Euphaigne
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Republic of Euphaigne République du Euphaigne | |
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| Motto: civitatem sistamus nunc et omnibus futuris "Let us establish our society now and for all future" | |
| Anthem: Chanté a la Liberté | |
| Capital | Ville-fils-du-prince |
| Recognised national languages | Sieuxerrian Tyrannian |
| Religion | Secular |
| Demonym(s) | Euphaignien (m.), Euphaignienne (f.) |
| Government | Parliamentary federal republic |
• Président | M. Richard de la Seloins |
• Prémier Ministre | M. Jéan Traveaux |
| Legislature | Parlement |
| Le Sénat de l'Union | |
| La Chambre de la Peuple | |
| Establishment | |
• Independence from Sieuxerr | Jan. 1st, 1960 |
| Population | |
• 2017 estimate | 90,000,000 |
• 2015 census | 87,600,000 |
| GDP (PPP) | 2017 estimate |
• Total | $128,000,000,000 |
• Per capita | $1,430 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2017 estimate |
• Total | $45,000,000,000 |
• Per capita | $500 |
| Currency | dollar ($EUP) |
| Time zone | SMT -4 |
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| Date format | dd-mm-yyyy |
| Driving side | left |
| Calling code | +52 |
| Internet TLD | .ep |
Government
Euphaigne is a federal state, composed of individual provinces that form the collective union. The Euphaigne Government Act (1959) (in Siexerrian, loi sur la gouvernement de l'Euphaigne) non-exhaustively assigns a list of powers to the provinces and the union and provides that other powers shall be assigned to the union, if it demands national uniformity, or to the provinces, if it does not; where disagreements exist, the union decides. The President, under normal circumstances, plays a ceremonial role; this position is replicated at the provincial level as the Lieutenant-governor. Though nominally holding considerable powers as heads of the union and of the provinces, respectively, these powers are exercised only at the advice of their respective chief ministers: this is the Prime Minister at the union level and the Chief Minister at the provincial.
The Euphaignian government consists of three branches, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. The heads of the union and provinces are pro forma in all three of these branches. While by design there is a balance de pouvoirs and certain checks between them, the legislative branch typically dominates the other two, as a consequence of its directly elected nature, in turn interpreted as greater democratic legitimacy. Subject to the confidence of the legislative, the executive is the second-most powerful, and the judicial branch possesses only an passive role. In this wise the Euphaignian government is structurally to Westminster, though the constitutional legislations also explicitly recognize the apoliticality of the judicial system.
The Union
The constitutional acts of Euphaigne grants the following powers exclusively to the union, to legislate, implement, and try disputes whereunder:
- Foreign affairs and diplomatic protocol
- Defence
- Monetary system and coinage
- Aviation, navigation on the high seas, inter-provincial railways, roadways, and canals
- Banking, trade of bonds and equities, and other forms of financial securities
- Postal services
and the following to the union, with provision for delegation to the provinces:
- Raising of revenue by taxation or credit
- Telecommunications and broadcasting
- Higher and further education
- Mineral, forestry, and all monopolistic and oligopolistic rights
- Public utilities
Legislative
The union legislature is the Union Parliament, consisting of a higher house the Senate (Senat) and the other house House of Commons (Chambre des Peuple). The Union Parliament possesses plenary power to legislate under any of the areas set forth above, and, short of a veto from the Presidency, its decisions are not subject to censure from other bodies. Between the two houses, the House of Commons, directly elected to terms of five years, is the more influential and proactive. As a tradition inherited from its colonial metropoleis, the Senate does not initiate supply (money) bills; excepting this, the two houses have nominally the same set of powers. As the Senate is filled by appointment, overwhelmingly of noted academics, retiring bureaucrats, and others persons of renown, it is expected to take a less political and more professional view of bills tabled before it, whereass in the Commons most speeches would be made in defence of the interest of the electorate in the immediate term.
A bill must acquire the assent of both houses and the President-in-Parliament to become statute. Both houses follow similar procedures, namely three readings and committee stages. Voting in Parliament may be done by one of three methods—voice, acclamation, or division. Once a bill passes the third reading in the second house (the Senate for a Commons bill and vice versa), the bill is presented to the President in a ceremony somewhat reminiscent in imagery and philosophy to the royal assent in New Tyran. Though technically possible, no President has ever withheld assent from a bill that has passed both houses; such an extra-ordinary act may trigger a constitutional crisis if not used with the most discriminating prudence.
The Senate does not have an upper bound on membership, standing at 121 members as of Mar. 2018. Though this may lead to appointments pro quo or outright "packing the house", the Prime Minister, who nominates Senators, in reality faces the scrutiny of the Commons in each nomination. While a collapse of confidence resulting from an improper nomination has not yet happened or is remotely likely, abuse of this power can have profound ramifications on the government's reputation. Once appointed, Senators sit for life, and at nomination a Senator-designate must be at least 40 years of age, be university-educated, and satisfy the vague requirement of "good character and ethics". Senators enjoy the same set of immunities and privileges as Members of Parliament.
The House of Commons currently sits 572 members elected from single-member ridings by the first-past-the-post method, to terms of five years at its theoretical maximum; the government may choose to dissolve the Commons and conduct another general election, to take advantage of favourable inclinations in the populace. This means the average House survives only three years and eight months, and none have been dissolved by expiry. The Commons is highly partisan in its operation, with members whipped in line for all consequential divisions, though "free votes" are known to happen in a patently ornamental capacity. The Liberal Party and the Progressive Party have dominated the Commons since consistent elections commencing in the 80s. The Liberal Party, currently in government, is generally understood as slightly more to the left than the Progressives, though their main differences lie more in culture than economic philosophy.
Executive
The constitutional acts create the offices of the Prime Minister and "several other Secretaries of State" as "Ministers of the President". In conjunction, the Prime Ministers and the other Secretaries of State are known as the Cabinet, and they must be members of and responsible to either house of Parliament. While ministers may be appointed from either house, examples from the Senate have been vanishingly rare, typically only used as a last resort. The minister responsible for drafting the budget alone must be a member of the House of Commons, as he would have to be one to table it there. Unlike in New Tyran where the Cabinet is a sub-committee of the Privy Council, in Euphaigne the Cabinet is a body in its own right.
Judicial
The judicial system departs further from the two other branches of government from the Sieuxerrian and Tyrannian traditions to account for indigenous customary law, and it is also widely acknowledged as the most chaotic. A number of tribal communities hold quite unusual views on certain legal matters, and the government has, in the interest of internal unity after a civil war, generally refrained from imposing a single statutory system on the entire land. Some of them enjoy judicial autonomy to a limited extent under private acts of the Union or provincial Parliaments.