Difference between revisions of "Europlexa"

Revision as of 04:21, 11 June 2005

Europlexa

Flag of Europlexa
Motto: Economic Freedom, Social Liberalism
No Map Available Yet
Region	Bedfordian Super Continent
Capital	Haven
Official Language(s)	English, Europlexian
Leader	Prime Minister Robert A. Stagg
Population	20 - 100 million
Currency	Rouble
NS Sunset XML

The Democratic Republic of Europlexa is regarded highly amongst the paragons of conservatism for being a shining example of the ideology. The nation professes to be socially and economically liberal, and the results thus far have been astonishing.

History

Europlexa was a small backward country for 300 years, known for a strong economy but regarded as being a benevolent dictatorship. The 'Blue Revolution' (led by great thinker and speaker Prime Minister Robert A. Stagg) was based around establishing free-market principles and more civil rights and political freedoms for the populace. The Revolution quickly garnered pace with the slogan "Economic Freedom, Social Liberalism", and in a bloodless coup d'etat Stagg seized the reigns. Thus far, the Revolution is deemed to have already acheived it's aims.

Economy

Stagg has initiated a number of 'key reforms' to 'rejuvenate the economy'. These included bold measures such as scrapping tax altogether, rolling back government spending on religious groups, social equality and welfare over time, ending tarrifs, slimming government, and ploughing increased revenues into commerce and education. The reforms are deemed to have been successful in that unemployment has been halved, and GDP/capita has meteroically risen. However, some experts point to the relative instability of an economy which massively subsidises commerce.

Freedoms

The Europlexian government prides itself on improving civil rights and political freedoms and has had marked success. The nation has moved from a kindly dictatorship to a completely free democracy. This has been acheived largely through "taking government out of people's lives". Stagg called this his 'Fundamental Freedoms'. Some United Nations officials have warned Stagg that he has slimmed government so far that the nation is frequently on the verge of anarchy. There are twenty one small political parties in this newfound political freedom, although Stagg's majority is too large to be overturned for at least a decade. Despite the loosening of restrictions, many disliked the lurch towards compulsory voting - and, in spite of the huge advances made for homosexuals and transsexuals in particular, hated the tight restrictions on historical accuracy in films.

Public services

Stagg has resculpted the public services of Europlexa along market lines, in order to ensure no tax rates. By completely privatising the health service and introducing voluntary health insurance, he was accused of propagating a "two tier system" by the main opposition parties. However, by eliminating tax - 98% of Europlexians have access to "very good or above" healthcare.

Equally, Stagg remodelled the education system along similar lines. Despite calls to privatise schools, he has been resistent to doing so - contradicting a specific pledge made in his manifesto. Roughly 30% of the Europlexian budget is spent on providing free education, whilst only half of schools are privately owned or run. Stagg has claimed this number will increase gradually with time, but he called education "Public Service Number One".

Police

Stagg has, until now at least, had difficulty resculpting the police force. He claimed he wanted it to be "fully accountable", although there has - as yet - been no move in that direction. Crime is very high, and always has been since the Revolution. The police force has had it's share of funding increased by 5%, but no serious action has been taken. Stagg has outlined plans to reform the police recently, called "Direct Action". He is set to increase police numbers whilst maintaining funding levels and to take a hard line on most petty behaviour. However, he did call for a socially liberal stance on soft drugs.

Transportation

Europlexa is widely regarded as having fairly dreadful transport. Stagg's manifesto during the Blue Revolution promised an overhaul of the system, "making the lag good in ten years". This includes plans for road pricing to replace fuel tax (which was recently scrapped) and the railways to be dismantled in favour of mandatory clean fuels, and a massive increase in bus numbers. Stagg has called public transport "the enemy of free travel" and has already cut all central funding for such schemes.

Environment

Europlexa's environment was torn to shreds by the corrupt dictatorship which preceded Stagg's government. He has made "cleaning up the mess" one of his ten top priorities, and has set out an action plan to "improve our environment globally but maintain our strong economy". The plan is set out over twenty five years and Stagg promised "a long, slow, but successful road". No action has as yet been taken on the environment.

Social conditions

Socially, Europlexa is a nirvana. By eliminating tax, housing standards have improved three-fold, and quantifiable standard of life has doubled. Social equality has increased through the non-existence of tax, although the government still awaits the outcome of a commision to ascertain action to take. Welfare has been cut back substantially, and a bare minimum is provided for those who don't work (2.5% of the population).

Governmental actions

A list of reforms undertaken by the government, in chronological order:

• Eliminated tax
• Set out a programme to cut the size of government
• Cut welfare budget by half
• Ended all tarrif programmes
• Cut restrictions on donations to political parties
• Increased spending on education by 10%
• Introduced compulsory voting
• Privatised the healthcare system
• Legalised same-sex marriages
• Introduced free speech
• Eliminated spending on social equality and religion/spirituality
• Increased subsidies for business by 10%
• Formally recognised trans-sexuals
• Introduced legislation to improve historical accuracy in films
• Rejected plans for a youth curfew
• Abolished inheritance tax