Elisabetta de Calvacamp
The High Well-Born Lady Elisabetta de Calvacamp | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Speaker of the National Assembly | |
| Assumed office 16 January 2019 | |
| Monarch | Melisende III |
| Deputy | Nikola Bellizzi |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Secretary-General of Franciskani | |
| Assumed office 12 January 2015 | |
| Deputy | Antnin Zammut |
| Chairman | Konsu Ebejer |
| Preceded by | Party established |
| Member of National Assembly | |
| Assumed office 14 August 2018 | |
| Constituency | Royal Domain |
| Member of Sydalon City Council | |
| In office 6 June 2014 – 14 August 2018 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Emmanuelle Katerina Elisabetta de Calvacamp 28 February 1978 Betsan, Hayan, Sydalon |
| Political party | Franciskani |
| Other political affiliations | Democratic Movement (2012–2018) Social Democratic Party (2000–2014) |
| Spouse | John Sabarte (m. 1999) |
| Children | 8 |
| Alma mater | All Saints' College (BS); University of Ghish(MA) |
Elisabetta de Calvacamp de Sabarte (born 28 February 1978) is a Sydalene politician, became the first female Speaker of the National Assembly on 14 August 2018.
She was educated at All Saints' College, where she studied history and pre-law. She earned her Masters Degree from the Haribec School of International Affairs at the University of Ghish.
Following the New Year's Revolt and creation of the National Assembly, she and a group of center-left leaning political figures established Frankiskani, of which she serves as Secretary-General. Calvacamp was first elected to the National Assembly by a party list member in 2018. Calvacamp is one of the first women to serve as the leader of a major political party. She previously served as a Member of the Sydalon City Council.
Early life and education
Emmanuelle Katerina Elisabetta de Calvacamp was born in Betsan, Hayan, in 1978. She is the youngest of four children of Manouel de Calvacamp and Katarina Garufa. She is a descendant of Hughes de Calvacamp, a crusader knight from Turenne, Garima, who settled near Ostracine in the 13th century as minor lord. Her maternal great-grandparents were forcibly converted from Judaism before the Yarden Accords. While her mother is a retired school teacher in Hayan, her father worked as a low level civil servant until he was fired in 1987 for his affiliation with the Spiterianist groups. Her father continues to hold membership in far-right political and social groups. She credits her maternal grandparents, paternal uncle, and "Christian charity" as the only reasons her family avoided losing her childhood home after her father lost his job.
At 18, de Calvacamp enrolled at All Saint's College where she first studied law. She began her second term at University of Ghish, in Ghant, for a study abroad program. While at Ghish she studied history and pre-law. While studying at Ghish, Calvacamp became a member of the Social Democratic Party's student group. She was also a member of the university's Christian student groups. After graduating from All Saints' College she obtained a master's degree from the University of Ghish's Haribec School of International Affairs.
Career
During her masters degree studying, Calvacamp worked as an aid with the Ghantish Legebiltzarra.
After completing her education, Calvacamp worked as a consultant at FIRM in Ghish until 2012. Upon returning to Sydalon, she started a political consultancy firm with her husband, which continues to operate. During this time, she began using her husband's surname and became known as "Elisabetta de Calvacamp de Sabarte".
Early political career
Sydalon City Council
In 2014, Calvacamp joined Democratic Movement, and was nominated as a list candidate for the Sydalon City Council. She was elected to the City Council after the 2014 election, as a member in the In Avante controlled Council. By early 2015, she became Chairwoman of the Franciskani wing of her party within the City Council.
Calvacamp won re-election in 2016, again as a list member of Democratic Movement. She was nominated for party leader after Abbi Venier challenged Desiderius Germelqart after the 2016 election. Calvacamp withdrew after the third ballot.
Prior to the New Year's Revolt, she was outspoken in her support the Queen Melisende's decision to remove and later charge Adeodatus de Caeseti as Chancellor-General of the Order of the Holy Lance. Calvacamp said that "A man who acts with wanton disregard to laws of the land and teachings of Christ does not belong in a position of power." However, Calvacamp spoke out against the Queen's decision to postpone and later reject the establishment of an election National Assembly promised by King Desiderius I.
Calvacamp was a member of the Sydalon City Council during the New Year's Revolt.
Franciskani leadership
Following the 2016 New Year's Revolt, and the establishment of the National Assembly, Calvacamp and other politicians in the Royal Domain and nearby domains established Franciskani. The party is affiliated with the Third Order of Saint Francis, a charitable organization operating throughout Sydalon, which itself is a member of Salvationists Worldwide. Since the party's creation, Calvacamp has drawn criticism from the political right for making wide, and public usage of Third Order soup kitchens, shelters, and charitable funds, claiming that the party trades charity for votes.
Speakership
Calvacamp was elected Speaker of the National Assembly on 16 January 2019, becoming the first female Speaker of the National Assembly.
Political views
Calvacamp is a self-described socialist who first took up her political views while a student at the University of Ghish. Since joining the National Assembly, Calvacamp has called for "new policies" to represent all people of Sydalon and not just the nobility.
Economy and taxation
Calvacamp has supported government policies that would see an expansion of the welfare system which includes plans for universal healthcare, as well as the implementation of a progressive fiscal policy to help achieve those goals. Calvacamp supports the formation and creation of labor unions, along with the expansion of currently existing labor unions to help strengthen the economy and workers rights. She supports the creation of new taxes, such as a financial transaction tax or bank taxes. During the 2018 legislative election campaign, Calvacamp announced that she would support a temporary cut to the current VAT rate.
Foreign affairs
Calvacamp is a holds no official position on the Yarden Accords, though regularly refers to the Accords as the "Cultivida Accords". Despite her neutrality on the Accords, she has continued to advocate a continued peace with Yisrael. Calvacamp has mentioned that she would not oppose a popular referendum in the Yarden Valley "if both Sydalene and Yisraeli governments come to mutually agreeable terms on a referendum, as well as the residents of the Valley,", which was decried by supporters of the Accords. However, Calvacamp warned that a referendum could upset the stability that has followed the Accords if not handled appropriately.
She also publicly voiced her support for the Aligonian protestors during the 2019 Gran Aligonian crisis and the subsequent abolition of the Aligonian monarchy.
During the 2022 Sydalene-Yisraeli diplomatic crisis, Calvacamp voted against the National Assembly's resolution to withdraw Sydalon from the Yarden Accords. The vote passed the National Assembly and by fall 2022 Queen Melisende announced Sydalon's intention to renegotiate the peace agreement. Calvacamp voiced her support for renegotiation and praised the Queen for "listening to the voice of her people."
National issues
Constitutional matters
Calvacamp supports Queen Melisende's declaration creation of the National Assembly, calling it "long overdue to overcome past injustices." She holds a pragmatic view, which she held prior to the 2014 Ghantish republican referendum, where she voiced support for the monarchy "in order to preserve the unity of the Ghantish nation." Calvacamp, a dual-citizen, claims she voted for the monarchy in 2014, despite once being a member of the Ghantish Social Democratic Party. In interview she has said that Sydalon doesn't risk collapse as much as Ghant without the Monarchy, but acknowledges "a true constitutional monarch is a great symbol for national pride and unity."
Social issues
Despite her otherwise left of center views, Calvacamp is does not support the decriminalization of homosexuality in Sydalon. Likewise, she does not support the legalization of same-sex marriage. Calvacamp considers herself a devout Catholic, and does not support any leniency on current Sydalene abortion laws, which allow few exceptions for legal abortions. This remains contentious among her party, where a much greater split exists.
In 2015, Calvacamp called for sweeping changes to voting laws in Sydalon, which includes a move to a national voter registration system instead of the current Domain-based registration. She supports automatic voter registration for eligible voters over the age of 20, instead of the current voting age of 21.
Personal life
Calvacamp resides in Sydalon with her husband, and children. They also maintain a residence in Ghant.
In 1999, she married John Sabarte, a descendant of Nori Sabarte, Prime Minister of Ghant from 1912 until 1920. She and her husband met while studying at the University of Ghish in 1997; Calvacamp credited meeting her husband as the primary reason she enrolled at the University of Ghish for graduate school. She gave birth to her first of seven children in 2000, and gave birth to her seventh child in June 2017. Her eldest child, NAME, is will be attending University of the Imperial Coast, in Ghant, in fall 2018. Her younger children attend private schooling near Sydalon.
Calvacamp is a devout Fabrian Catholic, and attends church services at least once a week. While living in Ghant, she taught catechism at her local parish, and continued when she moved back to Sydalon, though has stopped since entering politics.
In interviews, Calvacamp has said that she is a supporter of GHL's Ghish Metropolitians, and first became interested in watching ice hockey during her first term at Ghish. She also supports Ospital FC, in Lega.2.