Adric Azengaard
Adric Azengaard | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chancellor of Delkora | |
| Assumed office 3 March 2014 | |
| Monarch | Haldor VII |
| Deputy | Andreas Støvring |
| Preceded by | Harald Møller |
| Leader of the Liberal Party | |
| Assumed office 12 March 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Rengar Thomassen |
| Minister of Justice | |
| In office 2 March 1998 – 4 March 2002 | |
| Chancellor | Emma Jørgensen |
| Minister of Social Affairs | |
| In office 3 March 1994 – 2 March 1998 | |
| Chancellor | Emma Jørgensen |
| Member of the Chamber of Representatives | |
| Assumed office 3 June 1991 | |
| Constituency | Middle Cybria |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Adric Edvard Azengaard 10 August 1968 Elvorath, Norvia, Kingdom of Delkora |
| Nationality | Delkoran |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse(s) | Lukas Azengaard (m. 1991–Present) |
| Residence | Chancellery Building |
| Alma mater | Tordenhelm University (B.A.) University of Norenstal (M.L.) |
| Occupation | Lawyer Politician |
Adric Edvard Azengaard (born 10 August 1968) is the current Chancellor of the Kingdom of Delkora. As leader of the Liberal Party, he entered office following his party's successful negotiation of a coalition government with National Labor and the Greens following the 2014 federal elections.
Early life
Azengaard was born 10 August 1968 in Elvorath, a small town in northern Norvia. Throughout his early school years, he excelled academically, graduating top of his class from Elvorath Secondary School. After graduating, he enrolled at Tordenhelm University in 1985, graduating with a B.A. in political science and history in 1988. He cites his time at Tordenhelm as the period in which he started to fully develop his political views. During this time, he helped campaign for several Liberal candidates for Parliament.
Law school and early career
After graduating from Tordenhelm, Azengaard attended the University of Norenstal School of Law from 1988 to 1991. Here, he met several future colleagues and cabinet ministers, as well as his future husband, Lukas. After graduating, he and Lukas married and subsequently relocated to the Norenstal suburb of Fordryn, where Azengaard began practicing law as a civil rights attorney. During this time, he also taught part time as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Northern Cybria. He taught several courses on constitutional law and civil liberties, in addition to publishing books on Delkoran constitutional history. That same year, he approached Liberal Party leader Erika Klausen about running for Parliament in the upcoming federal election. Klausen took the young lawyer under her wing. In the 1991 Federal Election, Azengaard was placed near the top of the Liberal Party list for Middle Cybria, winning a seat.
Member of the Federal Parliament
In Parliament, Azengaard served on the Social Welfare Committee and the Committee on Constitution and the Judiciary. He became an outspoken critic of Chancellor Ulrik Andersen's austerity policies and attempts at dismantling the New Kingdom program.
Following Andersen's ouster by a vote of no confidence in 1994 and the resulting federal election, Azengaard was chosen by Chancellor-elect Jørgensen to serve as minister of social security. In 1998, he was appointed minister of justice following a cabinet shuffle. An outspoken advocate of the Human Rights Act of 1995, Azengaard proved to be essential in garnering right-wing support for it and ensuring its provisions were enforced by state governments.
Following the 2002 federal election, Azengaard was a vocal critic of Liberal Party leader Rengar Thomassen's refusal to enter a supply and confidence agreement with the far-left government of Kol Vossgaard. Although National Labor ultimately entered an agreement to avoid another election that would likely produce a right-wing government, Thomassen's hesitancy to tolerate Vossgaard's government for fear of alienating moderate voters was unpopular with most Liberal MPs, and positioned Azengaard as an alternative leader for the party. He unsuccessfully challenged Thomassen for leader after the 2006 federal election, only to come back and mount a successful bid four years later after the 2010 Election and the Liberal Party's worst performance in decades.
In 2012, after members of the terrorist group Black Covenant detonated a bomb in the Svalbörden Subway Station in downtown Norenstal, killing 57 people, Chancellor Harald Møller pushed for the passage of the National Security Act of 2012, which would greatly expand the ability of the government to spy on Delkoran citizens though roving wire-taps and the collection of metadata. National Labor, the largest opposition party at the time, avoided coming out against the Act for fear of being perceived as unpatriotic. Azengaard, meanwhile, made clear his party's staunch opposition to it, and gained significant media attention from his impassioned speeches on the floor of Parliament as the bill was being considered.
After the incumbent coalition government fell out of power following the 2014 federal election, he successfully formed a coalition government consisting of his Liberal Party, National Labor, and the Greens. Azengaard was subsequently sworn in as Chancellor of Delkora on 5 March 2014.
Chancellor
In his Inaugural Address to Parliament, Azengaard cited the expansion of worker self-management in the economy, reigning in government surveillance, passing an updated Human Rights Act, and electoral reform as top priorities of his government.
Invasion of Raithir
In November 2015, following the unexpected Mubatan annexation of the Ossorian island territory of Raithir, Chancellor Azengaard addressed a joint session of Parliament where he denounced the invasion as a "flagrant violation of international law and a threat to regional peace." The following day, his government announced an embargo on Mubatan goods and the freezing of assets held by certain officials in the Mubatan government and armed forces. Azengaard resisted calls from opposition leader Thorbjørn Gundersen and members of the Defense Council for a declaration of war on the Mubatan government, instead opting for the more limited approach advocated by Minister of Defense Felgar Schrøder, who advised using a Royal Navy taskforce to enforce a partial naval quarantine of the island that would intercept Mubatan resupply ships destined for Raithir and provide limited air support for Ossorian forces as needed.
Nalayan Civil War
Responding to the deteriorating situation in Nalaya and the resulting outflow of refugees fleeing the civil war there, Azengaard announced plans to more than double the Kingdom's annual refugee quota and successfully secured a major increase in the foreign aid budget. Azengaard also directed the Royal Navy to assist in evacuating civilians fleeing the war zone and delivering food and medical supplies to hospitals.
Arzell Crisis
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Following the downing of several Ossorian aircraft by the Imperial Shalumite Air Force and resulting skirmishes at the Ossorian-Shalumite border on the island of Arzell, Azengaard's government issued a statement calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict and an impartial investigation into the circumstances leading to the confrontation. He made clear that Delkora would stand by Ossoria in the event of a declaration of war, stating in a press conference that, "Delkora stands ready to fulfill its obligations under the Commonwealth of Sovereign Nations in the event of a Shalumite incursion into Ossorian territory."
Political positions
Economy
Azengaard favors strengthening and expanding workers' self-management, and has stated he supports continued efforts at phasing out private ownership in the economy. He has, however, questioned the feasibility of the goals set out in the Social Economy White Paper of 1996, which calls for a full transition to a socialized economy by 2030, and has said in interviews he believes 2050 may be a more realistic goal given political constraints. He is an advocate of the Common Sphere, favoring the preservation of its current structure. He has stated that he believes the greatest threat to the bloc going forward is "excessive expansionism", warning that the lowering of membership standards to permit the entry of new states will threaten the group's cohesion.
Healthcare
Azengaard favors the preservation of Delkora's current single-payer system. He has come out against a proposal from National Labor to transition to a single-provider system managed by the Federal Health Service, claiming the proposal "seeks to remedy a problem that does not exist" and that the country's current decentralized system of state and local healthcare providers has long functioned well. He opposes the reintroduction of private health insurance in any form, even for elective care.
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Environment
Shortly after taking office, Azengaard's government successfully passed the Just Transition Act of 2014, committing the Kingdom to the complete abolition of its oil and natural gas industries by 2025. Since taking office in 2014, his Ministry of Justice has overseen a significant increase in the prosecution of industrial pollution crimes and illegal logging in the Grymvar Mountains.
Social issues
In 2013, prior to becoming chancellor, Azengaard received a 93% rating from the Civil Liberties Institute, indicating a voting record as a member of Parliament favoring the limiting of government involvement in peoples' personal lives. In 2001, he voted in favor of the legalization of polyamorous marriage. While a minister in the Jørgensen government, he was instrumental in securing passage of the Regulated Substances Act of 1998, which decriminalized drug use. In 2014, his government rescinded a Ministry of Health regulation put in place by his predecessor that had permitted physicians to refuse to perform abortions due to moral objections, a decision that was celebrated by reproductive rights activists but questioned by some civil liberties groups.
Foreign policy
Azengaard has stated that he is a strong supporter of Delkora's continued membership in the Commonwealth of Sovereign Nations, believing it to be essential to the Kingdom's national security. Although he supports the promotion of democracy and human rights abroad, when asked at the second party leaders' debate leading up to the 2014 federal election what role he believes the Royal Delkoran Armed Forces should play abroad, he stated that he believes their use should be limited to defending the Kingdom and its close allies, as well as participating in international peacekeeping missions that have broad support both among the Delkoran public and abroad.
Electoral reform
Azengaard has indicated in the past that he supports lowering the voting age to 16 and extending voting rights to all permanent residents of the Kingdom, rather than limiting the franchise to citizens as it is currently. In an interview with the DBS in 2016, he stated that he would support legislation implementing single transferable voting for federal elections.