental that the voters must voice their approval or disapproval by means of new elections, then new elections could prevent civil unrest.

 

[Rheinbund]

Support for new elections diminishes while understanding for Lauritzen rises: No new elections

After consulting the fraction leaders, the Rheinisches Gerichtshof and the heads of state and heads of governments of the memberstates, King Philipp decided not to call for new elections. One of the reasons not to do so is that the call for new elections has more or less silenced.
Although the government declared neutrality, the majority of the Rheinians supported to intervene against the Alfonists. The initial rejection of Lauritzen's "grab in the emergency funds" was replaced with understanding after Lauritzen's speech last Friday, and RFR's documentary from Ebria let the understanding for Lauritzen's move grow. At this moment, the RSP, LDP and Grün still call for new elections, but they are more or less alone in their call.


Pineapple on your pizza? 60 Goldmark please!

Pineapple on your pizza. The pizza tropical is quite a hit in Westernesse, but putting pineapple on a pizza is blasphemy and a desecration according to the people who invented the pizza: The Radileans. Adriano Cantini, owner of a very big and famous pizzeria in Fehrbellin, decided to make clear in an original way what his thoughts on the pizza tropical are. While most of his pizza's cost 11 to 25 Goldmark (11 - 24 Euromark), he asks 60 Goldmark (58 Euromark) for a pizza tropical. On top of that, the pineapple chunks are served separate from the pizza; the customer has to put the chunks on the pizza, the pizzabaker won't do so.

OOC: There is actually a pizzeria in the Netherlands which does this.

 

[Rheinbund]

Coalition negotiations successful; Bastian Wiltberger appointed Regierungsformant

Koalitionsverhandlerin Angela Weizmann-Müller has presented her final report to King Philipp. The coalition negotiations have succeeded. The Rheinbund gets a coalition between the Christlich-Demokratische Volkspartei (CDV), the Frei-Demokratische Volkspartei (FDV), the Tiburanisch-Katholische Partei (TKP) and the Christlich-Reformatorische Verfassungspartei (CRVP). Bastian Wiltberger (CDV) has been appointed Regierungsformant and will become the new Chancellor; the political leaders of the other three parties will become Vice-Chancellors. The new government will have 16 Ministers instead of 15; a Minister for Youth and Family will be added. As per the number of seats in the Volksversammlung, the CDV will have 6 Ministers, the FDV 5, the TKP 3 and the CRVP 2. The coming week, Wiltberger and the political leaders of the FDV, TKP and CRVP will determine which ministries wil go to which parties, and will discuss about the division of the Minister seats.

 

[Rheinbund]

06MAY2024
Coalition negotiations succeeded; Cabinet Wiltberger I formed

Regierungsformant Bastian Wiltberger has taken his report to King Philipp. The Cabinet Wiltberger I has been formed. For the first time in history, the Rheinbund gets a coalition government with four parties, and with that the most conservative government in five decades. For the first time in history, the Tiburanisch-Katholische Partei (TKP) and the Christlich-Reformatorische Verfassungspartei (CRVP) will take part in the coalition, and will govern with the Christlich-Demokratische Volkspartei (CDV) and the Frei-Demokratische Volkspartei (FDV).
On the socio-economic level, the policies will only gradually change. One important change is, that the number of dedicated social support allowances (e.g. extra money for child care for school books) for lowest income households will drasticly decrease, but that will be combined with a substantial decrease of taxes for the lowest income households and a substantial increase of the lowest social assistance benefits. This was a wish from the CDV so that the lowest income households have to fill out less forms and less work will have to be dedicated to check all the requests for dedicated social support allowances. This will also reduce bureaucracy. This measure will be carried out in such a way that the lowest income households will financially benefit. This is part of a wider package of measures to make the laws and rules simpler, mainly for companies but also for citizens. A package to support families with underage children, children at universities and disabled children will be introduced as well, together with a package of measures to support and improve schools and universities.
Investments to raise the capacity of the power grid will be increased to facilitate a shift from fossil fuels to renewable energies. The fact that the Rheinbund has copper mines itself will make this easier. The recently discovered bauxite reserves will be used to give the aircraft and car industry a boost: They will receive aluminium at a reduced price.
The mining activities in the Rheinbund (copper, iron, natural gas and until the 1970s coal) will remain in the hands of the Rheinische Bergbaugesellschaft, a company owned by the State and the sovereign families.
Aid to Ebria will be continued as initiated by Demissionary Chancellor Lauritzen.
One major change is that law enforcement will be intensified. More funds will go to the police and the justice departments, and the capacities of the prisons will be increased. Also the punishments for fourth, fifth and sixth category crimes will be increased:
Fourth category crimes go from imprisonments up to 15 years and fines up to 100 daily wages to 20 years imprisonment and fines up to 50,000 Goldmark.
Fifth category crimes go from fines up to 200 daily wages to 200,000 Goldmark; the maximum prison punishment will remain life imprisonment.
Sixth category crimes go from fines up to 2000 daily wages to 2 million Goldmark; also here the maximum prison punishment will remain life imprisonment.
Fines are usually given in amounts of daily wages in the Rheinbund, so that a suspect with a lower income does not suffer more from a fine than a suspect with a higher income. This system will remain in effect for first category offenses and second and third category crimes, but will be abolished for fourth, fifth and sixth category crimes to prevent suspects from avoiding high fines by faking a low income.
It will also become easier to confiscate possessions of people convicted for fourth, fifth and sixth category crimes. Up to now, the public prosecutor had to prove that assets had been obtained with earnings from criminal activities, now it is enough to make it plausible that given their level of education the suspect would not have been able to afford the assets to be confiscated.
The legalisation of cannabis will remain in effect, but the fight against other drugs will be intensified. Crimes related to drug trafficking are currently third category crimes, but will become fifth category crimes. At this moment, the sixth category is reserved for crimes against humanity, but this will be extended to leading or coordinating criminal activities (i.e. leading a criminal organisation or a part of a criminal organisation). It will also become possible to keep persons suspected of fourth, fifth and sixth category crimes in complete isolation, and under strict circumstances and upon approval from a judge to eavesdrop and film the meetings such suspects have with their lawyers.


07MAY2024
Bastian Wiltberger chosen as Chancellor; new government appointed

Upon finishing the coalition negotiations, King Philipp and Regierungsformant Bastian Wiltberger went to the Volksversammlung to report on the coalition negotiations. They ended with the advice to choose Regierungsformant Bastian Wiltberger as the new Chancellor. As per the tradition, all fractions have the right to shortly comment before the voting starts. The new coalition parties emphasised that the new coalition agreement would benefit the Rheinbund, emphasised the need for international cooperation, the need to repair strained relations with former allies, the need to cherish relations with current allies and befriended countries, the need to make it easier to start and maintain companies in he Rheinbund, the need to support families and the need to fight organised crime.
There was much criticism from the opposition. Especially Grün was critical, not only on the government’s “minimal efforts to curb the fossil industry, fight climate change and damage to the environment”, but also the “fact that radical Christians are given the opportunity to direct the course of the country”, leading to “a return to the 1950s with respect to gay rights, women’s rights and the right to an abortion” as well as “a ban on vaccines”.
Regierungsformant Wiltberger replied to that: “For gay rights, women’s rights, abortion rights and vaccines, I have already made clear during the coalition negotiations that the Rheinbund is a federation in which several items are handled by the memberstates, among others ethical matters. Gay rights, women’s rights, abortion rights and vaccines are ethical matters, so they are handled by the memberstates. But this works into two directions. Like we cannot enforce gay rights, women’s rights and abortion rights at national level, we cannot abolish these rights at national level, either. So nothing will change there, unless individual memberstates decide to change this within their boundaries.
And for the energy transition and climate change, if we want to be able to even feed the country, we need to earn money. We can only earn money if there are companies here. If we follow Grün’s agenda on the energy transition, the only thing that we achieve is that the companies take their production facilities elsewhere and continue to exhaust CO2 abroad. That will not stop climate change. The only thing that stops climate change is making sure that non-fossil alternatives are abundantly available. That is what we will do, in cooperation with the companies in the Rheinbund.”

After the debates had ended, the voting process to choose the Chancellor started. The result was 412 votes in favour and 388 votes against.
After the vote results had been announced, the chairman of the Volksversammlung asked: “Herr Wiltberger, nehmen Sie die Wahl an?” (Mr. Wiltberger, do you accept the vote result?). Wiltberger answered: “Ja.” After that, King Philipp and the new government went to Schloss Schöneweide, where the King took the oaths from the new ministers and state secretaries and appointed them. After that, the new Ministers and State Secretaries went to their new offices to sign the handover together with their predecessors.

The new government consists of 16 Ministers; 6 from the CDV, 5 from the FDV, 3 from the TKP and 2 from the CRVP. Apart from the new Minister office, one other change has been implemented: The Core-Cabinet has been extended. It used to consist of the Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellors and the Ministers of Finance, Internal Affairs, Foreign Affairs and Defence; the Minister of Public Health and Welfare has been added to it. The division of the Minister Offices is like the following:
— Chancellor: Bastian Wiltberger (CDV).
— Minister of Finance and Vice-Chancellor: Winfried Dressler (FDV).
— Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice-Chancellor: Moritz Weixler (TKP).
— Minister of Internal Affairs and Vice-Chancellor: Rainer Stuhr (CRVP).
— Minister of Defence (core-cabinet): Oberst a.D. Sieghelm Frisch (FDV).
— Minister of Public Health and Welfare (core-cabinet): Priv. Doz. Prof. Dr. Darius Schneider, Chefarzt (CDV).
— Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries: Ida Vering (CDV).
— Minister of Education and Culture: Prof. Dr. Cilly Harrer (CDV).
— Minister of Justice: Dr. Brunhilde Zolman (CDV).
— Minister of Economic Affairs: Denny Wankel (FDV).
— Minister of Transport and Public Works: Kilian Bierkamp (FDV).
— Minister of Labour and Social Affairs: Jochen Koehl (TKP).
— Minister of Environment, Housing and Country Planning: Berni Kaulen (TKP).
— Minister for Developmental Cooperation and International Aid: Jeanette Jäger (CDV).
— Minister for Scientific Research Stimulation: Prof. Dr. Annika Kunzelmann (FDV).
— Minister for Youth and Family: Liebhardt Aumann (CRVP).

 

[Rheinbund]

Electric cars: How to move forward

Electric cars. Everybody talks about them. The petrolheads talk about them, moaning the "lost excitement" and criticising the "Ökofreaks" ("ecofreaks") for wanting to take their cars away. People concerned about the environment and the climate talk about them, lauding the fact that they don't produce exhaust gases. In the middle, there is the group of people who weigh the pros and cons. The biggest con is the range. Although present-day electric cars can drive 400 to 700 kilometers on one battery load as per the WLTP standard, people still have range anxiety, knowing that the real-life range is always smaller than the WLTP-range. They also compare getting a 300 km range after speed-loading the battery for 20 to 30 minutes with getting a 1200 km range after filling the fuel tank of a Darner Mistral for 5 minutes.
In order to overcome the range anxiety and the loading problems, the Socialist Commonwealth recently decided to focus on exchangeable batteries. We asked Renold Dießler from the Technische Universität Rottweil about his opinion on this decision: "The Socialist Commonwealth is not the first one to voice this idea. Companies in Touyou have played with this thought as well, and built at least one prototyp. In theory, this could work very well. If indeed you can exchange the battery in a few minutes, then at least the problem of the long loading times will be solved. I myself see one technical problem though. The battery exchange might take place from the bottom of the car, because that would be the simplest method. This will be a manoeuvre that will be conducted at least once a month, maybe even more. On the longer term, this will lead to wear and tear, with even the possibility that the battery falls down while driving. This is a technical problem that can be solved, but also a technical problem that must be solved.
The Socialist Commonwealth pointed at the fact that most institutions are waiting for better techniques to come, and that therefore the transition to e-mobility goes so slowly. Based on that thought, the focus on trying to optimise existing technologies is good. It would also be good though to be flexible for the case that those new technologies will really arrive, resulting in batteries with more capacities and faster loading times, making the current setup with charging fixed batteries the better option again. So it would be best if the electric cars about to appear on the streets of the Socialist Commonwealth are also equipped with sockets or prepared in such a way that a socket can be installed quickly."
Meanwhile, Darner Werke in Rottweil have announced that they would like to cooperate with companies from the Socialist Commonwealth to build cars with exchangeable batteries. First things to agree on would be standard measures, standard sockets, standard voltages and a standard kind of battery holding construction.

@Socialist Commonwealth