Natalja Lablanck

The Honorable Natalja Lablanck
President of Crylante
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
Preceded by	Liana Vescovi
Director for Energy, Environment, Transport and Communications
Incumbent
Assumed office November 4, 2013 (2013-11-04)
Member of the States' Assembly
In office April 1, 2009 (2009-04-01) – July 3, 2013 (2013-31-03)
Constituency	Lillehavn
Personal details
Born	(1977-05-21) May 21, 1977 Dockyards, Lillehavn, Crylante
Political party	Reform (1995-2005, 2008-present)
Other political affiliations	People's (2008) Let's Go Crylante (2005-2008)
Spouse	Fredericka Kvern
Alma mater	Nygaard College, University of Lentini

Natalja Lablanck is a Crylantian politician and former journalist who currently serves as the President of Crylante. A member of the centre-right Reform Party, she has served on the National Council with responsibility for Energy, Environment, Transport and Communications since 2013. Politically, she has been described as a social liberal and a moderate, with a noted focus on civil liberties and environmentalism.

Early life

Lablanck was born in the Dockyards region of the Free City of Lillehavn in 1977, the only child of Jens and Dagmar Lablanck. She had an affluent middle-class upbringing, with her father working as a banker and her mother working as an economics lecturer at Lillehavn University, having both met while students at the University of Lentini. Her father's great grandmother was noted Crylantian political activist and writer Alexandra Lablanck, whose liberal philosophy commonly known as Lablancism played a major influence on the Crylantian right.

She attended Dockyards Gymnasium as a teenager, going on to read Lilledic Studies at Nygaard College at the University of Lentini, where she was an active member of the university's chapter of the Reform Party. She graduated in 1998 with a first-class degree.

Journalistic career

Lablanck started working as a journalist for The Sønderburg Post soon after her graduation, writing articles about politics and international relations for the newspaper. In 2001 after her articles received high levels of popularity, she was promoted to a regular columnist with a weekly column. She took a social liberal line in her articles, with a strong emphasis on civil liberties, environmentalism and anti-corruption.

Her most notable articles were those on Socialist Party politician and Director for Home Affairs Albjert Rivera, being the first to break the story on his alleged wrongdoings and covering the resulting fallout and lack of faith in the party many felt afterwards, especially the emergence of the anti-corruption Let's Go Crylante movement, whom she endorsed in the 2005 elections despite the Post's traditional support of the Reform Party, citing their opposition to corruption in all its forms.

She also covered the 2008 splinter in the Reform Party as many on the left of the party split off to form the People's Party, writing with a sympathetic tone to the new party, and at one point was reported to be considering standing for the party in the 2009 elections, yet she neither confirmed nor denied this.

Political career

People's Assembly

Following a falling out with the People's Party leadership, Lablanck returned to the Reform Party in late 2008 and declared her intention to stand for the party in her home state of Lillehavn, saying she wished to "give strength to the left of the party" which had been "greatly diminished" after the split.

In the primary elections held in February, Lablanck was successful in getting onto the ballot in Lillehavn, being the most popular Reform Party candidate after veteran representative Aleksander Vestgaard.

Upon the election results, she became the candidate with the second most votes in the state after Vestgaard, easily winning a seat in the People's Assembly. In her maiden speech, she highlighted her beliefs regarding civil liberties, corruption and the environment, stating that those three issues would be her key focus while in the Assembly.

Lablanck co-wrote the 2010 Consumer Sustainability Act with Green Party representative Birgitte Østbjerg, which introduced a mandatory charge on plastic bags in an attempt to reduce their usage in Crylante. She also played a major role in the 2011 referendum on the legalisation of soft drugs, being the spokesperson of the "Yes" side.

Lablanck also made a commitment to release her tax report every year, as well as a log and explanation of all her expenses, which she has followed up with since her 2009 election.

Director for Energy, Environment, Transport and Communications

In December 2012, Lablanck announced that she wished to stand in the race to replace Arne Kristensson as Director for Energy, Environment, Transport and Communications after his resignation. She cited her roles in promoting environmental initiatives while in the People's Assembly and her consistently pro-environmental stance while writing as a journalist, and reached out to the Crylantian left for support against her more right-wing opponents for the post.

She was attacked by her opponent, Sven Isaksson, for her previous support of Let's Go Crylante and the People's Party, yet she consistently responded to these criticisms with the response that her previous involvement with other parties did not impede her ability to serve in the position, and highlighted her opponent's opposition to many motions in favour of environmental conservation and his support of privatisation of Crylante's state-owned telecommunications company.

She was eventually elected as Director by a landslide: while a significant number of her own party supported Isaksson, she managed to get the support of much of the other parties in the Great Council to support her bid, winning by a margin of 261-91.

Her first move was to introduce charges on rubbish collection while simultaneously investing in recycling centres in an attempt to encourage recycling over less environmentally friendly means of rubbish disposal, a proposal which received widespread support among politicians.

Furthermore, she made efforts to establish proper communications in rural communities, investing in providing proper phone and internet signals to remote island communities in Viikmaa and Kalastjärvi as well as in the remote Rigjordic countryside.

Lablanck also, at the pressure of Socialist Party advisers, introduced measures to make public transport for students affordable, and authorised the building of the Gunderslev Bay Wind Farm, approximately 25 kilometers off the coast of the town of Gunderslev.

In late December 2017, she was chosen by her fellow members of the National Council to be the Vice President of Crylante for 2018, and was later elevated to President of Crylante for 2019.

Personal life

Lablanck is gay, and has been married to accountant Fredericka Kvern since August 2010.