Toni Vallas
Toni Vallas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Prime Minister of Gylias | |
| In office 1 February 2012 – 1 February 2020 | |
| President | Laura Varnaþ Ravy Egiði |
| Preceded by | Kaori Kawashima |
| Succeeded by | Lena Haidynraix |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 April 1984 Şenri, Envadra, Gylias |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party |
Antoinette Vallas (Gylic transcription: Antoanet Valas; born 16 April 1984), commonly known as Toni Vallas, is a Gylian politician. She served as Prime Minister of Gylias from 2012 to 2020, being the first Progressive Alliance Prime Minister since Darnan Cyras. She is currently the official Leader of the Opposition.
Early life
Antoinette Vallas was born on 16 April 1984. She is of mixed Gylic, French, and Hellene descent. Her name is written in the reformed Hellene alphabet as "Αɴτοɴέτα Ϡάλλας", as traditional Hellene lacks the [v] sound.
She grew up in a poor family and had a somewhat difficult childhood. Her father struggled with clinical depression, abandoned the family and later committed suicide. She was mainly raised by her mother, who worked as a teacher. She was nicknamed "Toiné" (Gylic transcription: Toané) in childhood, a shortening of her name, which she later Anglicised to "Toni".
She was a member of the Revolutionary Youth Union in her childhood, and attended local primary and secondary schools. She attended the University of Mişeyáke from 2002 to 2004, but left without graduating. She worked at various jobs, including elevator attendant, tray vendor, and drinks seller at a football stadium.
While in university, she met former sports minister Lilja Kjellberg, who became her political mentor. She joined the Social Democratic Party due to Lilja's influence.
Legislative career
Toni stood in the 2004 federal election and was elected from a Şenri circonscription, becoming one of the youngest deputies in Gylian history.
She was reelected in 2008, and subsequently joined the Kaori Kawashima government as minister without portfolio with responsibility for youth issues — a post last held by Makiko Nishida in the Darnan Cyras government.
She entered two Progressive Alliance primary elections. She lost the first, in 2007, but won the second, in 2011, and became foresitter of the PA.
Prime Minister of Gylias
Toni led the PA to a plurality in 2012, reversing a string of second-place finishes to the Liberal Union and making it the largest electoral bloc for the first time since 1969.
She formed the first traffic light coalition at the federal level, reuniting the Progressive Alliance, Liberal Union, Green Party, and Independent Regional Alliance for Minorities. However, this coalition still fell short of a majority in the Chamber of Deputies, and she made up the difference by negotiating support from leftist Non-inscrits.
Her government was reelected in 2016.
Domestic policy
Toni pursued a more leftist policy course than her liberal predecessors, putting special emphasis on eco-socialism. The inclusion of the Greens in the federal cabinet reinforced her environmentalist credentials.
Building on the achievements of Aishwarya Devi, she introduced policies and legislation that strove to make Gylias a completely circular economy and eliminate waste entirely. Under her tenure, Gylias became one of the largest importers of waste in Tyran due to the success of its recycling industry.
She took a more sceptical attitude towards the Social Partnership Program, introducing reforms to slow its growth and tighten control and oversight mechanisms.
She put forward proposals to reform social security by officially converting it to a basic income model. This project was not completed during her term due to difficult negotiations with municipal and regional governments, which were hesitant to adopt a "one-size-fits-all" model and lose their ability to experiment with local policies.
She supports degrowth policies and the abandonment of the growth paradigm in favour of a steady-state economy, arguing that the ideal economic growth rate cannot surpass 2%. Average GDP growth in 2012–2020 was 3,1%.
Foreign policy
Toni brought a slight change in emphasis to Gylian foreign policy, placing paradiplomacy on an even footing. The number of international offices and trade missions for subnational governments expanded. Toni formed a notably close relationship with Cybrian First Minister Astrid Marett, which brought increased trade and considerably raised Astrid's profile — sometimes to the irritation of other Delkoran first ministers, an aspect often parodied in The Havomar Report and The Hans Schou Experience.
Her tenure saw the most recent expansion of the Common Sphere, with the accession of Tennai as a full member in 2015. Toni supported Tennai's harmonisation with the CS, and the event reaffirmed the traditional special relationship.
Relations with Æþurheim witnessed a period of improvement after Monika Schefer took office. Toni and Monika were both their respective countries' youngest heads of government, born only 4 days apart, and Monika's reformist drive was seen favourably compared to her aggressive predecessor Karlos Vocht. However, relations soured after the Æþurian crisis and civil war of 2019, in which Toni supported the anarcho-syndicalist KSA.
The Æþurian civil war unexpectedly became an issue in the 2020 federal election, which produced gains for anarchist Non-inscrits.
Public image
During her first electoral campaign, Toni quipped at a public meeting, "My politics are as red as my hair."
Toni was popular during her term as Prime Minister, and was seen as an easygoing "life of the party" — not unlike Mathilde Vieira, the previous youngest Prime Minister.
Opposition
Toni narrowly lost the 2020 federal election. The PA finished two seats behind the National Bloc, and the result was a hung parliament. The anarchist parties that gained seats due to the Æþurian civil war, including the Free and Voluntaryist Union, People Power-Citizens' Movement, Rally for a Free Society, and Union of Independents, chose to support a minority government led by Lena Haidynraix, who became Gylias' first centre-right Prime Minister.
Toni won a subsequent primary election in the PA and is currently the official Leader of the Opposition to Lena's government.
Private life
Toni is involved in a long-term relationship. She is mainly a practitioner of Sofianism.