Santonian News Central

by Anne-Marcelline de Saint-Corentin
23 June 2019 - 1253h
SAINTES – results from the second round of the Santonian parliamentary elections re-confirms the massive majority the electorate gave the National Party. Of the 126 seats that elected their parliamentary deputy in this round, 95 were won by the Nationals, 16 by the Liberals, 11 by the Radicals, and 4 by the Greens. The Nationals now have 377 out of the 431 seats, more than the three-fourths majority that can amend the Constitution of Saintonge.

Second round
Electoral districts where no candidate attained a majority of the vote in the first round last 25 May selected their parliamentary deputies yesterday from the top two candidates in the first round. 100 of the districts had a Liberal and a National competing; 21 had a Radical and a National candidate; one had a Liberal and a Radical candidate; and four were effectively conceded to the Greens by the National Party in an electoral agreement last 7 June.

Status of the National Assembly
With all of the districts releasing their results, the National Party will have 377 seats, the Liberals 33, the Radicals 17, and the Greens 4. The results were a disaster for both the Liberals and the Radicals: the Liberals went down from 176 to 33 seats and the Radicals from 36 to 17 seats.

“Landslide”
Most observers and analysts described the results as a “landslide”. Most analysts had no doubt that the Nationals will breach the three-fourths majority, but winning 377 seats was on the far end of their predictions. “Most predictions, including mine, put the Nationals at 320-350 seats,” said electoral analyst Brice-Gauthier Kermadec, “but 377 seats… that’s the best showing of any Santonian political party since the 1900 landslide of Prime Minister Marc-Childéric Battiston.”

Kermadec gives credit to the Nationals’ organisation and the electoral agreement with the Greens. “Exit polls showed that on average, the Nationals retained 86% of its voters in the first round – a pretty high number. It meant that the Nationals were able to keep their voters interested despite having already won a commanding majority,” said Kermadec. “Also unprecedented is how the Greens turned out to support the Nationals against the Coalition. Normally the Green vote scatters in the second round, but here we saw that almost two-thirds of Green votes transferred to the Nationals. This is the first time that the majority of the Green vote transferred to a single party.”

“The election was fought on the economy,” said political analyst Marie-Danielle Ponceau. “And on economic issues, the Greens are closer to the Nationals than to the Coalition. This, together with Ms. Courseaux’s surprise electoral agreement with the Greens, meant that the bulk of the Green vote will go to them.”

The electoral agreement paid off in seats such as both electoral circumscriptions of the Haute-Bléone. Despite the Liberal incumbents edging out the National candidates in the first round in the Haute-Bléone, the districts’ large Green votes transferred to the Nationals, turning both of the Haute-Bléone’s districts red for the first time since 1940. Such pattern was repeated throughout most of southern Saintonge, where the Greens have pockets of support.

Prominent Coalition ministers defeated
Nine of the eleven Coalition ministers who were forced to the second round were defeated by the Nationals.

Commerce Minister Théodore Prêcheur (Liberal) was defeated in the Haute-Saine-2 due to the large Green transfers to the Nationals, despite the Nationals also supporting the PTS expansion. Another minister reeling from the effect of the Green transfers is Environment Minister Sylvie-Marie Beiler (Liberal), who lost in the Haute-Bléone-1.

Also in the south, Industry Minister Pantaléon Giraudeau (Liberal) lost in the previously safe Sâne-2, while Justice Minister Joseph-Humbert Frotland (Liberal), dogged by scandal, was recalled by Vôges-2.

Defense Minister Ludovic Couvier (Liberal) was ejected from his longtime seat of Sambre-4.

Two Saine-et-Loine districts recalled their ministers: Communications Minister Giselle Pillet-Dumilâtre (Liberal) lost in Saine-et-Loine-15, and Education Minister Marie-Véronique Bouthillier (Liberal) lost in Saine-et-Loine-6. Coupled with the results in the other five Saine-et-Loine districts (all National wins), currently all of the Saine-et-Loine’s 23 districts are in National hands. The Saine-et-Loine is the home department of Prime Minister-elect Anne-Douceline Courseaux.

Two Radical ministers, thought to be sitting in safe seats, were defeated yesterday: Philippe-Rainier de Créquy in Trieux-3 and Denis-Emmanuel d'Homme-Dieu in Tage-4. Both the races in Trieux-3 and Tage-4 were remarkable in their own right. Trieux-3 elected Jérôme-Faustin Fresnel de Comborn, the youngest deputy ever elected to the National Assembly; while Tage-4, centred in the city of Mirande, elected its first National deputy in a hundred years.

GCC retains his seat
Radical leader Georges Conté de Caunes retained his seat of Capoterre-3 by a huge margin. The two ministers who successfully defended their seats were also Radicals: Labour Minister Jean-Charles Caruhel and Church Affairs Minister Louis-Auguste-François Primeau d'Avennes were reelected by Saintes-29 and Lisle-1, respectively. The Radicals’ parliamentary leader, Jean-Étienne Genêt, was also returned by Saintes-23.

However, the Radicals lost Corb-7 to the Liberals, as the National vote transferred to the Liberal challenger.

Closest Districts
The ten closest districts during yesterday’s election were:
1. Dropt-6 (Liberal): 50.03%
2. Monce-et-Briance-3 (Liberal): 50.11%
3. Sarine-2 (National): 50.18%
4. Basses-Brômes-7 (National): 50.20%
5. Vauperté (Liberal): 50.22%
6. Haute-Saine-2 (National): 50.25%
7. Doire-8 (Liberal): 50.26%
8. Seudre-6 (National): 50.33%
9. Lisle-3 (National): 50.41%
10. Basses-Alpes-5 (Liberal): 50.41%


Prime Minister election
King Thibault II is expected to invite National Party leader Anne-Douceline Courseaux to form a government later this week. The newly-reconstituted National Assembly will reconvene on 8 July. The confirmation vote for the prospective Prime Minister and her prospective Cabinet will be held later that week. The House of Lords is set to reconvene on 5 August, although the upper house of Parliament does not participate in government formation.

by Mélanie Bacrot in Saintes
9 July 2019 - 1447h
SAINTES – the Santonian National Assembly earlier today confirmed National Party leader Anne-Douceline Courseaux’s proposed government in a 377-50 vote. The Nationals voted for their own government, with the Liberals and Radicals opposed. The Greens abstained from voting. This conclusion was largely foregone, after the National Party's massive win in the 2019 parliamentary elections.

New Government
King Thibault II invited Ms. Courseaux to form a government on 27 June. The proposed government is composed of 22 ministers – 11 male and 11 female, the first gender-parity government in Saintonge. Only one alteration was made during the proposal: Matthieu-Gauvain Lamblin (N, 1^st Haute-Loine), initially slated for the Agriculture Ministry, instead became the National Party’s floor leader in the National Assembly.


The Courseaux government also has the youngest average age at 44 years. The youngest minister is Culture and Sport Minister Alexandre-Stachys de Beaucroissant (N, 1^st Sarine), and the oldest is Defence Minister Marc-Maëlmon de Liescoët (N, 1^st Authie), a retired admiral in the Royal Santonian Navy. Several other ministers made history in their own ministries: Brice-Thibault Bardoux de Rosencoat (N, 2^nd Sée) and Charles-Archambault Bathenay (N, 1^st Yerres) will be the youngest Justice and Interior ministers, respectively.

Women making strides
Aside from being the government having equal numbers of men and women, the 51^st National Assembly also has the highest percentage of women deputies – 36% - thanks to the numerous female National Party deputies. All but four of the 155 female deputies are from the National Party; 40% of the National Party deputies are women. The National Assembly also elected the first female president (speaker) of the National Assembly, Sophie-Anne Laliberté (N, 1^st Basses-Brômes), by a vote of 381-50. During the speaker election, the Greens also supported the election of Ms. Laliberté.

Other Parties
With the resignation of former Prime Minister Jean-Louis Hauteclocque de Champtoceaux as head of the Liberal Party, the much-reduced Liberal caucus in the National Assembly elected Paul-Lenthéric Baumann (L, 2^nd Lauter) as their leader and the Leader of the Loyal Opposition. Their new Liberal floor leader will be Michel-Fernand Roux de Bézieux (L, 8^th Sarine) after Geoffroy de Saint-Astier was defeated in his district in Trieux-1.

The Radicals are retaining Georges Conté de Caunes (R, 4^th Capoterre) as their leader, and Jean-Étienne Genêt (R, 23^rd Saintes) as their floor leader. With decimated Liberal and Radical benches, the Baumann and Conté de Caunes are negotiating to form a united Loyal Opposition.

Government programs
The new government is expected to unveil its agenda in the Speech from the Throne tomorrow.

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Mélanie Bacrot in Saintes
14 September 2019 - 1005h
SAINTES – despite the National Party’s overwhelming majority in Parliament, several factions of the National Party are having cold feet over the ratification of the Meterra Economic Treaty Association (Association du traité économique meterrien, ATEM). The treaty is currently pending before the various committees of the National Assembly, Saintonge’s lower house of Parliament.

Free trade clauses opposed
The agrarian and labour factions of the National Party voiced their concerns over the free-trade aspects of the META. The agrarian faction raised the prospect of foreign agricultural products undermining the large Santonian agriculture industry. Deputy Théobald Trébuchon (N, 1^st Ravennes) wanted the government to assess first the potential impact to the Santonian agriculture industry of opening the market to foreign products. Deputy Marie-Annette Méjansac (N, 3^rd Luberon) raised the prospect of low-quality foreign products ‘tainted with banned pesticides’ entering the local market.

Agriculture and Food Minister Georges-Fulbert Meslot (N, 4^th Loing) tried to assuage the concerns of the agrarian faction. In a speech last week, Mr. Meslot addressed Mr. Trébuchon’s concern regarding flooding of the market. While the tariffs on foreign agricultural products will be lowered and eventually eliminated, the same is going to be done for Santonian products. The treaty, Mr. Meslot said, will widen the reach of Santonian products, many of which are well-sought abroad for their quality. The country’s protected products of desgination will also enjoy protection in other markets. Also, countries engaging in harmful trade practices will not be allowed to flood the market.

Mr. Meslot also emphasised that Saintonge’s notoriously strict food laws and agricultural regulations will also apply to foreign products. It meant that foreign agricultural products produced using pesticides banned in Saintonge will not be allowed to be sold in the country.

During Monday’s meeting of the National Assembly’s Committee on Agriculture and Food, the full committee voted 29-10 to order both the Ministry of Agriculture and the Parliamentary Research Office to produce a technical paper to advise the committee on the potential impact on the agricultural industry.

The labour faction of the National Party also was concerned regarding the potential effect on wages in Saintonge. Deputy Anne-Caroline Desgranges (N, 5^th Saintes) said that foreign companies with lower production costs due to ‘slave-like’ wages will undercut Santonian companies, forcing Santonian companies to cut wages as well in order to remain competitive. Commerce Minister Isabelle Vautrin-Caillaud (N, 30^th Saintes) answered during the debate that Saintonge can still ‘ban’ products from companies found to violate workers’ rights, through the 2009 Fair Trade Practices Law, which states that Saintonge may refuse the entry of foreign products found to be produced by slave labour, child labour, or grossly unfair labour practices.

Still, the National Assembly’s Committee on Labour voted 31-8 to approve the motion by deputy Jean-Quentin Hamel (N, 3^rd Saintes) to order the Ministry of Labour and the Parliamentary Research Office to produce a technical paper, similar to the Agriculture Committee’s steps.

Parliament votes to study the matter further
Following the decisions of the Committees on Agriculture and Food and Labour, deputy Léa Ribéreau-Lesage (N, 2^nd Côle) introduced a motion in the National Assembly last Thursday to ask all the government ministries to produce position papers on the potential impact of META on all sectors of Saintonge, not just in agriculture or in the labour sector. Ribéreau-Lesage’s motion also directed the Parliamentary Research Office to independently assess the effect of META on Saintonge, consolidating the actions of the two parliamentary committees. The motion, which was approved 375-0, will delay Parliament’s ratification of META by about six months to a year. The Liberals and Radicals abstained from the vote. All the National Party deputies present voted for, on instructions from the National Party’s parliamentary leader, Matthieu-Gauvain Lamblin (N, 1^st Haute-Loine). “It was a goodwill gesture,” said Mr. Lamblin. “We understand our colleagues’ concerns regarding the treaty, and we do agree that META merits further study.”

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
14 September 2019 - 1240h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Politics


by Mélanie Bacrot in Saintes
27 September 2019 - 1352h
SAINTES – flexing their new supermajority in Parliament, the National Party government of Anne-Douceline Courseaux and its MPs are pushing for amendments and additions to the Constitution of the Kingdom of Saintonge. Already there are four amendments up for consideration in the lower house of Parliament.

Balanced budget amendment
Constitutional proposal PC 2019-01, authored by Finance Minister Maximilian Leclère de Rochebloine (N, 2^nd Aubrac) and Marc-Kilian Wulfranc (N, 5^th Breuse), aims to force Santonian governments into balancing the budget. PC 2019-01 will write into the constitution both a balanced-budget clause and a debt-brake clause. The balanced-budget clause forbids the Santonian government from running a structural deficit of more than 0.35% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The debt-brake clause caps the public debt at 60% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

The proposal had a mixed reception. “I’m not sure that Saintonge needs that kind of law, let alone a constitutional amendment,” said former Finance Minister and current Opposition critic for Finance Xavier-Bertrand Vergnet (L, 6^th Scyotte). “It was only in the past few years that Saintonge had run structural deficits, and our public debt is low, at 13% of GDP. Are the Nationals planning to ramp it up to 60%?”

“How about during natural disasters or severe recessions?” quipped Radical leader Georges Conté de Caunes (R, 4^th Capoterre). “We’re not allowed to spend to stimulate the economy?”

Mr. Wulfranc, during yesterday’s parliamentary session, answered the concerns. “Our public debt is low – and we want this so we can keep it that way. The past four years of Coalition government caused runaway spending – spending for their business buddies and tax cuts for the rich.”

The third clause in PC 2019-01 allows the Santonian Parliament to temporarily suspend, by a supermajority vote, the requirement of a balanced budget during emergencies such as war, natural disasters, or a severe economic crisis.

Prime Minister Anne-Douceline Courseaux also talked about the proposed amendment in a speech in Plaisance last August. “As a mother, I try to budget our family’s money. We try to live within our means. If ordinary Santonians have do that, why shouldn’t the government?”

The National Party’s sudden adoption of a balanced budget amendment, long a dream in some Liberal and Radical quarters, caused a stir. “It certainly is out of character for a National Party government to advocate for a balanced budget amendment,” said political analyst Marie-Danielle Ponceau, “the Coalition had always painted the Nationals as tax-and-spend politicians. That was certainly the case in the last two Colet governments… but it was also true in the previous Coalition government.”

“No longer can the Coalition paint us as fiscally irresponsible,” said deputy Kévin-Justin Montrésor (N, 1^st Capoterre) in a vlog, “if anything, the Coalition’s fiscal record from 2015 to 2019 showed that they, too are fiscally irresponsible. It’s time to stop all of this madness that the young generation like us and the future generation have to pay for.”

Santonian National Fund amendment
Constitutional proposal PC 2019-02, authored by Mr. Leclère de Rochebloine, Industry Minister Anne-Marguerite Scellier (N, 2^nd Tech), and Marc-Cuthbert Taittinger (N, 2^nd Vôges), aims to transform the current National Investment Company of Saintonge (SNIS: Société nationale d'investissement de Saintonge) into a constitutional body known as the Santonian National Fund (FNS: Fond national saintongeais).

Under the proposal, the FNS will be a permanent fund where the excess profits from the major crown corporations will be deposited for reinvestment to maximise long-term return – essentially functioning as a sovereign wealth fund. This is similar to how the SNIS currently works: it gains additional capital from the excess profits from crown corporations like the Compagnie nationale du cuivre (CNC: National Copper Company), Électricité de Saintonge (EdS), Mines royales de Saintonge (MRS: Royal Mines of Saintonge – precious metals and gems), Banque royale de Saintonge (BRS – the country’s central bank), Compagnie saintongeaise des pétroles (CSP: Santonian Petroleum Company), Aéroports de Saintonge (AedS), Société saintongeaise des chemins de fer (SSCF: Santonian Railway Company), Saintonge Télécom, Compagnie aérospatiale saintongeaise (CAS), Jeux saintongeaises (JS – gaming and lottery), and the Compagnie nationale du charbon et de l’acier (CNCA: National Coal and Steel Company). This additional capital is reinvested in Saintonge or abroad.

Proponents of the amendment state that enshrining the FNS as a constitutional body will make it difficult to eliminate or liquidate – something that can be done to SNIS if there is a repeal of the 1901 Loi du projet d’or that created it. Moreover, the constitutional amendment will establish strict criteria as to when and how much Santonian governments can tap into the FNS for money. “There is a mechanism in the proposal that would make it difficult for Santonian governments to raid the FNS for funds whenever they become short of money,” said Mr. Taittinger in an interview with STV yesterday, “Santonian governments can only use the interest or profits of the FNS. They cannot withdraw the capital, something which we had seen the previous Coalition government try to do when they are short of cash.”

Critics of the proposal point out that there would be less flexibility in balancing the budget. “This government wants a balanced budget, but it will also be taking out the means for them to do it,” said Mr. Vergnet during the parliamentary debate. “What is it doing, shooting itself in the foot?”

Most economists generally praised the proposal. “It’s long overdue,” said University of Saintes economics professor Thomas Ravinet, “Since the 1980s, Santonian governments, National and Coalition, had been using the SNIS as a cash cow. The SNIS should be allowed to fulfil its role as the guarantor of the country’s financial future, and as a fund that can act to mitigate economic downturns.”

University of Plaisance economist Charles-François Geoffrion agreed. “Having a sovereign wealth fund will ensure that the economy, especially those that are resource-based, will be able to weather the cyclical changes of the economy.” Prof. Geoffrion stated that “had the windfall profits from the CSP and CNC been managed properly, the government would have enough funds to manage the economic downturn in eastern Saintonge due to the lowered commodity prices for oil and metals.”

The FNS proposal is part of what Prime Minister Anne-Douceline Courseaux called “Better Money Management” program of her new National government. “We are going to force this government – and all the subsequent governments – to manage our windfalls and blessings wisely.”

Beginning of Life amendment
The new National government did not only concern itself with economic issues. Touching on a social issue, Minister for Church Affairs Geneviève Boisjoly (N, 1^st Loine) and Marie-Marjorie Canclaux (N, 1^st Monce-et-Briance), introduced constitutional proposal PC 2019-03, which will define life as beginning at conception. It will effectively ensconce Saintonge’s strict limits on abortion into the constitution. Currently, abortion in Saintonge is allowed only if the mother’s life or health is threatened.

Radical leader Mr. Conté de Caunes challenged the need to the constitutional amendment. “Do we need this? It doesn’t change anything.”

Ms. Canclaux said that her proposal “will make it difficult to erode the rights of the unborn by statute,” meaning that if the amendment is approved, any future law to expand abortion will be unconstitutional. Surprisingly, the new Liberal leader Paul-Lenthéric Baumann (L, 2^nd Lauter) came out in favour of the proposal, a sentiment echoed by Mr. Vergnet, and other Liberal deputies such as Jacques-Martin Trogneux (L, 3^rd Monce-et-Briance), Michel-Fernand Roux de Bézieux (L, 8^th Simbruins), and Matthieu-Folcuin Troendle (L, 4^th Basses-Brômes).

Capital Punishment amendment
Interior Minister Charles-Archambault Bathenay (N, 1^st Yerres) and deputy Éthan-Baldéric Schmitthaeusler (N, 1^st Ill) introduced constitutional proposal PC 2019-04, which also enshrines into the constitution Saintonge’s current ban on the death penalty.

After the Santonian Revolution, Saintonge abolished the death penalty for most crimes. The constitution only retained it for the most severe crimes of terrorism, regicide, treason, and crimes against humanity. The last person to be executed in Saintonge was the Prydanian anarchist Lars Kvist for an attempted assassination (regicide) of King Archambault X in 1911. Santonian public opinion eventually turned against capital punishment in the mid-20^th century and the country remained abolitionist in practice.

Mr. Schmitthaeusler’s proposal has garnered wide support, with the Liberals and the Greens supporting it. Like his reaction on PC 2019-03, Radical leader Georges Conté de Caunes dismissed PC 2019-04 as an “unnecessary thing.”

Next steps
For the amendments to be incorporated into the Constitution, it must be passed by both the National Assembly and the House of Lords by a three-fourths majority. The Nationals have such a majority in the National Assembly. In the House of Lords, PC 2019-03 and PC 2019-04 can easily pass with combined National and Liberal support, while support from the Greens and/or Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual may be required to pass PC 2019-01 and PC 2019-02.

The proposals are then sent to the electorate for approval. A simple majority is required, with no turnout threshold (voting is compulsory in Saintonge, so this is never a problem). If the electorate approves, it will then be given Royal Assent and incorporated into the Constitution of the Kingdom of Saintonge.

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
27 September 2019 - 1820h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Blogs


by the l'Indépendant team*
02 December 2019 - 1311h

The Parliamentary committees of the National Assembly had received the reports from the nonpartisan Parliamentary Research Office (BPR, Bureau parlementaire de recherche) and all of the government ministries regarding the impact of the Meterra Economic Treaty Association (Association du traité économique meterrien) on the Kingdom of Saintonge. With the reports fully made public by the National Assembly, the researchers and journalists here at l’Indépendant summarised the thousands of pages of BPR and ministry reports here, broken down into the different areas. The overall assessments by the ministries and the BPR is also included.

Agriculture and Food
Agriculture and Food is one of the sectors that will be most impacted by META. Since Saintonge has a large agriculture sector, the report from the Ministry of Argiculture and Food (Ministre de l'Agriculture et de l'Alimentation, MAA) is one of the longest (8,299 pages) and most detailed, with the sectors for individual produce being explained in detail.

Assessment: Slightly favourable (MAA), possibly positive (BPR)

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Church Affairs
Concerned with the Santonian National Church, the Ministry of Church Affairs (Ministre des Affaires religieuses, MAR) has the shortest report. The expected influx of foreigners will not affect the Church, as foreigners may freely practice their religion in Saintonge. However, should the foreigners take up Santonian citizenship, they are required to be a member of the Santonian National Church.

Assessment: Neutral (MAR), minimal effect (BPR)

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Commerce
The Ministry of Commerce and Economy (Ministre du Commerce et de l'Economie, MCE) posits a very favourable effect of META membership on the Meterra’s fourth largest economy, an assessment which the BPR agrees.

Assessment: Very favourable (MCE), likely positive (BPR)

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Communication
The Ministry of Communication (Ministre de la Communication, MiniComm), the government ministry responsible for overseeing the postal services, telecommunications, broadcasting, and internet industries in Saintonge, predicts a favourable effect of META on Saintonge because of the increased interconnections between countries.

Assessment: Favourable (MiniComm), possibly positive (BPR)

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Culture and Sport
The Ministry of Culture and Sport (Ministre de la Culture et des Sports, MCS) and the BPR deems META to have a beneficial effect on Saintonge.

Assessment: Very favourable (MCS), likely positive (BPR)

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Defence
The Ministry of Defence (Ministre des Armées, MA) and the BPR views META positively in light of Article 3, which aims to maintain peace within the continent.

Assessment: Favourable (MA), likely positive (BPR)

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Education
The Ministry of Education (Ministre de l’Éducation, Minéduc) and the BPR has issues regarding recognition of foreign degrees.

Assessment: Mixed (Minéduc), possibly positive (BPR)

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Energy
The Ministry of Energy (Ministre de l’Énergie, Minerg) and the BPR deems META to be beneficial to the Santonian energy sector.

Assessment: Favourable (Minerg), possibly positive (BPR)

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Environment
Concerned with the environment of the Kingdom of Saintonge, the Ministry of Environment (Ministre de l’Écologie, Minéco) and the BPR do not think that META will have a significant impact on the Santonian environment.

Assessment: Neutral (Minéco), minimal effect (BPR)

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Finance
The Finance Ministry (Ministre des Finances, MF) and the BPR views META as favourable, albeit ‘having a lot more to improve’ (MF’s words).

Assessment: Favourable (MF), likely positive (BPR)

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Foreign Relations
As expected, the Ministry of Foreign Relations (Ministre des Affaires étrangères, MAE) views META as very positive for the country. The BPR concurs.

Assessment: Very favourable (MAE), likely positive (BPR)

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Health
The Ministry of Health (Ministre de la Santé, MiniSanté) is one of the more lukewarm ministries when it comes to META. MiniSanté is concerned about the possible effects of the movement of people into Saintonge.

Assessment: Mixed (MiniSanté), possibly negative (BPR)

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Industry
The Ministry of Industry (Ministre de l’Industrie, Mindustrie), concerned with Santonian industries such as manufacturing, has a guarded review of META, while the BPR gives META negative marks in this sector.

Assessment: Slightly favourable (Mindustrie), possibly negative (BPR)

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Interior
The Ministry of the Interior (Ministre de l'Intérieur, Mintérieur), primarily concerned with local government, sees only a minimal impact of META on Saintonge. Their concern is how to make local governments ready for the anticipated influx of foreigners into Saintonge.

Assessment: Mixed (Mintérieur), minimal effect (BPR)

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Justice
The report from the Ministry of Justice (Ministre de la Justice, MJ), being the ministry in charge of the Bureau of Immigration and Integration (Agence d’immigration et d’intégration, AII), is focused mainly on the impact of Article 2 of the META treaty on Santonian immigration laws.

Assessment: Mixed (MJ), possibly negative (BPR)

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Labour
The Ministry of Labour (Ministre du Travail, MiniTrav) is the one of the ministries that take a dim view of META. The BPR largely concurs in the assessment of MiniTrav. Much of the negative impact on Saintonge is brought about by Articles 1 and 2 of META, in which, there will be free movement of goods and labour, respectively, between META countries. Saintonge is considered a high-wage country, thanks to its progressive socioeconomic policies. With META, MiniTrav and the BPR foresees massive immigration of labour from low-wage countries into Saintonge.

Assessment: Unfavourable (MiniTrav), likely negative (BPR)

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Public Works
The Ministry of Public Works (Ministre des travaux publics, MTP) is mainly concerned with infrastructure in Saintonge. The MTP and BPR reckons that META would have minimal impact in Saintonge.

Assessment: Neutral (MTP), Minimal effect (BPR)

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Science & Technology
The Ministry of Science and Technology (Ministre de la Science et la Technologie, MST) and the BPR assessed that META will be beneficial for Saintonge.

Assessment: Favourable (MST), Likely Positive (BPR)

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Social Welfare
The Ministry of Social Welfare (Ministre de la Sécurité sociale, MSS), responsible for social policies and benefits (including unemployment benefits), thinks that META will not have an overall effect on Saintonge; the BPR assessed META to have a slightly negative impact on Saintonge on the basis of increased immigration.

Assessment: Mixed (MSS), Possibly Negative (BPR)

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Transport
The Ministry of Transport (Ministre des Transports, Minitrans), thinks that META will not have an overall effect on Saintonge; the BPR assessed META to have a slightly negative impact on Saintonge on the basis of increased immigration.

Assessment: Favourable (Minitrans), Possibly positive (BPR)

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*Contributors
Overall editors: Marie-Jessamine Lesage-Pathelin, Anne-Marcelline de Saint-Corentin
Contributors and Researchers: Anne-Albertine Battellier, Charles-Jean-Népomucène de Baudreuille, Justin-Eustache Béjot, Robert-Barthélemy Cambacérès, Jean-Chrysostome Coulaudon, Jeanne-Bénédicte Démeunier, Louise-Jéssaline Dosfant, Eulalie Lalanne de Lally, Patrice-Ulrich Landereau, Samantha Jac-Larivièrre, James-Isidore Mallarmé, Ruth-Marie Sottas, Michelle-Marie de Tallevende, Marguerite des Salines de Timbrune, and Marie-Yvonne Treilhard
Translators: Jérôme-Caden Barceloux Colcolough, Hunter Kidlington de Collobrières, and Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Marie-Angélique de Laclos in Saintes
08 October 2019 - 1116h
SAINTES – the Courseaux government had yesterday issued its approval of two major energy-related projects, one lauded by environmentalists, and the other reviled by the same environmentalists.

Trans-Embrasé project
The Trans-Embrasé project (Projet Trans-Embrasé, PTE), is Saintonge’s largest green energy project to date. The PTE is an integrated energy production and storage project in the southern part of the department of the Basses-Alpes beyond the Embrasé river (hence the name); and part of the department of the Hautes-Alpes. The energy production component are the offshore wind farms of Basses-Alpes, tidal power stations off the estuaries of the five small rivers on the northern side of Montcontour, and solar farms in the Basses-Alpes and Hautes-Alpes. The energy storage component is a series of eleven small dams on the five small rivers and interconnected ponds in the disused copper and pitchblende mines in the Hautes-Alpes.

Solar, wind, and tidal power, being intermittent power sources, may cause grid problems as they may overload the system when they are overproducing, or cause supply instability when they are underproducing. The storage part, by acting like a battery, will stabilise the contribution of the solar, wind, and tidal power to the electrical grid by storing energy when it is produced in excess and releasing it when needed. This will turn these intermittent power sources into a stable, reliable power source. This is done by using the dams and ponds to store potential energy of water. When there is excess electricity produced by the solar, wind, or tidal power, this electricity is used to pump water to the upper reservoirs and ponds. When electricity is needed (the solar, wind, or tidal power plants are underproducing), the dams will let out excess water from the turbines to generate electricity.

Environmental groups had received the PTE project positively. Marie-Caroline Duclos, head of the pacifist-environmentalist group Paix Verte, called it a “major advancement in green energy”. “If – and I hope – that the PTE will be successful, it will be a good template for other such projects in the world,” said Luc-Jérémie Laspeyres, head of Société royale écologique.

Trans-Santonian Pipeline expansion
Environmentalist groups had a diametrically opposite reaction to the other main energy project approved yesterday. The Trans-Santonian Pipeline (PTS) expansion has been stalled since 2015, when the Coalition (Liberal-Radical-Green) government of Jean-Louis Hauteclocque de Champtoceaux rescinded its approval. The then-Coalition-controlled department of the Haute-Saine, where the pipeline passes through, also in 2015 withdrew construction permits of the Compagnie saintongeaise des pétroles (CSP, Santonian Petroleum Company), barring them from expanding the pipeline.

Proponents say that the pipeline expansion is needed to stimulate the lagging economies of eastern Saintonge – dependent on oil production – and of southern Saintonge – where there are higher gas prices than the rest of the country because of a supply bottleneck in the pre-existing pipeline. Opponents of the pipeline expansion cite environmental concerns, wanting instead to wean off Saintonge from its dependence on fossil fuels.

The Courseaux government re-approved the pipeline expansion yesterday after the new, National-controlled departmental council of the Haute-Saine reached an agreement with CSP and re-issued construction permits, allowing the project to go forward. The PTS pipeline is slated to be finished in 2021.

Paix Verte’s Duclos slammed the project. “It is damaging to the environment and the ecosystem of the mountains. There is a risk of oil spills. Saintonge should decrease its usage and reliance on fossil fuels instead.”

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
08 October 2019 - 1451h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Adèle Saint-James in Saintes
11 October 2019 - 1152h
SAINTES – the Santonian Ministry of Health issued updated guidelines to health boards (conseils de la santé) throughout the country prohibiting ‘outsourcing’ of most medical staff by the country’s 441 health boards.

Health Boards
Health boards are organised by intendance and are managed by departmental governments. They are funded primarily by reimbursements from the national health insurance company and private medical insurance (mutuelles), plus allocations from the Ministry of Health’s budget (the so-called fond de péréquation de la santé “Health Equalization Fund”) and individual departments. The health boards are responsible for providing universal health care from the primary level up to the tertiary level.

Outsourcing
Outsourcing was first allowed by Health Minister Claude-Thierry Thibaudet under the Coalition government of Charles-Martin Perrier des Jarlais in 1977. However, the outsourcing was allowed only in two sectors: non-core activities like janitorial services, information technology services, or food services in hospitals; and very specialised or rarely-used services such as telemedicine or some laboratory services. For the second sector, health boards can only outsource to publicly-run entities.

Under the most recent Coalition government, the Liberal Minister of Health Jeanne-Pauline Guérin liberalized the outsourcing regulations in 2016, allowing health boards to outsource any part of their operations, including medical staff, to anyone, including for-profit operations. Ms Guérin argued that doing so would cut the costs for the health boards and enable the government to decrease the fond de péréquation de la santé.

Aftermath
Ms Guérin’s move angered the medical, nursing, and many other allied medical professional groups. The health professionals were forced to move from the government employment under the health board to these new corporate, for-profit entities. Since the for-profit corporations would now bid cheaply for the contracts, moving from the government service to these corporations also slashed the salaries of many of these professionals while at the same time increasing their workload. Strikes by health professionals became frequent, such as when the health professionals in the department of the Corb went on a one-week strike in September 2017. Some of the health boards defied their departmental councils as well: the trustees of the health board of Saint-Joire (Tessin) resigned in November 2016 rather than implement the Tessin departmental council’s instructions to outsource their services. In Saint-Théoffrey (Chartreuse), Charny-sur-Loine (Saine-et-Loine), Tivolée (Suippe), Montcontour and Evolène (Hautes-Alpes), their health boards rejected all bids and maintained their current setups despite their departmental councils withholding funding.

The change precipitated a health crisis in parts of Saintonge, particularly where the departmental governments decided to outsource their core services. All of the departments that decided to outsource additional services were Coalition-controlled departments.

Some of the health professionals also simply refused to transfer to the contractors and sought jobs elsewhere in the other departments. The differences were stark: the department of the Basses-Alpes lost 10% of its health professionals after outsourcing, while the neighbouring department of the Tech (which did not outsource) had gained 7%, filling up almost all of its vacant positions.

This led to longer waiting times in many of the Coalition-controlled departments in eastern and southern Saintonge due to lack of personnel, as the entities that were supposed to provide the services did not have the enough manpower and expertise. For instance, waiting times for specialist consultation in the outsourced Tessin was thrice longer than in the neighbouring non-outsourced Nébrodes. Health metrics in outsourced departments fell relative to those that did not: infant mortality marginally rose in eastern and southern Saintonge, relative to the rest of the country.

Scandal
In a country that prides itself in clean government, further scandal broke out in 2018. It emerged that Barrette, the provider of the health services contracted by the Coalition-controlled departments of the Basses-Alpes, the Bouche-du-Rhâne, the Chartreuse, the Corb, the Lisle, the Saine-et-Loine, and the Tessin, made campaign contributions to the Coalition parties during the 2015 Santonian elections. While Barrette’s contribution was at the maximum limit and thus legal, the revelation ignited the tinderbox surrounding healthcare delivery in Saintonge. It led to the defeat of the Coalition in all eight departments during the recent 2019 elections and in many of their strongholds in the east and south of Saintonge. “Clearly, any whiff of corruption in Saintonge will send voters on a rampage,” said political analyst Marie-Danielle Ponceau. Even Ms Guérin was defeated in her parliamentary constituency in the Chartreuse, which was hard hit by the ensuing health crisis.

Reversal
Current Minister of Health Baudouin-Landon Colcombet of the National Party reversed Guérin’s liberalization, putting the health boards back to the Thibaudet standard. “All of the contracts by the departments and the health boards between 2015 and 2019 will be scrutinised by the Ministry of Health. If the contractor is found not to meet the strict guidelines, and performance and outcome metrics of the Ministry of Health, we will ask the departmental councils and health boards to declare the contractor in default.

“As for the employees transferred from government service to the contractors, the Ministry of Health has ordered the health boards to absorb the health professsionals that will be rendered unemployed by the cancellation of the contracts,” Mr Colcombet added. “They will be using their departments’ fond de péréquation de la santé for that.”

In addition, Mr Colcombet said that he and the Ministry of Labour under Jeanne-Élisabeth Vertières-Clérembault are also in talks to force the health boards to recognise and afford the outsourced health professionals the same benefits as if they’ve worked for the health board the entire time.

Mr Colcombet asked Santonians for their patience. “The disarray caused by the Coalitions’ outsourcing fiasco will have its lasting effect for years in the affected departments,” Mr Colcombet admitted. The longest outsourcing contract was that of the Basses-Alpes and the Chartreuse – both of which expire in 2026. “The Ministry of Health can only ask the departmental council and the health board to revoke the contract if we find Barrette in default,” Mr Colcombet said. “Otherwise we have to take it to court.”

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
11 October 2019 - 1625h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Mélanie Bacrot in Saintes
12 October 2019 - 0912h
SAINTES – Foreign Minister Marcelline Tréhet (N, 2^nd Côtes-du-Nord) thought it was just another hearing at the National Assembly’s Committee on Foreign Relations. She was in for the surprise of her life.

Hearing
Called by the committee’s chair Charles-Ferdinand de Pontleroy (N, 27^th Saintes), yesterday's hearing was officially about the Foreign Ministry’s response to the crisis in neighbouring Oclusia. It was a routine hearing. National deputy Marc-Lancelin Enjubault (N, 3^rd Dronne) asked about the repatriation efforts of the government: Ms Tréhet said that all Santonian citizens had been accounted for. Green deputy Kimo-Philippe de Sabarthès (V, 16^th Saintes) asked whether the Kingdom of Saintonge will issue a condemnation of the government of Oclusia: the foreign minister answered that the Foreign Ministry had already issued a statement but will not interfere further in a foreign nation’s internal affairs, given Saintonge’s long-held neutrality. National deputy Stéphane-Fabien Bertucat (N, 3^rd Bourbre) inquired about the status of the refugees within the Santonian embassy in Minsk: Ms Tréhet answered that Décret Royal 2019-117 already granted asylum-seeker status to the refugees while they were still in Minsk. Other details, Ms Tréhet said, she would divulge at the right time in order to ensure the safety of the asylum seekers in Minsk. Deputy Anne-Maëlys Riffaterre (N, 5^th Seudre) of the National Party asked what the Meterra Economic Treaty Association (META) was doing: Ms Tréhet said that since Saintonge was still not a formal member of META, Saintonge will be staying out of any engagements with META that can potentially endanger Santonian neutrality.

Surprise
As the committee was wrapping up the hearing, the committee’s chairman Mr de Pontleroy posed Ms Tréhet a question of his own. “My question is not cogent to the topic on hand, but I hope you and my colleagues will indulge me for a moment as I have prepared for this for a long time,” Mr de Pontleroy prefaced his question. He then stood up and said, “Marcelline, veux-tu m'épouser?” ("Will you marry me?")

The whole room broke into applause as Mr de Pontleroy brought out a bouquet of flowers and the diamond-studded gold engagement ring. He went down from the podium to where Ms Tréhet was sitting. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saintonge could barely hold back her tears of joy as she answered his question with oui. Mr de Pontleroy went down on his knees to put the ring on Ms Tréhet’s hand.

Even some deputies were crying. “That was sweet,” said deputy Lucille-Fabiole Corbedaine (N, 2^nd Durance). “They deserve a happy ending.” “I think I squee-ed a bit,” related Ms Riffaterre, “they’re such a cute couple.”

Mr de Pontleroy’s former partymate in the Radical Party, Jules-Antoine Beaumarchais (R, 2^nd Simbruins) said after the committee hearing, “Of course we are happy for Little Charles. He found love here in the National Assembly.” Mr de Pontleroy was known in the Radical Party as ‘Little Charles’ because he shares his name his father, also a former Radical Party deputy. “He did a lot for love,” Mr Beaumarchais jokingly added, “including leaving the Radical Party.”


Romance four years in the making
Both Mr de Pontleroy and Ms Tréhet were first elected to the National Assembly in 2015. Despite having been elected from different, diametrically opposite parties (Mr de Pontleroy was a Radical and Ms. Tréhet from the National Party), the two had started a friendship immediately after the week-long seminar traditionally held for freshman deputies in the National Assembly. “The two hit it up almost immediately,” said the pair’s mutual friend, deputy Arianne Romme de Villiersfaux (N, 4^th Lisle).

“They were together in the dinner after the seminar and the welcome party for freshmen deputies,” recalled deputy Danielle-Avelline Briquet (N, 11^th Simbruins). “After that, they were frequently seen together.”

In 2017, Ms Tréhet openly answered a constituent’s query regarding her relationship with Mr de Pontleroy. “Charles-Ferdinand is a close friend of mine,” she wrote on her social media page. “We talk about a lot of things, including even politics. We might have our disagreements, but politics and governance are not about imposing your views on the others, but finding common ground to seach for common solutions to shared goals.”

It seemed that the effect was stronger on Mr de Pontleroy than on Ms Tréhet, as Mr de Pontleroy moved significantly in his political stances. “Little Charles was a maverick to begin with,” said Jean-Étienne Genêt (R, 23^rd Saintes), the Radical Party’s parliamentary leader since 2010. “Towards the end of the previous parliament, of all our deputies, he was the one straying from the party’s position the most.” Mr Genêt then cheekily added: “Oh the things love can do.”

By 2018, Mr de Pontleroy and Ms Tréhet were already an item; their relationship was an open secret in the National Assembly. They worked together on several issues, including studying Saintonge joining the META. However, their relationship nearly cost Mr de Pontleroy his parliamentary seat as Radical leader Georges Conté de Caunes vetoed Mr de Pontleroy’s selection as the party’s candidate in Saintes-27 for the 2019 National Assembly Elections.

Ms Tréhet sought the assistance of her close allies in Saintes: deputies Marie-Solange Lépine-Desputeaux (N, 4^th Saintes), now Minister of Education; Anne-Caroline Desgranges (N, 5^th Saintes); and Isabelle Vautrin-Caillaud (N, 30^th Saintes), now Minister of Commerce. The four deputies convinced the National Party branch in Saintes to consider offering Mr de Pontleroy the candidacy in Saintes-27, which was still open. Mr de Pontleroy then changed his party affiliation to the National Party. The National Party committee for Saintes-27, sensing an opportunity to win a seat long held by the Radical Party, named the still-popular Mr de Pontleroy as their candidate. Mr de Pontleroy won Saintes-27 in the first round with 54% of the vote.

Foreign Affairs
The duo’s interest in foreign affairs led them to be considered to positions relating to it, a relatively neglected and unloved area in notoriously insular Saintonge. When Anne-Douceline Courseaux became leader of the National Party in 2019, she selected Ms Tréhet as opposition critic for foreign affairs. When Ms Courseaux became Prime Minister, Ms Tréhet became Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Mr de Pontleroy also applied to become the chair of the Committee of Foreign Affairs in the National Assembly. When asked whether it was a conflict of interest given that Mr de Pontleroy’s girlfriend was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the current President of the National Assembly, Sophie-Anne Laliberté (N, 1^st Basses-Brômes) answered, “Firstly, they’re not married. Secondly, even if they are, it’s not a conflict of interest. It is not the parliamentary committee chair who is tasked to check the activities of the ministers – that is the job of each individual deputies and of the parliament as a whole. The committee chair is simply a managerial and administrative role. And lastly – and perhaps most importantly – there were no other applicants with adequate experience.”

A few critics also voiced their displeasure of Mr de Pontleroy using the National Assembly for “personal reasons” for his marriage proposal. Ms Laliberté had an answer for them: “Stop making mountains out of molehills. The National Assembly does not prohibit these things. I think it’s nice that two people who found love in the National Assembly chose to share their life’s moment with us.”

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
12 October 2019 - 1152h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Michel-Ange Lestrange in Aubeterre
21 October 2019 - 0822h
SAINTE-LIVRADE-SUR-DRONNE (Scyotte) – a group of eight animal rights activists landed in jail last week after trespassing on a farm and assaulting the farmer in the village of Sainte-Livrade-sur-Dronne.

The animal rights activists were a part of an outfit called Rébellion Animale, a University of Saintes-based extreme environmentalist group with a strong social media presence. Yesterday, the group, with members aged fifteen to 22, trespassed on the Cazalis farm at the outskirts of the village of Sainte-Livrade-sur-Dronne. According to the group, they targeted the small family farm because it was producing foie gras. The group wanted to video “the barbarity of foie gras production”.

After taking videos, the activists then let the birds free from their cages. Soon, the activists also freed the other animals on the farm. The farmer, Matthieu S., 43, caught up with the activists. After threatening to call the police, the members of the group beat him up, calling him “a torturer”, “a murderer”, and saying that “the animals will get their revenge on you!” The incident was caught on video partly by the farmer’s phone and his wife’s, who called the police.

The activists scattered when police arrived, but all eight were arrested in the nearby towns of Lit-et-Mixe and Pécorade. Matthieu S. had to be hospitalised for his injuries and lost many animals on his farm.

The incident caused outrage on social media and generated sympathy for Saintonge’s farmers, long a target by so-called “agri-bashing” within environmentalist circles. Even Agriculture Minister Georges-Fulbert Meslot chimed in: “Without our farmers, we’d have nothing to eat. Can we show our farmers some love?” His post on Twitcher gathered more than three million likes.

National Assembly deputy Marc-Tobias Guillereault (N, 1^st Scyotte), who represents the area, posted: “What a bunch of hypocrites. They say they’re against animal abuse, but here they come abusing the farmer.”

Several petitions circulated in the University of Saintes urging the university to expel or take disciplinary action against the five members of the group who are students at the university. The petition coming from the university alumni had garnered 30,000 signatures, including personalities across the political spectrum like actress Anne-Béatrice Bardeau and deputy leader of the Radical Party Jean-Étienne Genêt.

The eight activists are currently in jail, charged with trespassing, destruction of property, and attempted homicide. Their trial is due to start in the Court of First Instance in Saint-Pilfort next week.

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
21 October 2019 - 1418h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Jacques-Joachim Henriot in Omoxoje and Eulalie Lalanne de Lally in Saintes
2 November 2019 - 1521h
SAINTES – With the assent of Guslantis to the 2019 Treaty of Omoxoje, the aforementioned treaty will finally come to force. What is interesting for Saintonge is that the treaty contained a very special stipulation for the country.

Saintonge to get two of the organisation’s organs
Despite the Kingdom of Saintonge not being formally a member of the Meterra Economic Treaty Association (META, Association du traité économique meterrien), META member states voted to place two of the association’s institutions, the Exchequer and the Bureau of Education and Youth, in Saintonge. The Exchequer is the institution in charge of the collection of funds and dues and the fiscal facilitation of the Association. The Bureau of Education and Youth is in charge of the compatibility and integration of Meterra's diverse education systems. Saintonge is the only non-member to host any of META’s institutions.

Fittingly, these two institutions are to be built on two plots of city-owned land adjacent to the Place de Meterre in the 6^th arrondissement of Saintes, which are currently occupied by a huge carpark and a group of mostly-empty old low-rise office buildings.

Lobbying for Saintonge
It was known that Santonian Foreign Relations Minister Marcelline Tréhet had been lobbying for getting some of the META institutions in Saintonge, despite the kingdom not being a member of the organisation. What surprised most observers was how successful the effort become.

“Another organisation putting some of its institutions in a nation that is not completely a part of it? It seems unthinkable,” said Professor Louise-Caroline Fourcade, an expert in international relations at the University of Saintes. “But not unprecedented. It is certainly rare.”

Prof Fourcade points out that there are two sides to this development. “First, the government is keen to join META or wants META to become a permanent presence in the country and vice versa. Second, the fact that META made such a decision means that they’re going to pull out all the stops in order to bring Saintonge into its fold – Saintonge being Meterra’s fourth largest economy and the largest in northern Meterra. They are certainly enticing Saintonge in, especially now that we have a receptive government.”

Santonians lukewarm towards META
The Kingdom of Saintonge had been accepted as a member by the META in the summit at Omoxoje, however, for Saintonge to exercise its membership, the META Treaties must be ratified first by the Santonian Parliament. Currently META is facing resistance in the Santonian Parliament. The National Assembly is waiting on the reports from the individual ministries and the Parliamentary Research Bureau (Bureau parlementaire de recherche, BPR) on META’s impact on Saintonge.

Public polling also show people divided over META. In an October 2019 poll by Populus, 31% were in favour of Santonian membership in META, 30% were opposed, and the rest were unsure.

“META has a lot of work to do if it wants to have Saintonge in the organisation,” said Prof Fourcade.

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
3 November 2019 - 0855h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Politics


by Mélanie Bacrot in Saintes
29 November 2019 - 1023h
SAINTES – the Santonian Parliament had passed four proposed amendments to the Constitution of Saintonge by the requisite three-fourths majority of both houses. The National Party, having a three-fourths majority in the National Assembly, was instrumental in passing the proposals. The Royal Elections Institute will be setting the referendum on the four proposals, likely to be held next year. The last time the Constitution of the Kingdom of Saintonge was amended was in 1937.

Proposition 1: Balanced Budget Amendment
Proposition 1, authored by Finance Minister Maximilian Leclère de Rochebloine (N, 2^nd Aubrac) and Marc-Kilian Wulfranc (N, 5^th Breuse), will force Santonian governments into balancing the budget. Proposition 1 will write into the constitution both a balanced-budget clause and a debt-brake clause. The balanced-budget clause forbids the Santonian government from running a structural deficit of more than 0.35% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The debt-brake clause caps the public debt at 60% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

Proposition 1 cleared the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, by a 377-0 vote. The requisite majority in the lower house is 324. All of the National Party deputies voted for the proposition. The Liberals, Radicals, and Greens abstained. The House of Lords voted 158-0 with 38 abstentions. The required majority in the upper house is 147. All the 131 National Party representatives voted for, joined by the Dukes of Aunis, Artois, Bavière, and the Pouilles, plus all 23 Lords Spiritual.

Unlike in ordinary legislation, where Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual customarily abstain unless the issue concerns them directly; on constitutional questions, the Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual usually cast votes. Since constitutional proposals require a three-fourths majority of the membership of the house, abstention is in effect a negative vote.

Proposition 2: Establishment of the Santonian National Fund as a constitutional body
Proposition 2, authored by Mr. Leclère de Rochebloine, Industry Minister Anne-Marguerite Scellier (N, 2^nd Tech), and Marc-Cuthbert Taittinger (N, 2^nd Vôges), will transform the current National Investment Company of Saintonge (SNIS: Société nationale d'investissement de Saintonge) into a constitutional body known as the Santonian National Fund (FNS: Fond national saintongeais). Proponents say this will make the fund permanent and secure by entrenching it in the Constitution, much like other constitutional bodies like the Royal Institute of Elections.

Proposition 2 passed Parliament with exactly the same vote as Proposition 1: 377-0 in the National Assembly and 158-0 in the House of Lords.

Proposition 3: Beginning of Life Amendment
Proposition 3, authored by Minister for Church Affairs Geneviève Boisjoly (N, 1^st Loine) and Marie-Marjorie Canclaux (N, 1^st Monce-et-Briance), will define life as beginning at conception. It will effectively entrench Saintonge’s strict limits on abortion into the constitution. Currently, abortion in Saintonge is allowed only if the mother’s life or health is threatened. Ms Canclaux clarified that the exceptions for obtaining an abortion in Saintonge will not be removed by the amendment; instead, the amendment aims to prevent further loosening of the country's abortion laws by simple statute.

Proposition 3 was passed by the National Assembly in a 410-21 vote, with the Nationals and Liberals voting for, and the Radicals and Greens voting against. The House of Lords vote was 156-11, with 29 abstentions. 114 National representatives and all but one of the Liberal representatives in the upper house voted for, plus the Dukes of Aunis, Artois, Bavière, and the Pouilles and all 23 Lords Spiritual. All nine Radical representatives plus two Greens voted against. Abstaining were the Dukes of Beaujolais and Grésivaudan, plus 29 representatives of departments governed by a coalition of Nationals (in favour of Proposition 3) and Greens (against Proposition 3) with a “Barenton clause” in their coalition agreement. A “Barenton clause”, common in coalition agreements that includes the Greens, states that when the parties in the departmental coalition government disagree on a proposed national legislation, the department’s representatives in the House of Lords will abstain. The Green party invoked the Barenton clauses in the departments of the Baltée, Haute-Bléone, Bouche-du-Rhâne, Breuse, Basses-Brômes, Corb, Doire, Dyle, Ill, Lac, Lys, Haut-Rhâne, Semois, Vauperté, and Vôges; in total, 17 National, nine Green, and one Liberal representative abstained. The National-Green coalition agreement in the City of Saintes does not have a “Barenton clause”, and so the seven National representatives of Saintes voted in favour and the two Green Saintes representatives voted against.

Proposition 4: Abolition of Death Penalty
Proposition 4, authored by Interior Minister Charles-Archambault Bathenay (N, 1^st Yerres) and deputy Éthan-Baldéric Schmitthaeusler (N, 1^st Ill), will enshrine into the constitution a ban on the death penalty for all crimes. Despite Saintonge abolishing the death penalty for most crimes after the Santonian Revolution, the current constitution still retained it for the most severe crimes of terrorism, regicide, treason, and crimes against humanity. The last time a death penalty was handed down was in 1912, and the country remained abolitionist in practice – meaning that death penalty remained in the law books but never used.

Proposition 4 cleared the lower house 414-17, with all parties except the Radicals voting in favour. The upper house voted 189-9, with two abstentions. All of the National, Liberal, and Green representatives voted in favour, along with all 23 Lords Spiritual and the Dukes of Aunis, Artois, Bavière, and the Pouilles. Nine Radical representatives voted against; abstaining were the Dukes of Beaujolais and Grésivaudan.

Referendum
The Royal Elections Institute will announce the schedule of the referendum, which is likely to be held next year.

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
29 November 2019 - 1347h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Politics


by Annemarie Marchandeau in Lavaur
06 December 2019 - 1744h
LAVAUR (Taur) – In the National Party’s annual meeting held in this western Santonian town, its members were unable to take a collective stand on the accession of Saintonge to META, despite the fact that it was the National government of Anne-Douceline Courseaux that took the initiative for Saintonge to join.

Labour faction against, Rénovateur faction for
The strongest calls for ratification came from the centrist Rénovateur faction of Prime Minister Anne-Douceline Courseaux, arguably the most influential faction in the National party today. They are largely opposed by the labour faction, which cites dire effects on workers if META’s freedom of movement were to commence. The National Party’s labour faction is not insignificant, as they are closely associated with a section of the party’s grassroots and have ties with the country’s labour unions.

Other factions sitting on the fence
Other National Party factions still had not coalesced around a position. The agrarian faction, another big chunk of the party’s support, is lukewarm, but not totally opposed to the idea of META. “As long as META and the government can give us assurances that META will be beneficial to Santonian farmers – in the form of retention of subsidies, protection of designations of origin, and increased market access abroad – I’m sure the farmers will support it if the benefits are visible,” said deputy Mr Théobald Trébuchon (N, 1^st Ravennes). “The Santonian government and META have to make that clear.”

The other faction, the clerical faction close to the Santonian National Church, is also noncommittal. “We are going to let people decide with their conscience,” said Jeanne-d'Arc Guéninchault (N, 1^st Limagne).

Ratification uncertain
With the lukewarm support, it is unsure whether the National Party has the numbers in the National Assembly to get a two-thirds majority to ratify the META Treaty. Ratification of treaties needs a two-thirds majority of the membership of the house, which means that an abstention will count as a negative vote.

“Courseaux and [Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelline] Tréhet probably has 100-130 votes already for META,” opined a National Party MP, who declined to be named. “Even if the Liberals and Radicals vote for it, it’s still far from the 288 votes needed to ratify.”

“I know a lot of our members are still undecided,” Mr Trébuchon said. “It is a divisive issue. I have heard arguments from members who are passionately for, and arguments from members who are viscerally against – to the point that they are ready to buck the party.”

“A lot of people are still undecided, even if the reports had already come out,” said the anonymous MP. “If the leadership forces a vote, the outcome is not certain. They might get defeated.”

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
07 December 2019 - 0833h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Politics


by Daniel-Jean Lisée in Côme
11 December 2019 - 1033h
CÔME (Simbruins) – Interior Minister Charles-Archambault Bathenay issued Ministerial Decree 2019-I232 yesterday declaring the suspension of the Departmental Council of the Simbruins, as a result of the du Tertre scandal.

Scandal in the Simbruins
The new leader of the section of the Radical Party in the Simbruins, Saint-Pierre-d’Aveau mayor Rodéric du Tertre, was indicted last 25 November in the Assizes of the Simbruins for the 2018 murder of K.S., a homeless itinerant immigrant. This is Mr du Tertre’s fourth indictment for murder and is part of a long string of well-known human rights abuses. On 2 December, the Police Tribunal of Terracine handed out a criminal judgment against Mr du Tertre for the physical assault after ordering violence against a panhandler and a busker in Saint-Pierre-d’Aveau last March. The Tribunal ordered the imprisonment of Mr du Tertre for one month.

The sentence was not carried out because Mr du Tertre, the new vice-president of the department of the Simbruins, was protected by Departmental Council of the Simbruins, which claimed immunity for its members.

Getting into the Council
Mr du Tertre ran and lost in the May 2019 National Asssembly election for the 5^th electoral circumscription of the Simbruins. Yet in a Radical Party convention in the Simbruins a month later, Mr du Tertre was narrowly elected as its leader in the department, edging out Jean-Baptiste de la Terinière of Sainte-Avelline, an ally of Jules-Antoine Beaumarchais, deputy of the National Assembly.

With its leader out of the departmental council, two Radical members representing Côme resigned their departmental council seats in order for Mr. du Tertre to get a seat. No by-election was needed because in the event of resignation, removal, or death of a departmental councillor, the next person(s) on the party’s list during the election is chosen as a suppléant or substitute. Mr. du Tertre was on the Radical Party’s list for the intendancy of Côme in the departmental election, despite him also being a candidate in the parliamentary election. Santonian election laws allow a person to put his/her name on the ballot for more than one position, but if s/he gets elected to more than one, s/he must decide which one s/he will assume/keep.

Mr du Tertre then duly became the vice-president of the departmental council after assuming leadership of the Radical caucus in the Coalition-controlled department.

Resisting Arrest
On 2 December, the Police Tribunal of Terracine issued a warrant of arrest and incarceration for Mr du Tertre. Mr du Tertre barricaded himself in his departmental council office, and Louis-Patrick Beauvais, the Liberal president of the Departmental Council of the Simbruins, negotiated with police officers to leave, citing purported immunity of departmental councillors.

Protests against Mr du Tertre broke out in Côme the next day. Police duly came as well, not for the protesters, but for Mr du Tertre. The Superintendent for the Simbruins, Martin-Fabien Baraillon, declared that departmental councillors have no such immunity and ordered the arrest of Mr du Tertre.


Showdown in the Council
This led to a showdown within the Departmental Council building. National and Green councillors voted against a Coalition-sponsored resolution to continue the protection for Mr du Tertre. Mr Julien-Georges Barras, the lone Liberal councillor for Saint-Janvier, crossed the floor to vote with the opposition, tying the vote 49-49. And then Mr du Tertre voted for the resolution that would try to save him from imprisonment.

The Nationals and the Greens walked out of the chamber, joining the protestors outside. Mr Beauvais insisted that the immunity is valid, and the 50 Coalition legislators held a continuous session in the council chambers except for Mr Barras. Mr Barras joined the protests outside, much to the cheers of the protestors.

In retaliation, Mr Beauvais attempted to revoke Mr Barras’ seat by trying to declare his seat for Saint-Janvier vacant so he can be replaced by his suppléant. The Departmental Council voted 35-0, with 15 abstentions, and with the Nationals and Greens protesting outside, to declare Mr Barras’ seat vacant. The move was condemned by Superintendent Baraillon as illegal; in response, all three suppléants of Mr Barras for Saint-Janvier also resigned. This put Mr Beauvais in a quandary: if Mr Barras’ expulsion was legal, he could not replace Mr Barras as all the replacements would not take the seat; if Mr Barras’ expulsion was illegal, he would have to contend with the possible consequences.

Coalition broken
The Superintendent of the Simbruins applied for legal advice from the Ministry of the Interior in Saintes on 3 December. Later that afternoon, the Administrative Tribunal of the Simbruins issued a judgement against Mr du Tertre regarding abuse of power, dismissing him from government service and any current elected position, without prejudice to holding another elective position in the future.

The next day, with Mr Beauvais and Mr du Tertre still keeping arresting police officers at bay, cracks showed in the Coalition. Mr Beauvais and Mr du Tertre argued that it is not the Administrative Tribunal’s power to determine who will sit in the departmental council. In a vote not to implement the decision of the Administrative Tribunal of the Simbruins, the remaining Coalition councillors voted 30-12, with three abstentions. Eight of the twelve coucillors who voted against - Mr de la Terinière, and seven Liberal councillors - bolted out of the departmental council meeting. This meant that the departmental council of the Simbruins lost its quorum to meet. Mr Beauvais attempted to replace the Liberal councillors, but all their suppléants for Casours, Sainte-Avelline, Jaillons, and Livourne resigned, not wanting to be involved.

Without a quorum, it meant that the departmental council of the Simbruins could not be legally meeting, and so Superintendent Baraillon ordered the police to arrest Mr du Tertre within the building. The rump departmental council barricaded themselves within the meeting hall as police besieged the building.

The long wait
One by one, councillors emerged out of the building, as the food and water was running low for the people inside. Superintendent Baraillon opted not to cut off the electricity and water to the building. On 9 December, the leader of the National Party in the Simbruins Marc-Cédric Majurel gathered all National and Green deputies to meet at an adjacent building. They were joined by Mr Barras and five out of the seven Liberal departmental councillors who left on 4 December. Mr de la Terinière, two other Radical councillors, and four more Liberal councillors joined later that afternoon. With 61 deputies, they constituted a quorum of the 99-member departmental council of the Simbruins. Mr Majurel offered elections as a way out. On the night of 9 December, the 61 councillors submitted a resolution to Superintendent Baraillon asking him to petition Parliament to dissolve the departmental council of the Simbruins and hold a special election.

Legal Opinion
Yesterday, the Interior Ministry issued its legal opinion affirming that Superintendent Baraillon was right all along: that departmental coucillors have no “parliamentary immunity”; that departmental councils cannot resist the arrest of its members; that it is not the sole prerogative of the departmental council to determine who gets to sit as councillor; that the judgments of the administrative tribunals are binding on departmental councils; and that party leaders cannot unilaterally strip its caucus members of their seats and replace them with their suppléant. The answer came with the Interior Ministry issuing the decree suspending the Departmental Council of the Simbruins for “actions prejudicial to the public interest and the rule of law.” The ministerial decree only suspends, but not dissolves, the departmental council. Superintendent Baraillon takes charge of the department while the departmental council and the departmental government is suspended.

The Interior Ministry is only able to suspend local governments, not dissolve them. This provision arose after a tumultuous time 120 years ago. In 1899, the beleaguered government of Louis-Casimir Villechaise de Condillac dissolved the departmental council of the Basse-Bléone for political reasons. Subsequent laws passed took away the interior ministry’s and the government’s ability to dissolve local governments, instead restricting the government’s ability to just suspending local governments for extraordinary reasons. Dissolving a local government and calling for new elections for the affected jurisdiction now entails passing a law in Parliament. It appears that the Simbruins is heading that way: also yesterday, three National deputies from the Simbruins – Anne-Charlotte Jordery (N, 5^th Simbruins), Jolène Sevene-Monbouquette (N, 9^th Simbruins), and Danielle-Avelline Briquet (N, 11^th Simbruins) – introduced legislation in the National Assembly to dissolve the departmental council of the Simbruins and hold special elections there.

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
11 December 2019 - 1320h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Local


by Marc-Justin Kerdreux in Saint-Océan
16 December 2019 - 0951h
SAINT-OCÉAN (Cenise) – several mayors of the department of the Cenise complained against the departmental council’s new legislation to implement Bethanian-language signage in the northern half of the department.


Bethanian language
The Bethanian language (Béthon) is one of the autochthonous languages in Saintonge, being spoken in the provinces of Bethany (Béthagne) and Domnonée. Their status was made secure when the Bethany and Domnonée adhered to Saintonge as vassal states, which allowed them to retain significant autonomy and use of their languages. Bethanian was formerly the major language in northwestern Saintonge and had a strong influence in nearby Saintes.

Mainly spoken in the departments of Aulne, Authie, Avaloirs, Boëme, Côtes-du-Nord, Rance, and Sée, Bethanian had declined during the past two centuries with the institution of universal free education (in Santonian) after the Santonian Revolution. Increasing mobility of the population (people moving out of Bethany and Domnonée), and Santonian-speakers moving in also contributed to the decline of the language. While the Santonian central government did not make active efforts to stamp out Bethanian, neither did it support the language.

The most recent study on Bethanian estimated that 75% of the population across the seven aforementioned departments know Bethanian; of these, 99% can understand Bethanian, 70% can read Bethanian, 65% can speak Bethanian, and 56% can write in Bethanian. Almost all are functionally bilingual in Santonian and Bethanian; monolingual Bethanian speakers are rare.

The departments of Avaloirs, Côtes-du-Nord, and Sée had instituted Bethanian-language crèches, and all seven departments teach Bethanian as a subject in school. The standardized teaching was brought in part by the Office on the Bethanian Language (Office de la langue béthonne/Ofis ar bethoneg) set up by the seven departments.

Cenise
The situation of the department of the Cenise is unique in that it straddles the language divide between Bethanian and Santonian. Its northern half (intendancies of Avranches, Brissarthe, and part of Saint-Océan) is traditionally Bethanian-speaking, while its more populous southern half (intendancy of Sancoins) is Santonian-speaking. Unlike in the seven northwestern departments where the language is flourishing, Bethanian in the Cenise is dying out.

The departmental council of the Cenise passed a law last month requiring Bethanian-language signages in the the intendancies of Avranches, Brissarthe, and part of Saint-Océan. Such bilingual signages are common in the seven northwestern departments.


Mayors complain
Several mayors in the northern half protested the move. Saint-Océan mayor Henri-Paul Ferry (Liberal) lambasted the move, calling it “a sop to the few linguistic minorities in the department.” Albert-Florent Levesque (Liberal), mayor of Vénaux-sur-Cenise in the intendancy of Saint-Océan, said that “it is strange that the departmental council would require Bethanian language signs in a town where nobody speaks or had ever spoken Bethanian.” The city of Saint-Océan and the town of Vénaux-sur-Cenise are traditionally part of the old province of Saintais and thus its inhabitants ancestrally speak Santonian.

“What’s the point of having language signs in such a strange language?” quipped the mayor of Commequiers, Jacques-Louis Fontanille (Radical). “Everybody, including the so-called Bethanian speakers, understand Santonian anyway.”

The comments, said Mouilleron-sur-Mer mayor Sandrine Oudot-Grenier (National), were probably made because of the additional expense the new regulations entail. “Installing a Bethanian-language sign will cost the parish 350 livres each,” said Ms Oudot-Grenier, “we’d be happy to do that if the departmental council gives us the funds.”

“We’re petitioning the departmental council to allocate funds for it,” said Rochetrejoux-les-Mauxfaits mayor Marie-Lareine Laplanche (National). “I don’t oppose it in principle, but we need resources to accomplish it.”

Some were also wondering what will they put on their sign. “Saint-Mathurin-Sterlanges never had a Bethanian name,” said its mayor, Martin Desandrouin (National). “Even if we have the money and wanted to put up the sign, we don’t know what we will put there.”

Other push for bilingual signs
Though the loudest opposition comes from the Santonian-speaking parishes and towns, the Bethanian-speaking ones were mostly supportive of the move. “It’s long overdue, in my opinion,” said Paul-Léonard Tanguy (National), mayor of Brissarthe/Breizhart, the largest town in the Bethanian-language area. “People here are slowly becoming monolingual in Santonian, but it’s a good way of showing our efforts to revive Bethanian.”

“Cenise joining the Office on the Bethanian Language and teaching Bethanian in school would probably help more in assisting in the recovery of Bethanian than road signs,” opined Marc-Judicaël Gourcuff (national), mayor of the village of Saint-Lyphard/Sant-Lefer, which holds the record in the Cenise as having the most Bethanian speakers as a proportion of its population. All of the inhabitants of Saint-Lyphard are bilingual in Bethanian and Santonian.

However, the mayors of the Bethanian parishes have the same qualms: funding. “We’d love to have them, but we need money,” said Timothée-Gaël Kerdaniel (National), mayor of Conquereuil/Konkerel.

The main author of the measure, councillor Thibault-Caradec Jézéquel (National) of Brissarthe, promised assistance for the parishes to comply with the new law. “The departmental council will be allocating funds for it during the next year’s budget,” announced Mr Jézéquel.

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
16 December 2019 - 1320h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Politics


by Mélanie Bacrot in Saintes
17 December 2019 - 1123h
SAINTES – Saintonge may have had two Prydanian-born queens, but it never had a Prydanian-born member of parliament, until yesterday.

Deputy resigns
The change in membership was for the National Party-held seat of Saintes-12, a seat in left-bank Saintes that was won by the National Party in this year’s elections. The elected member of Parliament (MP), thirty-four-year-old Paul-Alexis Clédel, tendered his resignation to National Assembly President Sophie-Anne Laliberté last 13 December. Mr Clédel disclosed that he was diagnosed with lymphoma last November and he was resigning for health reasons.

Substitute appointed
Seat resignations in the National Assembly normally do not trigger by-elections in Saintonge as voters elect their member of Parliament with his/her a substitute (suppléant) during elections. It is usual for suppléants to campaign alongside the nominee during the electoral campaign period. The suppléant takes over the seat in case the incumbent dies, is incapacitated, resigns, or is removed from office. Only when the suppléant is ineligible will a by-election be held. The last by-election was in 2018 for Saine-et-Loine-21, when its deputy Sylvain Audrain (Liberal) died and his suppléant was rendered ineligible because he moved out of the district (members of Parliament must reside in the districts they represent). That by-election was won by now-Prime Minister Anne-Douceline Courseaux.



Prydanian refugee as deputy
As for Saintes-12, Mr Clédel’s suppléant was Thorbjörn Höjsleth, aged 24, living in the 15^th arrondissement borough of Caulaincourt. Mr Höjsleth arrived in Saintonge in 2006 as an eleven-year-old refugee fleeing the Prydanian Civil War. He and his two older siblings were orphaned after the Syndicalists killed their parents and oldest sibling for opposing the nationalisation of their family farm. The younger Höjsleths were rescued by a Santonian diplomat and brought to the Santonian embassy to seek asylum. Thorbjörn Höjsleth became a Santonian citizen on his eighteenth birthday, went through the Service nationale (military conscription), and then went to university. He had just been a few months in as a teacher in the Lycée de Caulaincourt when the National Assembly beckoned.

“I would like to thank Saintonge for extending a helping hand to us in our time of need,” Mr Höjsleth said at his swearing-in ceremony yesterday. “A country where someone can rise from having nothing to being a member of Parliament is a great country indeed. I intend to repay this great country by serving here to the best of my ability.”

Although the Santonian Bureau of Immigration and Integration distributes and resettles refugees throughout the country, the electoral district of Saintes-12, which includes the boroughs of Caulaincourt, Sainte-Honorine, Saint-Jourdain, and Saint-Sylvain in the western extremity of the 15^th arrondissement, contains a sizable community of Prydanians. Chiefly populated by lower middle-class households and with a concentration of council housing, this was one of the areas where the city government of Saintes resettled the Prydanian refugees. The National Party team of Mr Clédel and Mr Höjsleth won Saintes-12 with 52.3% of the vote, wresting the seat away from the Liberal Party earlier this year.

Other refugees as members of parliament
Mr Höjsleth may be the first Prydanian-born refugee to become an MP, but he is not the first refugee to become a member of the Santonian parliament. The first was Joshua Schechter (Liberal), elected to the House of Lords (the upper house of Parliament) as a representative of the department of the Corb in 1954. Mr Schechter fled to Saintonge as a young man to escape the persecution of Shaddaists during the Fascist War. The first refugee to become a member of the National Assembly (the lower house of Parliament) was also a refugee of the Fascist War: David-Raphaël Farissol (National), elected as a deputy by Epte-2 in 1970. Mr Farissol was born abroad and came to Saintonge as an infant.

The next refugee-turned-deputy was the Gottian Marie-Magdalene "Marlene" Schellenberger (National), elected to the National Assembly by Bouche-du-Rhâne-3 in 1995. Ms Schellenberger was a socialist anti-Himdoch activist from what is now Hessunland. She fled to Saintonge to escape persecution for her political activities. Her successor in the seat is now-Labour Minister Jeanne-Élisabeth Vertières-Clérembault.

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
17 December 2019 - 1447h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Politics


by Mélanie Bacrot in Saintes
18 December 2019 - 1312h
SAINTES – Santonian Foreign Minister Marcelline Tréhet announced that the Meterra Economic Treaty Association (Association du traité économique meterrien, META/ATEM) had agreed to give Saintonge a four-year “interim period” in order to harmonise its laws with META’s regulations.

Speaking in the weekly press conference at the Place de Nations, Ms Tréhet said that the four year “interim period” would be long enough for Saintonge to adjust to being a member of a supranational organization. The government’s decision to join META was a hard sell in the Santonian Parliament, with resistance coming from factions within the governing National Party.

“Prolonged interim period” a breather for Saintonge
“The Kingdom of Saintonge, strongly attached to its neutrality and independence, is historically wary of joining supranational organisations, particularly one that intends to be as close like META,” said political analyst Mare-Danielle Ponceau. “Some of META’s provisions, current and upcoming, are unpalatable to Saintonge. During the four-year period, we will probably see Saintonge on the table, trying to change those regulations and provisions to its liking so it can fit in better.”

“The four-year period is like a trial period for Saintonge,” said a member of Parliament, who declined to be named. “The government is selling it to wavering MPs as ‘let’s try META for a while, if it doesn’t work out, we can leave’.”

Ms Ponceau agreed with the assessment. “It may be successful in convincing some of the MPs that are still undecided.” As for META’s point of view, Ms Ponceau said that “I think Saintonge is going to be an asset for META – it’s the fourth largest economy on the continent and the largest in northern Meterra. If they can rope Saintonge into the organization, their presence in northern Meterra will be greatly enhanced.”

“If META was not serious in having Saintonge in, it wouldn’t have situated some of its institutions in Saintonge,” Ms Ponceau added. “META also wouldn’t have granted the four-year interim period. Some of the officials from META member countries came to Saintonge to talk about trade.”

A shortening of the interim period
According to multiple confidential sources, Saintonge initially asked for a seven-year interim period, but negotiations reduced it to four. “There was some resistance from some countries,” said the source. “Ultimately the compromise was four years.”

“If the rumours are true, four years is still a significant departure from META’s standards,” said Ms Ponceau. “The usual interim period for them is six months, renewable up to two years. This represents META trying to accommodate the country.”

Delegates from META countries come to the country
A high-level delegation from Haor Chall came last week to Saintes to talk about trade and META membership. The Charrian Director for International Trade, Nikos Gollwitzer, met with Santonian Commerce Minister Isabelle Vautrin-Caillaud. Mr Gollwitzer also met with the leaders of the country’s two largest opposition parties, Paul-Lenthéric Baumann (Liberal) and the Georges Conté de Caunes (Radical), who publicly voiced their support for META. Mr Baumann and Mr Conté de Caunes are known supporters of free trade, and their parties’ stance on META are mostly supportive.

Last November, Lady Odessa Beier of Guslantis and Demescian Delegate Premier Ito Okeke also came to Saintonge to lobby for META.

Treaty may be up for vote this week
National Assembly President Sophie-Anne Laliberté scheduled a vote on META this Friday, 20 December, before the deputies go on winter break. The government will be presenting the bill to the National Assembly tomorrow.

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
18 December 2019 - 1725h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Mélanie Bacrot in Saintes
20 December 2019 - 1822h
SAINTES – the National Assembly rejected the META Treaty in a surprise 234-195 vote. The vote marks a decisive setback for the National Party government of Anne-Douceline Courseaux, which applied for META membership earlier this year. Treaties must be passed by both the National Assembly and the House of Lords by a two-thirds vote, which means that 288 votes were needed to ratify the treaty in the lower house. Despite the fifty opposition Liberal and Radical deputies voting with the government in favour of ratification, the government still fell 54 votes short of the requisite number to pass the treaty.

Nationals vote against their own government
The vote to ratify META was opposed by the majority of the governing party’s own deputies: 184 National Party deputies voted with the government, 191 voted against the government. Prime Minister Courseaux may have a party rebellion in her hands, as even two government ministers, Labour Minister Jeanne-Élisabeth Vertières-Clérembault (N, 3^rd Bouche-du-Rhâne) and Social Welfare Minister Charlotte-Marie Graftiaux (N, 10^th Cenise), voted against the treaty. Justice Minister Brice-Thibault Bardoux de Rosencoat (N, 2^nd Sée) and Education Minister Marie-Solange Lépine-Desputeaux (N, 4^th Saintes) abstained.

The pre-Christmas vote marks the culmination of months of intense debate in the National Assembly that ended in a disastrous defeat for the government. It puts into question the viability of Ms Courseaux remaining as National Party leader and Prime Minister of Saintonge.

No Leadership Challenges
Under the National Party’s rules, no leadership challenge may be mounted eighteen months after a new leader is elected, except in very specific circumstances. Ms Courseaux may be safe from a leadership challenge for the next three months, but deputies are already grumbling.

“It’s a trainwreck, the way the government handled this issue,” said a National Party deputy who declined to be named. This deputy voted against the ratification. “There is no strong clamour in Saintonge to join such an organization.”

“She managed to divide the party,” said another anonymous National Party deputy. “I won’t be surprised if people start running against her in March next year.”

Referendum option
A possibility being raised to get around the National Assembly’s non-ratification of META is by forcing a referendum law to ratify the treaty. First floated by deputy Charles-Ferdinand de Pontleroy (N, 29^th Saintes), such a law only needs to pass by a simple majority in Parliament.

“If the government can keep that majority for META in the National Assembly and translate that into votes for a referendum law, the decision will now go to the people,” said political analyst Marie-Danielle Ponceau.

Radical leader Georges Conté de Caunes (R, 4^th Capoterre) threw a spanner in that plan as he told STV yesterday that “a referendum is undesirable.”

Parliament is set to reconvene on 6 January next year, and the fate of Saintonge in META remains uncertain.

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
21 December 2019 - 0852h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Politics


by Jean-Louis Brichet in Saintes
23 December 2019 - 0833h
SAINTES – A lot of Santonian offices and businesses have Christmas parties for their workers and staff. Some are staid and just consists of eating (and drinking). Many get creative with costume parties, themed parties, parlour games, and the like.

The Santonian National Assembly’s members-only Christmas party used to be staid and boring. But not this year, as the lower house celebrated with an ‘electroclette’ party.

“Electroclette” party
“Electroclette” is a portmanteau of ‘electronic’ [music] and ‘raclette’, a dish that is popular in Bavière. Raclette involves heating the cheese of the same name and then scraping off (racler) the melted part. It is then eaten with various foods such as cold cuts, sausages, (even more) cheese, potatoes, vegetables, and other food. Wine is often served as an accompaniment. Raclette is a traditional festive dish in the southern province of Bavière.

The main organisers of this year’s party, Marc-Diethelm Gundéram (N, 2^nd Sûre) and Baudouin-Tjeerd Blanckaert (N, 3^rd Inde), are from the south. Mr Blanckaert mentioned that ‘electroclette’ parties are gaining in popularity in the south, which combines a raclette party with electronic music. Mr Gundéram and Mr Blanckaert approached fellow deputy Kylian Fricoteaux (N, 1^st Dropt), who is also a popular DJ, to supply the music.

‘Unique’
The President of the National Assembly Sophie-Anne Laliberté (N, 1^st Basses-Brômes), a southerner herself, praised the “unique” and “creative” party organized by the freshman class of MPs. (First term-MPs are traditionally assigned the job of organizing the Christmas party.) “I’ve never been to an ‘electroclette’ party before, and it’s nice to see the variety of foods being offered that represents much of Saintonge.”

“Cool party,” remarked the newest member of Parliament, Thorbjörn Höjsleth (N, 12^th Saintes). “It’s very nice to see people mingling with one another in a very friendly way, despite the intense debate earlier this morning.”

The second-youngest member of Parliament Kévin-Justin Montrésor (N, 1^st Capoterre), who is a Viédeo vlogger before he became an MP, got permission to vlog the ‘electroclette party’. Together with the third-youngest member of parliament, the southerner Brice-Eugène Guerrière-Verne (N, 1^st Dyle), Mr Montrésor broadcast parts of the party, especially the culinary aspect of it, to his viewers. Mr Guerrière-Verne supplied some of the relevant explanations. The vlog, which began with a disclaimer that “none of this party was paid for by taxpayers”, was one of the most-watched in Viédeo this week.

In a National Assembly that had the youngest average age ever, the party was a hit. The deputies that were featured in Mr Montrésor’s vlog liked the party. “I liked how they featured Saintonge in almost all aspects of it – from the music, the cheese, the food,” commented Jérôme-Michel Gandolphe (N, 3^rd Chartreuse).

“I thoroughly enjoyed it,” said Matthieu-Sébastien Lacépède (L, Outremer). “It’s a break from all of those sedate Christmas parties.”

“Whoever got this idea is a genius,” remarked Thomas-Isidore Lacassagne (N, Huisne).

For the more senior members of parliament, though, there was an area for conventional sit-down dinner. They did not miss the raclette, though, as they were served the dish on their tables. “Delicious,” remarked Paul-Geoffroy Barèges (N, 3^rd Seudre), when Mr Montrésor went to their table to interview them in his vlog.

“Mon Dieu, our age is showing,” said Anne-Laëtitia Savornin (N, 2^nd Tessin), who was also seated at Mr Barèges’ table. “You young ones like to dance and party, while we here are, just sitting and eating!”

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
23 December 2019 - 1533h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Local


by Martine Lalanne-Délémont in Bâle
08 January 2020 - 1622h
BÂLE (Sarine) – earlier today, sixteen-year old teenager Marguerite-Christine-Éléonore “Grette” Monthun, who went viral on social media for her “grève étudiante” (“school strike”) for the weather, was ordered committed to the Centre psychiatrique de Sainte-Dymphne by Judge Julienne Mousseron-Duplantier of the Family Division of the Tribunal of First Instance (Civil Court) of Bâle.

Three court-appointed psychiatrists independently diagnosed Ms Monthun as having Asperger syndrome, obsessive–compulsive disorder, and paranoid personality disorder, all of which were left untreated for years.

“School strike girl”
Ms Monthun gained prominence on social media in August 2018 by posting pictures of her one-person “school strike” outside Buchilot High School in Corcelles (a suburb of Bâle), which she used to attend. She enjoined her peers and classmates to join her to skip classes and have a school strike “in protest of the worsening weather”. None of her classmates joined, and her mother posted a picture of her in social media to ask other students to join her.

The picture went viral and it became a strongly divisive issue among netizens in Saintonge and abroad. Even then-environment minister Laurent Junot of the Green Party commented, saying that “I think what Ms Monthun really wants is to help the planet. My advice to her, though, is that she should return to school and study hard so that she will learn, discover, and find new ways to improve the environment.”

The department of the Sarine’s councillor in charge of education, Anne-Hombeline Sergent d’Anterroches was more scathing, saying in September 2018: “Skipping school will do nothing to stop it from raining or making the day too hot. We do not suspend classes just because it rains a little or the sun if shining bright. If all the students of the world follow her, we will have a next generation full of idiots who will know nothing about "saving the planet" except by protesting.”

Ms Sergent d’Anterroches, however, promised to install more fans and air-conditioning in the classrooms in the Sarine "to stop this 'weather' and 'it's too hot' protests."

Expulsion from school
Ms Monthun persisted, and judging from the reactions in social media, she became a meme and a laughingstock of Santonian netizens. But the real-life consequences for Ms Monthun was more severe: Buchilot High School expelled her for “chronic absences” in December 2018 and recommended the Social Welfare Bureau look into her case. A petition from her parents was denied by Ms Sergent d’Anterroches.

Ward of the Court
The Social Welfare Bureau investigated her case and recommended that Ms Monthun become a ward of the court in April 2019. Ms Monthun continued her “weather activism”, including speaking around the country. Ms Monthun caused another ruckus on social media by posting a picture of her sitting on the floor of the Saintes-to-Bâle train with her baggage around her. She commented that the train was “overcrowded… but that is a good thing because people are not taking planes anymore. Planes disturb the weather. It destroys the clouds making it hotter since clouds block out the sun.”

Jules-Clément Vignancour, president of the Société saintongeaise des chemins de fer (SSCF), the country’s national rail operator, slammed Ms Monthun’s comments. Mr Vignancour clarified that “the Saintes-Bâle train Ms Monthun was riding was not overcrowded; she had a first-class ticket and a seat; but she insisted on sitting on the floor with all her baggage blocking the corridors so that she can take a picture and make a statement to post in social media.”

The brouhaha triggered a backlash in Saintonge, and fearing for her safety, the Social Welfare Bureau asked Judge Mousseron-Duplantier to formally make her a ward of the court. Judge Mousseron-Duplantier granted the request in June 2019.

Psychiatric illness
Ms Monthun, supported by her parents, continued her "activism”, posting videos, pictures, and messages on social media. Santonian media also reported on the negative impact of her messaging on young impressionable minds, with psychiatrists reporting on instances of “eco-anxiety” attacks and "solastalgia" among people (especially children) exposed to her messaging.

The Social Welfare Bureau psychologist who examined Ms Monthun in May 2019 raised the alarm on her possible illness. Judge Mousseron-Duplantier had three child psychiatrists independently examine her in the next four months.

Ms Monthun continued with her activity until Judge Mousseron-Duplantier ordered her parents to cease contact with her in October 2019, citing that “Ms Monthun’s condition worsens whenever she and her parents are in contact and produce all these material for dissemination in social media.”

Parents jailed
Also on October 2019, Judge Mousseron-Duplantier also opened an investigation on possible criminal neglect by the parents. “Why they hadn’t sought psychiatric attention for her, when the signs are so glaring, baffles this court.”

Ms Monthun’s parents, Sara-Madeleine Ernhomme-Monthun and Savant-Guillaume Monthun, contested the investigation, saying that “we only want what is best for Grette.” Mr Monthun was a minor actor, starring in Mon frère (2000) and Un gars sans espoir (2001). Ms Ernhomme-Monthun was a somewhat successful opera singer who competed in the prestigious Concours Saintonge de la chanson (“Saintonge Song Contest”) in 2009. Her song La Voix finished in the bottom five of the contest. The couple are now retired, with Ms Ernhomme-Monthun saying that “frivolous things like treatre entertainment and flying to different locations to perform harms the weather” and that “it is unconscionable to do these things when we know that it kills the planet”. The couple now ekes out a living with subsistence farming - planting and harvesting organic potatoes and alfalfa in their estate in Corcelles.

After Judge Mousseron-Duplantier’s investigation, the Monthun couple’s case, being a criminal matter, moved to the Police Tribunal of Bâle. Yesterday, Judge Lucie-Annette Georgeteau-Capgras of the Police Tribunal of Bâle handed down the sentences to the couple. The couple’s lawyer, in mitigation, said that “the couple was very much enthralled by their daughter’s willpower” and “believed in what she said.” It was at the insistence of Grette, their lawyer said, “that Mr and Ms Monthun quit their work, avoid activites that will aggravate the weather, and live in harmony with the planet”

Judge Georgeteau-Capgras dismissed the argument, but offered psychiatric examination to the couple. She said that the couple might be suffering from folie à plusieurs (shared delusional disorder), commonly known as Lasègue-Falret syndrome in Saintonge. But the couple themselves resisted the idea that they themselves are delusional as well.

Judge Georgeteau-Capgras, in handing down the sentence, said that “…this court is not concerned as to whether the ominous ‘sky-is-falling’ predictions are credible or not, or whether it is simply too hot and stuffy inside the classrooms. We are not judging that matter. What this court is concerned with is whether these parents had neglected to seek professional help for their mentally ill child. A mental illness they may have even stoked and worsened.” Judge Georgeteau-Capgras then sentenced Mr and Mrs Monthun to five years in prison, with loss of custody over Ms Grette Monthun. Their other daughter, Marie-Beate is already of legal age. When asked for comment, she said, "It's raining men."

translation by Jérôme-Caden Barceloux Colcolough
07 January 2020 - 1644h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Mélanie Bacrot in Saintes
11 January 2020 - 0822h
SAINTES – after the Saintonge’s lower house of Parliament rejected the META Treaty in a surprise vote three weeks ago, the National Party government of Prime Minister Anne-Douceline Courseaux brought up another recourse to ratify the treaty: offer it up to the voters for a referendum.

Referendum option
The referendum option was first suggested by Mr Charles-Ferdinand de Pontleroy (N, 27^th Saintes), the chair of the parliamentary committee on foreign relations. This route was not taken seriously at first, with the government opting to lobby reluctant and recalcitrant deputies to ratify the treaty. But on the 20 December vote on the treaty’s ratification, the government fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to ratify as the majority of the National Party deputies rebelled against their own government.

Referendum bill
The government tabled the referendum bill as soon as the National Assembly reconvened last Monday. National Assembly President Sophie-Anne Laliberté (N, 1^st Basses-Brômes) certified the bill as urgent, as the government intends to hold the META referendum on the same day as the scheduled constitutional amendments referendum on 4 April.

The bill was passed by the National Assembly with a 292-100 vote last Thursday. All 33 Liberal deputies voted with the government. Seventeen Radical and four Green deputies abstained. Two government ministers also abstained: Labour Minister Jeanne-Élisabeth Vertières-Clérembault (N, 3^rd Bouche-du-Rhâne) and Social Welfare Minister Charlotte-Marie Graftiaux (N, 10^th Cenise). Ms Vertières-Clérembault and Ms Graftiaux had previously defied the government two weeks ago by voting against the ratification.

The numbers meant that 75 National Party deputies who either voted against or abstained during the ratification vote agreed to back the referendum.

“Parliament was ambivalent about the META treaty that was being offered to us,” said deputy Antoine-André Lacretele (N, 5^th Lisle), who voted against ratification. “Since Parliament can’t decide, maybe we should ask the people whether Saintonge will grab this once-in-a-generation opportunity.”

“I don’t see any strong clamour for or against META,” remarked Justice Minister Brice-Thibault Bardoux de Rosencoat (N, 2^nd Sée), who abstained on the ratification. “I suspect that the electorate will be as ambivalent as Parliament. But the government wanted to give META a definite answer.”

“I can see the advantages and disadvantages of META, but on the balance, for me it seemed bad for my constituents,” opined deputy Thorbjörn Höjsleth (N, 12^th Saintes), who also voted against ratification. “The government wanted to ask the people of Saintonge and my district. Why would I deny that to my constituents?”

Several deputies, including Mr Höjsleth, Jean-Isaac Cadroy (N, 2^nd Yerres), Angéline-Pierrette Cousineau (N, 4^th Semois), Joachim-Sébald Schoettel (N, 2^nd Sâne), Marc-Arthur Sublette (N, 1^st Sambre), and Joseph-Jacob Tranchand (N, 4^th Côle), had already pledged to vote in accordance to the result of the referendum.

The House of Lords passed the referendum bill yesterday in an 116-31 vote, with 49 abstentions. The referendum is scheduled on the 4 April.

“Risky” move
Political analyst Marie-Danielle Ponceau opined that the referendum recourse is a “risky, but necessary move for the Courseaux government. It is the only avenue left.”

“The government has to salvage this opportunity to get into META. Having faced defeat in the lower house, they are turning to the electorate for support. This is risky because a defeat in the referendum is even more embarrassing for Prime Minister Courseaux and would make her prime ministership even more untenable.”

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
11 January 2020 - 1152h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Science and Technology


by Léonard-Archambault Defermon in Saintes
24 January 2020 - 0912h
SAINTES – The Royal Institutes of Health (Instituts royaux de la santé, IRSanté) announced that the trailblazing free search engine SciPub, is now more accessible in other countries with the launch of its Mercanti version.

SciPub
SciPub (short for Sciences Publiques) is a project created and maintained by Saintonge’s National Library of Medicine (Bibliothèque nationale de médecine, BNM), a section of the Royal Library of Saintonge (Bibliothèque royale de Saintonge, BRS), the country’s national library. The SciPub search engine accessing primarily the BNM’s database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The project is funded by IRSanté.

From SciPub, researchers and scientists can access scientific abstracts, some full-text articles (when available), and multiple databases housed by the IRSanté and BNM. Some of these databases being made available include those pertaining to genetic disorders (Héritage genetique chez l'humain); human genes, DNA and RNA sequences, and proteins (BioSystèmes); the mapped human genome (Projet génome humain); other mapped animal genomes and genes (HomoloGène); public epidemiologic and health data (PopSanté); chemicals (BibChem) and drugs (Médicaments.st); and taxonomic data on plants (BoTaxon), animals (ZooTaxon), fungi (MycoTaxon), algae (PhycoTaxon), bacteria (BacTaxon), and viruses (ViroTaxon). Many of these databases are the leading resources in their respective fields.

Free online books and digitised books are also available through BibSci (Bibliothèque scientifique). Examples of free online books include those written by IRSanté scientists and researchers for the public, such as Fondamentaux des vaccinations (Fundamentals of Vaccinations) and Santé et sécurité dans votre maison (Health and Safety in Your Home). Digitised books include books in the public domain and books that had their copyright expired, such as Anatomie de Grisé (1920), a popular textbook of anatomy by Dr. Henri Grisé, and Système Naturel (1768) by Charles de Linné.

Increased Accessibility
The head of the SciPub team, Dr. Nolwenn Kergoat-Pedeutour, acknowledged that SciPub was inaccessible to many outside the Santo-Ceretian language sphere because it was only available in Santonian until recently. “Those that know Ceretian were able to access it,” said Dr. Kergoat-Pedeutour, “as do the many academics and scientists who have trained in Saintonge, or learned Santonian to be able to do research in it.”

“It actually increased the prestige of Santonian as a language of science,” said Dr. Anne-Maëlle Le Duff, BNM’s coordinator for the SciPub project. Dr. Le Duff points out that many international journals use Santonian or publish a translated Mercanti version. “But promoting the Santonian language that is not the point of SciPub. The point of SciPub is to make science accessible and available to anyone.”

“Science knows no language boundaries,” added Dr. Kergoat-Pedeutour. “Which is why for the past few years, we started adding and indexing journals that are not published in Santonian, Ceretian, or Mercanti.”

The SciPub team has launched the Mercanti version of its search engine, making it more accessible in other countries. It will still return abstracts and results in the Santonian language, as translating all the databases and the books “is prohibitively expensive”, said Dr. Kergoat-Pedeutour.

The SciPub group also has an open invitation with other similar organisations in other countries to coordinate and collaborate to improve the search engine or even simply translate it in order make it accessible to their own researchers.

translation by Hunter Kidlington de Collobrières
24 January 2020 - 1647h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Mélanie Bacrot in Saintes
27 January 2020 - 1506h
SAINTES – the Royal Elections Institute (IRE, Institut royal des elections) had finalized the timetable for the referendum on 4 April. All Santonian citizens are required to vote in the referendum. The referendum consists of five propositions – four of which are constitutional amendments, and the fifth is for the ratification of Saintonge’s accession treaty to Meterra Economic Treaty Association (Association du traité économique meterrien, META/ATEM). In addition, the IRE for the department of the Simbruins scheduled the special departmental council election on the same day. The IRE will be mailing campaign brochures and voting instructions to all Santonian electors by the end of February.

Proposition 1: Balanced Budget Amendment
Proposition 1 will force Santonian governments into balancing the budget. Proposition 1 will write into the constitution both a balanced-budget clause and a debt-brake clause. The balanced-budget clause forbids the Santonian government from running a structural deficit of more than 0.35% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The debt-brake clause caps the public debt at 60% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

Proposition 2: Establishment of the Santonian National Fund as a constitutional body
Proposition 2 will transform the current National Investment Company of Saintonge (SNIS: Société nationale d'investissement de Saintonge) into a constitutional body known as the Santonian National Fund (FNS: Fond national saintongeais).

Proposition 3: Beginning of Life Amendment
Proposition 3 will define life as beginning at conception, effectively entrenching Saintonge’s strict limits on abortion into the constitution. Currently, abortion in Saintonge is allowed only if the mother’s life or health is threatened.

Proposition 4: Abolition of Death Penalty
Proposition 4 will enshrine into the constitution a ban on the death penalty for all crimes. Despite Saintonge abolishing the death penalty for most crimes after the Santonian Revolution, the current constitution still retained it for the most severe crimes of terrorism, regicide, treason, and crimes against humanity.

Proposition 5: META Accession
Proposition 5 will direct the Parliament of Saintonge to ratify the META accession treaty. From the text of the law passed for the referendum, Proposition 5 is binding on Parliament, although individual deputies have stated that they will vote in accordance to the electorate.

Special Election in the Simbruins
Last autumn’s standoff in the Departmental Council of the Simbruins resulted in the Interior Ministry suspended the departmental council. Parliament then passed a law last January 15, dissolving the Departmental Council of the Simbruins and directing the IRE to hold fresh elections for the remainder of the departmental council’s term.

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
28 January 2020 - 0815h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Mélanie Bacrot in Saintes
19 February 2020 - 1542h
SAINTES – In her weekly press conference at the Government Palace, Prime Minister Anne-Douceline Courseaux dropped a bombshell: she intends to resign as Prime Minister and leader of the National Party if Proposition 5 (META Accession Treaty) fails in the April 4 referendum.

“Me and my government supports the accession of the Kingdom of Saintonge to the Meterra Economic Treaty Association. If the electorate does not support the treaty, me and my government will resign.”

Latest polls
Prime Minister Courseaux’s announcement upped the ante in the campaign for Proposition 5, the most hotly debated and divisive of the five questions to be asked in the April referendum.

The latest STV/Populus/l’Indépendant poll shows wide majorities approving all four constitutional amendments. Ranging from 67% approval for the Balanced Budget Amendment (Proposition 1) and 59% for the Beginning of Life Amendment (Proposition 3); with only 20%-25% still undecided.

For the ratification of the META Treaty (Proposition 5), on the other hand, the polling was tight: 27% intend to vote for, 28% intend to vote against, and 45% were undecided. The difference between both sides is well within the survey’s margin of error. The large chunk of undecided voters means that there is still time to sway potential electors one way or the other.

High stakes
According to political analysts, Ms Courseaux’s move was calculated to shift the country’s mood to supporting the treaty. “Prime Minister Courseaux still has a lot of personal popularity,” said analyst Marie-Danielle Ponceau, “and she is leveraging that immense personal popularity to have the electorate support META.”

Prime Minister Courseaux’s approval ratings last month was +83 (89% approval, 6% disapproval), and even among opponents of META in the National Party, it was still +49 (72% approval, 23% disapproval).

Even opponents of META in the National Assembly expressed their wish to have Ms Courseaux continue as Prime Minister. “I would want Ms Courseaux to stay as Prime Minister, but I don’t want Saintonge in META,” commented Thorbjörn Höjsleth (N, 12^th Saintes) in his Twitcher account. “It’s a good thing that the electorate will decide.”

For META supporters, such as National Assembly deputy Louise-Ophélie Bachelard (N, 4^th Arconce), the announcement spurred them to mobilise. Ms Bachelard was one of the first MPs to start campaigning door-to-door for META. “It’s like a reprisal of last year’s campaign,” she told a local news station.

For the opposition parties of the Coalition (Liberal and Radical Parties), Ms Courseaux’s announcement will not change their stances in favour or META. “The Liberal Party is not going to exploit the referendum to make the government fall,” said Liberal Party and opposition leader Paul-Lenthéric Baumann (L, 2^nd Lauter). “We will stick to our principles and not fall to political opportunism. We remain, as always, in favour of META and free trade.”

“We did not want the referendum; now Madame Courseaux effectively made it a referendum on herself too,” said Radical Party leader Georges Conté de Caunes (R, 4^th Capoterre). “However, the Radical Party opts to support a ‘yes’ vote in line with our ideology and our long-held stances. If it helps Madame Courseaux retain her position as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saintonge, she can thank us later.”

Outcome uncertain
With the close polling and the large number of undecided voters, the outcome for Proposition 5 remains uncertain. “The outcome for Proposition 5 is still wide open,” opined Ms Ponceau. “We will find out on April 4.”

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
19 Feb 2020 - 1733h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Anne-Marcelline de Saint-Corentin in Saintes
05 April 2020 - 0526h
SAINTES – voters in the Kingdom of Saintonge passed all five propositions in yesterday’s referendum. Four of the propositions were constitutional amendments, and the last proposition was regarding a treaty ratification. All of the constitutional amendments passed by wide margins.

Constitutional Referenda
Proposition 1, or the Balanced Budget Amendment, will write into the constitution both a balanced-budget clause and a debt-brake clause. The balanced-budget clause forbids the Santonian government from running a structural deficit of more than 0.35% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The debt-brake clause caps the public debt at 60% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. The proposition passed with 80.5% voting YES.

Proposition 2 will transform the current National Investment Company of Saintonge (SNIS: Société nationale d'investissement de Saintonge) into a constitutional body known as the Santonian National Fund (FNS: Fond national saintongeais). Santonians also overwhelmingly endorsed the proposition, with 79.2% voting for it.

Proposition 3 will define life as beginning at conception, effectively entrenching Saintonge’s strict limits on abortion into the constitution: elective termination of pregnancy will be allowed only if the mother’s life or health is threatened. Despite some opposition from the Radical Party, the Santonian electorate approved the proposition, with 74.2% voting YES for Proposition 3.

Proposition 4 completely abolished the death penalty in Saintonge. After the Santonian Revolution, the country abolished capital punishment except for most severe crimes of terrorism, regicide, treason, and crimes against humanity. Saintonge is abolitionist in practice, with the last execution in 1911. The Santonian voters gave an 82.4% YES for Proposition 4.

META Ratification
The most contentious proposition proved to be Proposition 5, on the accession of the Kingdom of Saintonge to the Meterra Economic Treaty Organisation (META). After the ratification of the accession treaty failed in the divided National Assembly last December 2019, the government of Prime Minister Anne-Douceline Courseaux put the question before the electorate in a binding referendum. The Prime Minister even staked her future on the referendum result, promising to resign if the proposition fails.

The result for Proposition 5 was very close. After switching between YES and NO throughout the night of counting, the result came down to the city of Coire (Haine). Saintonge narrowly approved accession to META, with a 50.1% YES vote, or a 186,212 vote margin. The vote was fraught with surprises, with parts of eastern Saintonge voting NO. Even the Prime Minister’s home constituency and home department voted NO.

The Santonian Parliament is expected to respect the vote and formally ratify the treaty next week.

Special election in the Simbruins
Along with the referendum, voters in the department of the Simbruins also elected a new departmental council, after the previous Coalition-led departmental council was dissolved by the National Assembly last December 2019. The dissolution was brought about by the du Tertre scandal, which caused gridlock in the council and a clash with the judicial authorities.

The newly-reconstituted Simbruins departmental council has a National majority, with 59 National councillors, 23 Liberal councillors, 11 Radical councillors, and 6 Green councillors. The change in hands of the Simbruins departmental council is expected to increase to 135 the number of National representatives in the House of Lords.

written with Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles and Hunter Kidlington de Collobrières
05 Apr 2020 - 0526h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Mélanie Bacrot in Saintes
19 April 2020 - 1623h
SAINTES - former Prime Minister Jean-Louis Hauteclocque de Champtoceaux (JLHC) has tendered his resignation last Friday to National Assembly President Sophie-Anne Laliberté. JLHC resigned his seat for the 6^th electoral circumscription of the Haine in order to take up a position as Vice-Chairman of the Institute for Global Affairs (IGA). The IGA, as its website describes it, is an independent, nonpartisan membership organisation/think tank based in Syrixia.

Resignation
For most observers, such a resignation was warranted. “We don’t want conflicts of interest between being a member of the National Assembly of Saintonge, responsible for representing our constituents; and being part of and getting remuneration from a foreign organisation,” said the head of the National Assembly Ethics Committee, Paul-Eelco Palmaert (N, 2^nd Margerides).

Two other high-profile Santonians had previously been high-ranking members of the IGA. Former Prime Minister (1975-1985) Charles-Martin Perrier des Jarlais (Liberal) became part of the IGA in 1988. He also resigned his Sarine-3 seat in 1988 to take up the IGA position. After Mr Perrier des Jarlais, former Radical Party leader Henri-Périclès Grandsire de Silvarouvres also became part of the IGA in 2001. He also had to resign his Tage-5 seat.

Mr Palmaert revealed that Mr Hauteclocque de Champtoceaux sought the committee’s advice. The recommendation was that the two positions were incompatible and he had to choose only one.

Reaction
Though not unprecedented, JLHC’s resignation for a position in a Syrixian organisation raised a few eyebrows in Saintonge. While the two countries generally get along well, Saintonge is traditionally weary of Syrixian imperialism. “Borderline treason,” commented firebrand leftist deputy Jean-Quentin Hamel (N, 3^rd Saintes).

Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelline Tréhet (N, 2^nd Côtes-du-Nord) declined to pass judgment. “Wherever Mr Hauteclocque de Champtoceaux seeks employment is not under the purview of the government.”

Liberal leader Paul-Lenthéric Baumann (L, 2^nd Lauter), simply said, “We wish Louis the best in his future endeavours.”

“It is much less of a firestorm with JLHC than it was with Perrier des Jarlais in 1988,” commented political science analyst Marie-Danielle Ponceau, “mostly because Santonians don’t see any harm in former leaders going to the IGA – with the experience of Perrier des Jarlais and Grandsire de Silvarouvres. A poll actually shows that some Santonians think it might even be beneficial for Saintonge.”

Firestorm on the controversial replacement
What gathered more controversy was JLHC’s suppléant, the 48-year old Justin-Pierre Brudeau. Seat resignations in the National Assembly normally do not trigger by-elections in Saintonge as voters elect their member of Parliament with his/her a substitute (suppléant) during elections.

Mr Brudeau, a 48-year old drama teacher in Coire, was sworn-in the same day as JLHC tendered his resignation. A few hours after the announcement of Mr Brudeau as the new deputy for the 6^th electoral circumscription of the Haine, images of him surfaced online, showing him in various costumes and cosplays that were deemed offensive.


The most controversial image showed Mr Brudeau in brownface wearing a turban at a party in 2001 as a “Syrixian”. Commenters online slammed the picture as being “insensitive”, “racist”, and “ignorant”. “Doesn’t he know that Syrixians don’t wear turbans?” was the post of MP Charles-Ferdinand de Pontleroy (N, 27^th Saintes), chair of the foreign affairs committee of the National Assembly. “I presume he ate curry in that getup too?” was the sarcastic Twitcher comment of actress Anne-Brigitte Bardeau. Ms Bardeau then added, “Gosh this Justin guy is so ignorant.”

Another video which stirred up similar comments was Mr Brudeau in a blackface, pretending to be a Kosh-drinking Astragonese at a party. The Astragonese Cultural Society in Saintonge called Mr Brudeau "a man of extraordinary bad taste" and issued a call for him to apologise or to resign.

It turned out that Mr Brudeau, a drama teacher, had a lot of embarrassing cosplays. One showed him wearing a Shaddaist yarmulke, and then was next seen eating a pork sausage he got from the buffet. Mr Brudeau also angered the Hessunlander community in Saintonge by wearing a fascist Himdoch costume as passing it off as “Hessunlander.”

“This is outrageous,” said Paul-Dirk Krippenstapel, president of the Fraternité des Hessunlandaises en Saintonge (Fraternal Order of Hessunlanders in Saintonge). “Hessunlanders were the one who helped brought Himdoch down, Hessunlanders suffered under Himdoch. Mr Brudeau portraying him as the representation of Hessunlanders disgusts me.”

Over the weekend, the internet uncovered dozens of pictures of the new MP in various costumes, with the Santonian internet feasting, criticising, and panning the politically-incorrect, embarrassing, outrageous pictures of Mr Brudeau. L’Indépendant sought Mr Brudeau for comment, but hasn’t received a reply yet.

translated by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
19 Apr 2020 - 1825h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Patrice-Anselm Théveneau in Sancoins
28 April 2020 - 1916h
SAINTES – the Royal Santonian Navy launched the Ours Polaire, the newest addition to its bevy of ships. She had her launching at the Sancoins Naval Shipyard, in the presence of Defence Minister Marc-Maëlmon de Liescoët and Chief of the Royal Santonian Navy Admiral Christophe-Stanislas Guillemardet.

Ours Polaire
Ours Polaire (“Polar Bear”) is a double-acting ship capable of sailing in open waters and becoming an icebreaker in frozen seas. Ours Polaire replaces Briseglace, an aged commercial icebreaker-tanker that was bought and converted into an armed Navy ship in 2004. Briseglace served in the operations in saving and transporting refugees during the Prydanian Civil War, which entailed passing through icy waters. The hazards of ice caused Saintonge to think of procuring an icebreaking ship, where previously it had none, as the north Meterran Sea does not freeze.

Ours Polaire is the lead ship of its class, with a second icebreaking ship, Renne (“Reindeer”), being constructed at Sancoins Naval Shipyard at 56% completion. A third ship Manchot (“Penguin”) is in the pipeline.

Security Implications
That Saintonge, a country whose waters do not freeze, is building icebreakers could raise eyebrows among observers. “The Royal Santonian Navy learned their lesson in 2002-2003,” said defence analyst Timothée Huguenard of the University of Saintes. “One of the Royal Santonian Navy ships almost sunk during the operations, and it became clear that the country needed assistance and capability in icy waters.”

Mr Huguenard was referring to the incident when the Royal Santonian Navy frigate Doire nearly sank in the icy international waters off Korova in December 2002. Doire was then carrying rescued Prydanian refugees; these had to be immediately transferred to its sister ship Ravennes and a nearby passenger ship. Ravennes had to tow Doire back to Saintonge. Doire was irreparable and was eventually scrapped.

The building of the icebreakers was also consistent with the building of the amphibious assault ships Saintonge, Liberté, and Révolution, capable of taking in vertical take-off/landing (VTOL) planes. “Saintonge wanted to have air support in seas not accessible from land bases in Saintonge,” said Mr Huguenard. “Though they could be used for offensive purposes, the stated reasons why Saintonge built those ships was because it would make their sea patrol and anti-piracy operations more effective. Essentially, the reason why the amphibious assault ships and the icebreakers were built wasn’t for offensive and power projection; it was for maintaining peace at sea.”

Mr de Liescoët also tried to assuage concerns regarding the icebreakers during Ours Polaire’s launching. “Trade routes need to be open year-round and be kept safe. As a responsible member of the international community, the Kingdom of Saintonge would want to assist other countries and the global community in achieving that.”

translated by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
28 Apr 2020 - 0825h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Mélanie Bacrot in Saintes
28 April 2020 - 1533h
SAINTES – the Santonian Parliament yesterday implemented the referendum result by ratifying the Treaty for the Meterra Economic Treaty Association (Association du traité économique meterrien, META/ATEM).

Vote
The National Assembly voted 306-4, with 121 abstentions, to ratify the treaty. The House of Lords followed with a 150-11 vote, with 35 abstentions. The massive number of abstentions in Parliament came from deputies who were against META, but would not vote YES to respect the referendum. Only the Green Party representatives voted against. King Thibault II issued Royal Assent earlier this morning.

New Committee
In response to Saintonge’s accession to its first major multinational organisation, the National Assembly had formalised its parliamentary Subcommittee on Meterran Affairs (Sous-commission des affaires meterriennes) under the Committee of Foreign Affairs. The subcommittee is led by Éric-Joseph Goérec (N, 3^rd Aulne).

Rejection of New Applicants
Yesterday, the Subcommittee on Meterran Affairs voted down the application of both McMasterdonia (10-11 vote) and Ulstome (9-12 vote) as full members and as third-party members of META, respectively, preventing Saintonge from consenting to their admission to the organisation. Deputy Marc-Lancelin Enjubault (N, 3^rd Dronne), who led the opposition to the admission, said that “we have nothing against McMasterdonia or Ulstome, it more like we need more clarity on what full or third-party membership entails.” The adverse subcommittee vote means that the full committee will not be tackling the issue.

translated by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
28 Apr 2020 - 1925h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Loïc Perreault in Saintes
9 May 2020 - 0925h
SAINTES – the Santonian company Bionicles was awarded the Duke of Saintes Award for its work on prosthetic limbs.

The Duke of Saintes Award is an annual award, from the Crown Prince of Saintonge, given to individuals and organisations to recognise outstanding humanitarian contributions. Previous recipients included l’Indépendant journalists Mériadec Rocquinarc’h and Adam-Denis Latteux (1991) for their brave coverage of the Hessunlander Hunger Winter that led to the wider world learning about the humanitarian disaster; and to former Santonian Ambassador to Prydania Thomas Lasmartres (2018), instrumental in assisting fleeing refugees during the Prydanian Civil War.

This year’s award also goes to another entity involved in the Kingdom of Prydania. Bionicles is a non-profit subsidiary of the Santonian company Bionics S.à.R.L., a Ratisbonne-based company that makes advanced robotic and custom prosthetic limbs. In 2017, in the aftermath of the Prydanian civil war, Bionics’ president Baudouin-Conrad Robien de Brouckère visited Prydania as part of the delegation from the Santonian National Church. “There I saw the need,” Mr Robien de Brouckère said. “A lot of people were injured in the war, in fighting, in the crossfire, from the landmines. Many can’t get to their old lives back, and can’t provide for their families because of the injuries they sustained. Even a simple working wooden leg was out of reach for many.”

Mr Robien de Brouckère then teamed up with the Archdiocese of Ratisbonne to create the non-profit Bionicles. Bionicles operates only in Prydania to provide low-cost but advanced robotic prosthetic limbs for victims of the Prydanian Civil War. The cost for the patients’ assessments, physical and occupational therapy, and training is handled by the Prydanian healthcare system; while the cost of producing the prosthetics is shouldered by Bionicles, which is funded by the Archdiocese of Ratisbonne, the Dioceses of Creusenac and Trèves, and numerous private donations. Bionics S.à.R.L. makes no profit on the prosthetic limbs, although Bionicles’ prosthetic limbs use Bionics’ advanced technology.

Bionicles has established two “foundries” in Prydania, one in the capital Beaconsviði and the other in Jórvik, which has a higher-than-average number of people needing prosthetics, largely due to the numerous landmines planted there during the Civil War.

Response to Bionicles has been very positive, especially as it has given people new hope. Bionicles has also pioneered the development of adjustable prosthetics that can be re-used or handed down between individuals. “Getting prosthetics for children is a very big issue,” said Mr Robien de Brouckère. “In a lot of cases, even in Saintonge, children don’t get advanced prosthetics because they will outgrow them soon. It’s like children’s clothes or shoes: they would need to replace them every few years or so. But unlike clothes and shoes, advanced prosthetics are expensive, and most people can’t afford to change it every few years or so.” Bionicles’ response was to create prosthetics that are age-specific but adjustable. When the child outgrows the old prosthetic, the old prosthetic can be re-fitted to another patient, where its adjustability allows the prosthetic to be used by another patient. “It’s like hand-me-downs,” commented Mr Robien de Brouckère, “it’s a testament to the durability of the prosthetic too.”

One recipient, six-year-old Brynþór Snæberg, was ecstatic at his hand-me-down Bionicles prosthetic arm. “I can hug Mýrkjartan now,” he said, referring to his younger brother. Brynþór’s prosthetic was previously used by nine-year old Ketilbjörn Miðdal, who himself was being fitted with a new prosthetic. “I’m happy for Brynþór,” the nine-year old said. “That robot arm helped me a lot. I hope he takes care of it so it can be used again.”

The £100,000 award will go directly to Bionicles’ activities. “It’s going to help at lot of people,” Mr Robien de Brouckère said. “And the recognition of our activities would be a great help to our fundraising efforts.”

translated by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
09 May 2020 - 1128h

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OOC: Post pre-approved with Prydania.

President: The Chair recognises the deputy from Saintes, Mr Thorbjörn Höjsleth.

Mr Höjsleth: Thank you, Madame President.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, my colleagues in the National Assembly.

I am standing here before you, not merely as the deputy of the twelfth electoral circumscription of Saintes, where my constituents include twelve thousand people of Prydanian descent.

I am standing here as a person of Prydanian descent, as a refugee, as someone who has endured the depredations of war.

We have all heard about the attack on the Andrennian legislature. We all recognise that it was a barbaric, terrorist act. But the actions of people and nations escalated this into a cycle of bloody revenge, plunging northern Gothis into the horrors of war. Diplomacy was not given a chance; it was resolved that so-called justice had to be extracted by force and violence. Retribution was to be exacted: blood has to be paid by even more blood.

At this moment, there is now a new flashpoint in our world, threatening to spread conflagration to Gothis and beyond.

But instead of helping douse the fire imperilling the world, several nations chose to add fuel to the flame.

In that category, sadly, is the Kingdom of Prydania, my nation of birth, which remains dear and beloved to me. The Kingdom of Prydania has sent a regiment of thousand soldiers to fight for a belligerent side in the conflict. It doesn’t matter which side the country chose to send men to face the carnage of war. I am thoroughly disappointed at the course of action the Kingdom of Prydania had chosen.

I would’ve thought that the Kingdom of Prydania would’ve had enough of the bloodshed. I would’ve thought that after going through the harrowing nightmares of war, the Kingdom of Prydania would’ve given peace a chance. I would’ve thought that the Kingdom of Prydania would rather focus its resources on rebuilding the country.

Instead the Kingdom of Prydania opted to send men – fathers, husbands, sons – again to the battlefield. The vultures would be delighted. And it horrifies me that after the losses the Kingdom of Prydania has sustained, it wants to lose even more. It wants to inflict on other nations the same suffering, misery, and anguish that it had experienced. It pains me to say, that as a Prydanian, I am ashamed that this is the path that Prydania has chosen.

I am sure the Kingdom of Prydania will frame this as paying back the debt of blood it has on the Andrennians that fought for it during its civil war.

But again, I reiterate the question: Does blood have to be repaid with blood?

What about trying to avert the war? What about trying to use its experiences to convince people and nations of the futility of conflict and bloodshed in settling accounts? Or has the Kingdom of Prydania just resigned to bleeding itself dry until the oceans turn red?

I also have another uncomfortable question to ask. The Kingdom of Saintonge is providing the Kingdom of Prydania with millions of livres in aid. If the Kingdom of Prydania participates in this war, does it mean that the Kingdom of Saintonge is indirectly funding the warmongering?

It is a question I need to ask this government. I would be aghast to see our money being used for war and violence. I am sure many of you will be. As a member of the National Assembly, I will not consent to the money of the Kingdom of Saintonge being used this way.

I would like to invite the government to clarify its commitments to the Kingdom of Prydania. If it means shutting off the taps to prevent any Santonian money from being bloodied, so be it.

All I wanted is for peace to reign in this world. I do not want anybody else to experience what I had been through, what Prydania had been through. And yet here we are: even the country that should have known better, clearly doesn’t.

I would like to thank the Assembly for allowing me, a Prydanian war refugee and a recipient of Saintonge’s goodwill, to speak to this Chamber. I am grateful to eighty-five of my colleagues who have signified their formal support for this stand and have allowed their names to appear in the Journal de l’Assemblée nationale as such.

Mr Thorbjörn Höjsleth, deputy for Saintes

The following deputies have signified their support for M. Höjsleth’s address:

1. Joseph-Stanislas Andrault, deputy for the Scyotte (National)
2. Brice-Kentigern Ardisson, deputy for Saintes (National)
3. Stéphane-Fabien Bertucat, deputy for the Bourbre (National)
4. Ruth-Antoinette Bibié de Villebanois, deputy for the Sambre (National)
5. Baudouin-Tjeerd Blanckaert, deputy for the Inde (National)
6. Marc-Timoléon Bloncourt, deputy for Saintes (National)
7. Isabelle Bonnet-Priault, deputy for Saintes (National)
8. Marc-Camille Boussoutrot, deputy for Saintes (National)
9. Mylène Boutonnat, deputy for the Bouche-du-Rhâne (National)
10. Danielle-Avelline Briquet, deputy for the Simbruins (National)
11. Étienne-Adam Brocheton, deputy for the Epte (National)
12. Sacha Brouillette, deputy for Saintes (National)
13. Jean-Diomède Caillaux, deputy for Saintes (National)
14. Jules Carrère, deputy for Saintes (National)
15. Lucien-Joseph Chambonnet, deputy for the Cenise (National)
16. Jourdain Clairault, deputy for the Taur (National)
17. Marc-Geoffroy Converset, deputy for the Saine-et-Loine (National)
18. Raphaël-Gottschalk Coster, deputy for the Lauter (National)
19. Nathalène du Coudray-Tronson, deputy for the Haute-Saine (National)
20. Angéline-Pierrette Cousineau, deputy for the Semois (National)
21. Lucille Dariac-Bisaillon, deputy for the Limagne (National)
22. Aglaé Delcassé, deputy for Saintes (Vert)
23. Anne-Caroline Desgranges, deputy for Saintes (National)
24. Anne-Sabine Deulneau, deputy for Saintes (National)
25. Baldéric Dillon Carême, deputy for the Bouche-du-Rhâne (National)
26. Cédric-Edmond Durbach, deputy for the Lac (National)
27. Marc-Lancelin Enjubault, deputy for the Dronne (National)
28. Nolwenn-Gabrielle Exquemelin, deputy for the Rance (National)
29. Jérôme-Faustin Fresnel de Comborn, deputy for the Trieux (National)
30. Adrien-Georges Froment, deputy for Saintes (National)
31. Charlotte-Marie Graftiaux, deputy for the Cenise (National)
32. Jean-Baptiste Grandprey, deputy for the Bouche-du-Rhâne (National)
33. Marc-Tobias Guillereault, deputy for the Scyotte (National)
34. Marc-Diethelm Gundéram, deputy for the Sûre (National)
35. Fabien-Caël Guyonnet, deputy for the Cenise (National)
36. Joris-Charles Haesebroeck, deputy for the Margerides (National)
37. Jean-Quentin Hamel, deputy for Saintes (National)
38. Matthieu-Archambault Hauducoeur, deputy for the Corb (National)
39. Anne-Louise Hérard, deputy for the Breuse (National)
40. Iseult Jaffrelot, deputy for the Haut-Rhâne (Vert)
41. Laurent Junot, deputy for the Semois (Vert)
42. Charles-Thibault Koeberlé, deputy for the Lac (National)
43. Thomas-Isidore Lacassagne, deputy for the Huisne (National)
44. Victor-James Lamirault, deputy for the Dropt (National)
45. Joël-Fulcrand Langevin, deputy for the Roer (National)
46. Daniel-Patrick Lebarbenchon, deputy for the Monce-et-Briance (National)
47. Marie-Solange Lépine-Desputeaux, deputy for Saintes (National)
48. Marie-Adrienne Linières, deputy for the Bouche-du-Rhâne (National)
49. Joseph-Ronan Manhaval, deputy for the Sée (National)
50. Jean-Brendan Marcouyoux, deputy for the Doire (National)
51. Geneviève Masteau-Lacoste, deputy for the Cenise (National)
52. Charles-Raymond Mathurin, deputy for the Saine-et-Loine (National)
53. François-Henri Maujean de Montarcher, deputy for the Tamise (National)
54. Marie-Annette Méjansac, deputy for the Luberon (National)
55. Charles-Grégoire Mennecier, deputy for the Epte (National)
56. Julienne Micaux-Joyandet, deputy for the Puy-d’Or (National)
57. Marie-Monique Moncelle, deputy for the Saine-et-Loine (National)
58. Romaric Monsacré, deputy for the Sambre (National)
59. Julienne-Marie Paccard, deputy for the Scyotte (National)
60. Paul-Eelco Palmaert, deputy for the Margerides (National)
61. Joseph-Léonard Pézières, deputy for the Côle (National)
62. Marius-Kieran Poirier, deputy for the Lys (National)
63. Paul-Lambert Pointaire, deputy for the Lisle (National)
64. Michel-Jean Quinson, deputy for the Puy-d’Or (National)
65. Léa Ribereau-Lesage, deputy for the Côle (National)
66. Anne-Maëlys Riffaterre, deputy for the Seudre (National)
67. Matthias-Paul Rillart, deputy for the Dropt (National)
68. Éric-Kilian Roederer, deputy for the Vôges (National)
69. Kimo-Philippe de Sabarthès, deputy for Saintes (Vert)
70. Pierre-Médard Samary, deputy for the Semois (National)
71. Anne-Laëtitia Savornin, deputy for the Tessin (National)
72. Éthan-Baldéric Schmitthaeusler, deputy for the Ill (National)
73. Joachim-Sébald Schoettel, deputy for the Sâne (National)
74. Marc-Bonaventure Séjourné, deputy for the Sarine (National)
75. Jean-Laurent Servonat, deputy for the Saine-et-Loine (National)
76. Marie-Chantal Stoll, deputy for the Sâne (National)
77. Franck Taradeau, deputy for Saintes (National)
78. Marc-Cuthbert Taittinger, deputy for the Vôges (National)
79. Tristan Thillardon, deputy for the Leir (National)
80. Anne-Claudette Thirial, deputy for the Saine-et-Loine (National)
81. Marie-Marthe Trenaunay, deputy for the Lisle (National)
82. Damien-Pierre Trochereau, deputy for the Lisle (National)
83. Isabelle Vautrin-Caillaud, deputy for Saintes (National)
84. Jeanne-Élisabeth Vertières-Clerembault, deputy for the Bouche-du-Rhâne (National)
85. Daniel-Gaétan Vidocq, deputy for the Scyotte (National)

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories



by Mélanie Bacrot in Saintes
SAINTES – During the weekly Minister’s Questions yesterday, Foreign Minister Marcelline Tréhet (N, 2^nd Côtes-du-Nord) assured the National Assembly that Saintonge is not funding a war.

Mr Höjsleth’s speech
The question was raised by deputy Joris-Charles Haesebroeck (N, 2^nd Margerides), as an offshoot of the privilege speech given by deputy Thorbjörn Höjsleth (N, 12^th Saintes). In his speech last week, Mr Höjsleth criticised the decision of Prydania to assist Andrenne in its war against Dučrijeka. Mr Höjsleth, the first Prydanian-born member of the Santonian Parliament, decried the lack of diplomacy leading to the war and the decision of Prydania to send soldiers, even as his war-torn former homeland was still trying to recover from the devastation of fifteen years of civil war. Mr Höjsleth also asked the government to clarify whether Santonian aid money was funding Prydanian war efforts. When Mr Höjsleth delivered his privilege speech, he was supported by 85 members of parliament (MPs) – one-fifth of the National Assembly, including Mr Haesebroeck.

‘Saintonge is not funding a war’
In her answer to the question, Ms Tréhet said that “His Majesty’s Government takes note of the concerns of the deputy from the Margerides, as originally expressed by the deputy from Saintes. I am sure they don't want the Kingdom of Saintonge withdrawing all aid to the Kingdom of Prydania, an idea that I hope does not have widespread currency in this chamber. Withdrawing aid will simply set back and invalidate all our efforts in rebuilding the country.

His Majesty's government understands the concern raised by one-fifth of the members of this Chamber. Saintonge is not funding a war. As far as I know, none of the Santonian foreign aid went to the Prydanian military. To assure this chamber, the Foreign Ministry has also directed Ambassador Childéric-Timoléon Colson de Larichaudy to ensure that Santonian aid will not be used to directly fund the war effort.”

Predice parallels
In an interpellation, deputy Fridolin Wandelaincourt (N, 1^st Argens) drew parallels between today’s Santonian help to Prydania and Santonian help to Predice during the Fascist War. “We may have disapproved of the politics of the country we are helping, but it is important that Saintonge help the people who are suffering.”

Reply
For his right of reply, Mr Haesebroeck yielded the floor to Mr Höjsleth. Mr Höjsleth thanked Ms Tréhet for her clarification. “I would like to express my gratitude to Madame Minister for her assurances and the perseverance of her Ministry that the Santonian aid goes to its intended beneficiaries and purposes. I would also like to thank this Chamber and this country for extending a helping hand to my people. I could never thank Saintonge enough for everything it has done for Prydania.”

Backlash in Prydania
Mr Höjsleth’s speech last week caused a backlash in his old country. The leader of the Opposition in the Alþingi (the Prydanian legislature), Ms Tenna Nygaard, criticised Mr Höjsleth: "I think it's a disgrace... For him to both compare our actions to the bloodshed caused by Syndicalist war criminals and to criticize the very government that was formed by people who opposed those criminals is insulting. It's ludicrous. He claims this country is still beloved to him. I don't see it.”

Prydanians in Saintonge support the MP
Prydanian organisations in Saintonge were quick to defend Mr Höjsleth. “We support Thorbjörn in his stand. Saintonge’s support to Prydania must go to the people and to the country, not to foreign adventures,” said Björnar Fylkesnes, head of the Fraternité des Prydaniens en Saintonge/Bræðralag Prydanna í Santonlands (Brotherhood of Prydanians in Saintonge), a mutual-help organisation for Prydanians in Saintonge.

“Thorbjörn criticised the actions of the Prydanian government,” observed Brynsteinn Myrmann of the Société prydanienne / Samfélag Prydansk (Prydanian Society), the largest civil society group for Santonians of Prydanian descent. “He did not badmouth the King of Prydania. If one reads the statements carefully, he did not insult the country as a whole. People should learn that the government is not equivalent to the country. The Social Commonwealth does not define Prydania. The Syndicalists do not define Prydania. This… action by the current government does not define Prydania.”

“It was a cry for help,” said Reginbjörg Vattarnes-Philippeaux, commentator at Saintonge Radio. “To me, it seemed that Mr Höjsleth wanted the war to stop.” Ms Vattarnes-Philippeaux added: “He wanted Prydania to stop wars.”

“I understand where Thorbjörn is coming from,” commented Plaisance (Corb) city councillor Thorfinnur Kjenseth, one of the more prominent Santonian politicians of Prydanian descent aside from Mr Höjsleth. “After what we’ve been through, we don’t want war. Most Santonians don’t want war too. As the clichéd saying goes, we just want to put the money where the mouth is.”

translated by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Patrice-Anselm Théveneau in Saintes
25 July 2020 - 1825h
SAINTES – Adm. Marc-Maëlmon de Liescoët (ret.), defence minister of the Kingdom of Saintonge, and the Hon. Reynir Aaker, defence minister of the Kingdom of Prydania, signed an agreement yesterday regarding the acquisition of Santonian ships by the Royal Prydanian Navy. “We are happy to help a friendly nation rebuild its armed forces,” said Adm. de Liescoët.

Ships to be sold
The Royal Prydanian Navy will be buying the icebreaker Renne, which is currently under construction at Sancoins Naval Shipyard at 68% completion. Renne belongs to the Ours Polaire-class, the most modern icebreaker in the Santonian fleet. The Ours Polaire, the lead ship of its class, was launched in April 2020. The Royal Santonian Navy ordered three of such ships, Ours Polaire, Renne, and Manchot.

According to insiders, the Prydanians asked if they could acquire Renne instead of waiting for the fourth ship of the class. After negotiations, Royal Santonian Navy and the Santonian government granted permission for the Prydanians. “They need it more than we do,” said the insider.

The Royal Prydanian Navy will also be acquiring the decommissioned Trieux-class frigates Yerres (D707) and Chalaronne (D708), which currently sits in storage at Alexandrie Naval Station. As part of the sale, Saintonge will also give the Prydanians the decommissioned Brandérion-class ship Coulitz (P853), to stoke interest in procuring more of these ships when they are retired. Observers noted that the buying price for the ships are well below their value, with some concluding that “Saintonge seems to be treating Prydania as a military ally like Predice.”

The Trieux-class of frigates and Brandérion-class of patrol ships are going to be decommissioned, to be replaced by the Corb-class frigates and a Santo-Predicean class of patrol ships currently under development.

Last roadblock lifted
The agreement, which was in the works since 2019, was held up by the Second Dučrijekan War. The Santonian government, citing Santonian neutrality, was reluctant to sell ships to a belligerent nation in the war.

After the Prydanian government announced their withdrawal from the warzone and the war, the Santonian government gave its green light to the sale. “This acquisition will give Prydania the capability to guard its own territorial seas and trade routes, especially against piracy,” said Mr. Aaker.

translated by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
25 July 2020 - 1922h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Germaine Morizet-Thivrier in Saintes
SAINTES – the country’s Odinspyl athletes were given an enthusiastic reception as they returned home from this year’s recently concluded Odinspyl Games in Pataliputra, Syrixia.

The Kingdom of Saintonge went home with 20 medals – a poor showing considering the country’s size and sports programs. But they were medals nonetheless, and the country’s Odinspyl Committee and the Ministry of Culture and Sport will not allow the issues to get in the way of celebrations for the country’s victorious athletes.

The country won 10 gold, 6 silver, and 4 bronze medals, putting it joint fourth in the medal tally with Highton (20), behind host Syrixia (33), Ulstome (32), and Goyanes (24). This was despite the country being represented in only a few sports. Eight of the twenty medals came from swimming, where Jacob-Malcolm Haudegand brought two golds and one silver. The rest came from five other events.

Here are the country’s victorious athletes:

Gold
Women’s Football Team
Men’s Volleyball Team
Tennis Men’s Doubles - Adam-Romain Fricot and Alexandre-Maurice Lepage
Swimming Men’s 200m Freestyle - Jacob-Malcolm Haudegand
Swimming Men’s 800m Freestyle - Jacob-Malcolm Haudegand
Swimming Women’s 200m Individual Medley - Caroline-Maëlle Fallières
Swimming Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay - Sara-Clémentine Brout, Iseult Brachard, Anne-Louise Defermon, Caroline-Maëlle Fallières
Cycling Women’s Road - Anne-Brivaëlle Hunault
Cycling Men’s Cross-Country - Justin Jaubert

Silver
Tennis Men’s Singles - Adam-Romain Fricot
Swimming Women’s 400m Freestyle - Caroline-Maëlle Fallières
Swimming Men’s 1500m Freestyle - Jacob-Malcolm Haudegand
Track & Field Men’s 800m Sprinting - Luc-Clovis Cazalon
Track & Field Women’s 100m Sprinting - Louise-Anne Maupassant
Cycling Women’s Cross-Country - Anne-Caëlle Morvan

Bronze
Tennis Women’s Doubles – Isabelle Rimareix and Anne-Dorothée Annequin
Swimming Women’s 100m Backstroke - Sara-Clémentine Brout
Swimming Women’s 200m Butterfly - Iseult Brachard
Track & Field Men’s Hammer Throw – Thibault-Léopold Courtinard

translated by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles

by Snjólaug Lövvig
15 August 2020

It has been almost two decades when one of the largest exodus of Prydanians started. Now some the children who fled to Saintonge are now young adults making their mark in their new country. The recent Odinspyl games, where they participated for their adoptive homeland, are a testament to their hard work and contributions for Saintonge. An entire generation of Santonians of Prydanian descent are making their old and new countries proud. Notre Terre/Landið Okkar decided to profile some of these male athletes of Prydanian descent, who are now playing for the Santonian national teams.

Hallkell Mollgaard
Name: Hallkell Mollgaard
Birthdate: 19 July 2000 (age 20)
Birthplace: Tommerup (Prydania)
Year of Arrival in Saintonge: 2004
Hometown: Saint-Alfred-d’Ozanne (Rhue)
Sport: Volleyball
Team: ARS Saintes
Bio: Hallkell Mollgaard was born on a farm in Tommerup, south of Beaconsfield. He came from a long line of farmers and would’ve probably become one if not for the Syndicalist coup. After the farms in the area were collectivised in 2003-2004, the Mollgaards found themselves in a prison farm. Hallkell and his family were saved thanks to the intervention of their Santonian uncle-in-law Paul. Paul married Hallkell’s paternal aunt in 1991 and settled in the adjacent farm, until they were forced out in 2003.
The Mollgaards were rescued in 2004 and sent to Saintonge later that year. Being farmers, the Mollgaards availed of the Santonian Immigration and Integration Agency’s work-integration programme to send refugees to the countryside to work in the agricultural sector. Mollgaard’s parents worked as farmhands in Saint-Odilon-sur-Dropt for three years, before qualifying for Saintonge’s Homestead Programme in 2008. Saintonge gave them some land to set up a farm in Saint-Alfred-d’Ozanne, a village in the Beauce region in central Saintonge.
Hallkell’s height was first noticed when he became the star player in his middle school’s basketball and volleyball teams. After leading the volleyball team of his small town to the department’s championships, Hallkell was recruited by Gérard Fauthoux, an assistant coach for Association royale sportive de Saintes who hailed from the Beauce. Hallkell relocated to Saintes in 2017 to join ARS Saintes.
Hallkell was first called up to the Santonian national team in 2019 for the U-21 team. Playing for the national team in Odinspyl 2020, the middle blocker Hallkell stopped many a shot during the games against Highton, Naizerre, and Merilia, earning him the nickname “Ballgaard”. The volleyball team won the gold medal in the Odinspyl 2020.
Presently a professional volleyball player, in his spare time, Hallkell also plays basketball and attends online classes at Saintes Polytechnique.

Finnbjörn Kylefjord
Name: Finnbjörn Kylefjord
Birthdate: 17 July 1993 (age 27)
Birthplace: Keris (Prydania)
Year of Arrival in Saintonge: 2004
Hometown: Lanester (Rance)
Sport: Ice Hockey
Team: Odinspylique de Ratisbonne
Bio: Finnbjörn was born in the western Prydanian city of Keris, to Torfi and Gefn Kylefjord. The Kylefjords owned a general store close to the city’s bustling shipyards and were a well-known fixture in the community, despite being Free Democratic supporters in a mostly Syndicalist city.
The young Finnbjörn first got into hockey at the age of seven, receiving an early education on the game’s finer rules. Finnbjörn would recall that, as a seven year old centre, he was called for “encroachment,” a technical penalty on faceoffs rarely enforced with pre-teen players. It would leave an impression, however, as Finnbjörn would grow into a disciplined centre.
The politics of Finnbjörn’s parents never really mattered to their mostly Syndicalist clientele until the coup. Word of their Free Democratic sympathies- now part of the anti-Syndicalist FRE- reached increasingly dictatorial local party leadership. Their shop and financial assets were seized by the local party apparatus as a result of “anti-social reactionary tendencies.” The Kylefjords sought asylum in Saintonge as political refugees shortly afterwards.
Finnbjörn arrived in Saintonge at the age of eleven. His parents worked a series of jobs to provide and set the family on solid financial footing, even saving up enough for a set of second hand hockey equipment for their son.
Finnbjörn would add to and upgrade this set as he got older and began to work himself.
Finnbjörn’s middle and high schools didn’t offer hockey as sports, causing him to look to hockey clubs among the local Prydanian community. Such clubs would organize teams and pool financial resources together to pay for ice time.
Saintonian hockey teams would soon start to scout these clubs as sources for potential talent. Finnbjörn caught the eye of many for his disciplined faceoff technique and assertive game management as the anchor of his club’s offence.
Finnbjörn took a break from hockey in 2011 to complete his national service after being nationalized, returning to the informal club scene afterwards so he could pursue an education. He graduated with a business degree from Université de Béthagne in 2015 but opted to pursue a hockey career following a contract offer from Odinspylique de Ratisbonne.
He was named to the Santonian national team and selected as an Associate Captain. The national team is currently competing to qualify for the upcoming Winter Odinspyl.

Markthór Öxndal
Name: Markthór Öxndal
Birthdate: 1 February 1994 (age 26)
Birthplace: Kiojaleit (Prydania)
Year of Arrival in Saintonge: 2007
Hometown: Saintes
Sport: Basketball
Team: ARS Saintes
Bio: Markthór was born to Kvasir and Odda Öxnda in the winter of 1994. Kvasir worked on his family farm with his brother Tjörvi. Each of the Öxndal brothers had a wife and children, and the extended family unit lived as one on their homestead just outside of Kiojaleit.
Markthór was the eldest of the children and tall for his age, and showed promise as an athlete early on. He played junior hockey from the age of five onward, developing a passion for Prydania’s national sport.
Syndicalist collectivization tore the family unit apart, however. Kvasir and Tjörvi disagreed with how to respond, with Kvasir choosing to take his family and seek asylum in Saintonge. The family was settled in the Caulaincourt neighbourhood in Saintes in 2007 when Markthór was thirteen. Hockey proved too expensive for the family, and so Markthór drifted towards basketball as a young teen.
He first came to the attention of university scouts as a standout shooting guard in high school. He was among the top five high school basketball scorers his final two years, coming up just short of the city championship in his final year. He received an offer to try out for the Université de Saintes team, which he accepted after becoming a naturalized citizen at the age of 18 and completing his National Service.
Markthór made the most of that tryout invitation and was selected to the Université de Saintes team. He became a starter in his second year and made a name for himself as a technical and efficient shooting guard. Markthór helped lead the team to a national championship in his third year and was drafted third overall by Association royale sportive de Saintes in the second round of the 2017 draft.
He was also selected to the Santonian national men’s basketball team for the 2020 Odinspyl, cited as an efficient ball controller and technically adept shooter. The team failed to qualify, however, thanks to a dubious call from a Durbanese referee in the closing moments of a play-in game against Polihy.
Markthór has indicated that he doesn’t intend to let that stand and will be gunning for a chance to help Saintonge qualify for the next major tournament.

Hugberg Steenstrup
Name: Hugberg Steenstrup
Birthdate: 18 April 2002 (age 18)
Birthplace: Hafragil (Prydania)
Year of Arrival in Saintonge: 2010
Hometown: Coire (Haine)
Sport: Football
Team: AJ Saint-Tobie de Coire
Bio: Hugberg Steenstrup spent much of his childhood as an asylum-seeker in a Santonian diplomatic compound in the outskirts of Haland. His father was murdered by the Óafmáanlegir before he was born; Hugberg grew up with his cousins. His uncle and aunt were then persecuted by the Syndicalists. His older cousin Styrbjörn Brink was his frequent playmate until Styrbjörn lost his leg to a landmine explosion. Hugberg’s family was subsequently sent to Saintonge and resettled in the eastern city of Coire. Hugberg joined the youth team of the Association de la Jeunesse de Saint Tobie de Coire, a sports club associated with the Cathedral of Coire.
Hugberg has proven to be an adept and flexible midfielder. This was noticed by the Frédéric Janvion, the manager of the Santonian men’s national team. Hugberg was then selected to represent Saintonge in Odinspyl 2020. In the Saintonge-Prydania quarterfinal game, Hugberg’s masterfully executed long goal from the midfield equalised the game. A midfielder who can play as a forward, AJST Coire’s manager Thibault-Tobie Brassart had said that “Hugberg is an asset to the team; a midfielder who can score. He can pose a serious threat to opponents.”
Hugberg plans to continue his football career in Saintonge and for the Santonian national team. He was naturalised in 2016, when he played for Saintonge’s U-17 team.



Tobias Syndergaard
Name: Tobias Syndergaard
Birthdate: 4 September 1999 (age 21)
Birthplace: Beaconsfield (Prydania)
Year of Arrival in Saintonge: 2000
Hometown: Saintes
Sport: Chess
Team: n/a
Bio: The son of University of Beaconsfield academics, Tobias was named after the son of Prince Robert of Prydania, who is now King Tobias III of Prydania. Also nicknamed “Toby”, Syndergaard escaped to Saintonge with his paternal uncle Hrafnkell, after the Óafmáanlegir imprisoned his leftist parents. Toby’s father died in captivity, while his mother subsequently joined them in Saintonge with the assistance of the Norsians.
Toby admitted that he was taunted by his peers as “Toby the Syndie”, initially as a shortening of his surname, and later on account of his parents’ leftist sympathies. Lacking playmates from the Prydanian community, he turned to chess, taught to him by his uncle Hrafnkell. He attended various chess clinics in Saintes, establishing a reputation as a chess prodigy. He made waves in 2010 when he defeated a Santonian chess master four times his age.
Toby is currently a college student at the University of Saintes. He is Saintonge’s fifth-ranked chess player, and is on the lists to represent the country in chess tournaments.

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OOC Notes: Post made with contributions from @Prydania.

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Sports


by Jules-Régnier Castillan de Réalcamp in Coire
17 August 2020 - 1433h
COIRE (Haine) – one of the star players of the Prydanian national football team, Tjörvi Hagtvedt, is transferring to the Santonian Première Ligue team Association de la Jeunesse de Saint-Tobie de Coire.

Star Player
Hagtvedt, 18, could be remembered as the player that made the crucial goal that downed world champions Goyanes in the group stage in Odinspyl 2020. Hagtvedt’s goal allowed Prydania to advance from the group stage. It was also another Hagtvedt goal that opened the Prydanian lead against Demescia in the semifinals.

The teenager played for Alaterva Vatniðar Fótboltafélag, a team in the top flight of the Prydanian football league. Yesterday, Alaterva VF and AJST Coire reached an agreement for a transfer.

Transfer details
AJST Coire will pay £9.5 million (6.33 million IBU) for the rights to Hagtvedt, a low figure for an international transfer even by Santonian standards. However, analysts say that the agreement is worth more than that, as AJST Coire will also sign a partnership agreement with Alaterva VF. For instance, AJST Coire will assist the development of training programs of Alaterva VF, among other perks for the Prydanian team.

Despite the Santonian league being one of the most prestigious leagues in the world, international transfers into Saintonge are rare, as the country has a glut of talent. Coupled with the fact that most teams are community-owned, it means that Santonian teams cannot splurge heavily on expensive players from abroad.

Hagtvedt’s choice
Commentators speculate that Hagtvedt’s move was partly also driven by the player himself, who had previously expressed interest in playing in the Santonian leagues. AJST Coire was the obvious choice. Hagtvedt’s sister and her family reside in Coire. AJST Coire was also the team of Hugberg Steenstrup, the Santonian midfielder who Hagtvedt befriended in Odinspyl 2020. Steenstrup invited Hagtvedt to his hometown after the Odinspyl games and it was probably there that AJST Coire approached the Prydanian. Hagtvedt himself had not publicly commented on his reasons on his move.

Effect
Analysts believe that the signing comes at an auspicious time for both AJST Coire and Hagtvedt. AJST Coire had been looking for another star forward after Georges-Pierre Maujoüan du Gasset retired last year. Hagtvedt could be a good replacement for the player that helped in the promotion of the team to the 1° Ligue. He could be a complement to forwards Tobias Rönbeck and Matthias-Aymeric Bombardier. While Hagtvedt will be AJST Coire’s only foreign player, he will probably have less difficulty fitting in even if he does not speak Santonian, as AJST Coire has multiple players of Prydanian descent: Rönbeck, Steenstrup, midfielder Thorbjörn Kjellander, and defenders Hjálmthór Björklund and Snaebjörn Syrstad.

AJST Coire manager Thibault-Tobie Brassart has not yet hinted when will the Prydanian star grace the Santonian pitches, but most analysts are in agreement that this signing will make the team a serious contender for the Coupe des Ligues.

translation by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
17 Aug 2020 1455h

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OOC: Post approved by @Prydania. He also did the photo editing <3

Mr Charles-Ferdinand de Pontleroy (Chair): The Chair recognises the Deputy from Saintes. Mr de Sabarthès, you may now pose your questions now.

Mr Kimo-Philippe de Sabarthès (Deputy from Saintes): Madame Minister, we have recently seen how the Empire of Syrixia tried to influence the election in the Crowned Republic of Highton. High-ranking Syrixian officials made a state visit, promising foreign aid to Highton. In a campaign where foreign affairs and the orientation of Highton as a nation was an issue, this is another example of Syrixian interference in the foreign affairs of another sovereign country. What is Saintonge doing to prevent this?

Ms Marcelline Tréhet (Minister of Foreign Affairs): I would like to thank my colleague from Saintes for the question. As everyone in this committee knows, the Kingdom of Saintonge adheres to its longstanding position of neutrality. We do not interfere in the internal affairs of another country, unless it’s a humanitarian catastrophe.

If the Crowned Republic of Highton chooses to let Syrixian influence in, it is its choice. Saintonge will not and should not do anything to “prevent” that, as we are not like Syrixia and we do not meddle in the internal affairs of another country. Unless the question pertains to Syrixian interference in Saintonge?

Mr de Sabarthès: Yes, Madame Minister, that was what I intended to mean. What is Saintonge doing to prevent Syrixian interference in Santonian affairs?

Ms Tréhet: His Majesty’s Government is very careful on who it allows in on state visits and the topics they discuss. Our belief is that our current elections law is sufficient and strong enough to prevent any foreign interference, overt or covert, in our electoral processes. If this government deems it inadequate, we would be proposing legislation to remedy it. We also welcome suggestions from the chamber regarding this, and we are ready to support any improvement that we deem appropriate.

Mr de Sabarthès: Thank you, Madame Minister. Mr Chair, I have no other questions for now.

Chair: The Chair recognises the Deputy from the Argens. You may now ask questions now, Mr Vandenabeele.

Mr Joshua-Radboud Vandenabeele (Deputy from the Argens): Madame Minister, this is partly a progression to the question posed by my colleague from Saintes. We are proud of Saintonge’s defences against foreign interference in its electoral process. Does Saintonge help other countries in assisting them against foreign interference in their electoral process, or does the government consider it meddling?

Ms Tréhet: As for assisting our friends against foreign interference in their electoral processes, His Majesty’s Government does not consider it meddling. With several new democracies sprouting throughout the world, the Kingdom of Saintonge would be proud if we would be able to strengthen their systems through which they would freely choose their leaders and policies, without any outside interference.

Mr Vandenabeele: Are there any countries that Saintonge is assisting right now?

Ms Tréhet: We currently have standing offers to the Kingdom of Prydania and Kingdom of Korova to assist them in bolstering their electoral systems so that it will not be influenced or tampered by foreign powers.

Mr Vandenabeele: Thank you Madame Minister.

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Mélanie Bacrot in Saintes
5 September 2020 - 1155h
SAINTES – the Santonian Parliament yesterday approved the deployment of a substantial humanitarian mission to Hessunland, to aid the country in absorbing and helping Dučrijekan refugees fleeing the Andrennian invasion.

Optional vote
Parliament’s assent to send the humanitarian mission is technically not required, but the National government of Prime Minister Anne-Douceline Courseaux opted to seek legislative endorsement for the plan. “This is one of the biggest missions the Kingdom of Saintonge is undertaking, involving deployment of the Royal Santonian Armed Forces abroad to date. We also need to appropriate funds for it, since the expense is well beyond the humanitarian and foreign aid budget for this year,” explained Prime Minister Courseaux.

The planned humanitarian mission to Hessunland involves the following:

• An initial 1,500 civilian personnel for humanitarian mission
• £100 million (66.7 million IBU) worth of aid
• The three hospital ships Saint-Damien, Saint-Cosme, and Saint-Raphaël
• Military support, including:
  • Royal Santonian Navy Squadron 6B, including the amphibious warfare/helicopter carrier ship Liberté (L202) with its associated Royal Santonian Air Force Helicopter Squadron 6B for medical evacuation and airlift missions. The new icebreaker Ours Polaire (B101) also joins the squadron. The mission also includes the frigates Coole (F603), Puy-d’Or (F517), Besbre (F521), Dyle (F513), and Basses-Alpes (F612), to be withdrawn from patrol duties off the Oclusi coast. The rest of Squadron 6B not included in the mission will be reassigned to Squadrons 6A and 6C still fighting pirates off Oclusia.
  • 82^nd Fighter Wing of the Royal Santonian Air Force, based at Montcarillon (Monce-et-Briance).
  • Three brigades of the Royal Santonian Army: 242^nd Airborne Brigade, 291^st Mechanised Brigade, and 123^rd Mountain Brigade

This will be the largest peacetime overseas deployment of the Royal Santonian Armed Forces so far. Leader of the Opposition Paul-Lenthéric Baumann (L, 2^nd Lauter) lauded the government’s openness to Parliament and its willingness to involve the legislature. The opposition had no objections to the additional £2 billion (1.33 million IBU) appropriations requested to support the mission, with Mr Baumann stating that “every cent spent on a worthwhile humanitarian mission is money well spent.”

There were some skepticism from the government benches, however, with Jean-Quentin Hamel (N, 3^rd Saintes) questioning the need for such a large military complement with the ostensibly humanitarian mission. Defence Minister Marc-Maëlmon de Liescoët (N, 1^st Authie) answered that “we are dealing with an unstable belligerent with no qualms in bombing civilians,” Mr de Liescoët answered, not explicitly referring to any country. “A humanitarian mission should not just give out aid, but it must also be able to protect its members and the people it is aiding.”

In the subsequent vote, Parliament voted unanimously for the plan.

Hessunlander cooperation sought
The Santonian government had already sent details of its mission plans to the Kingdom of Hessunland, which must give permission for the Santonian humanitarian mission and its military component, to operate out of Hessunlander territory, ports, and air bases.

translated by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
5 September 2020 - 1623h

Economics blog

Saintonge’s flat Phillips curve
Conventional economics holds that unemployment and inflation are inversely related. Called the Phillips curve, it is a theorised macroeconomic relationship that low unemployment causes higher inflation and that high unemployment causes lower inflation.

The conventional thinking goes that when business is good and unemployment is low, workers will demand pay raises over and above inflation and any improvement in productivity. When the business pass this higher wages to consumers by increasing prices, inflation will rise. Central bankers usually raise the interest rate to slow the economy and curb the wage pressure.

Conversely, high unemployment drives down wages, putting downward pressure on inflation. Central bankers will then cut interest rates.

This economic thinking that has influenced central banking is the main reason why conventional economists accept that some form of healthy inflation is good for the economy. However, the Phillips curve does not take into account the interventions of the central bank, the expectations of inflation, and imports.

Saintonge seems to buck the trend. It’s Phillips curve is flat – the inflation is totally dissociated from the unemployment rate. Depending on your viewpoint, this could be a refutation or an affirmation of the underlying principles of the curve.

The Royal Bank of Saintonge (Santonian: Banque royale de Saintonge, BRS), the country’s central bank, is an active manager of the country’s currency, the livre. This is mainly due to the statutory requirement that the currency be a semi-representative one: partially backed by gold and precious metals. This meant that, theoretically, the BRS could not easily go on rapid expansion of the Santonian money supply, such as quantitative easing.

But that primarily applies to today. During the majority of the 20th century, the BRS actually undertook a massive expansion of its money supply. The 1901 Loi du Projet d’Or gradually reduced the backing of the Santonian livre from 100% to 20% over eighty years, without causing severe inflation. The "extra money" it "created" was poured into the Société nationale d'investissement de Saintonge (SNIS), Saintonge’s sovereign wealth fund. The SNIS funnelled a portion of the new money into investments in the country to stimulate the economy and address unemployment; but a substantial proportion was funnelled to overseas investments and gold-buying and silver-buying programmes. The overseas investments avoided a massive expansion of the Santonian money supply. In essence, the BRS shifting part of the money out of the country kept the inflation within the target range.

The BRS also was an active manager of interest rates, to address unemployment Thanks to SNIS, the BRS had another tool in its arsenal to stimulate the economy and reduce unemployment, while keeping inflation within target. As a result, Saintonge’s unemployment was totally decoupled from inflation.

To non-believers, they say that Saintonge is a refutation of the Phillips curve. But to those who believe in the underlying principle, they say that the influence of the Phillips curve was there, and that the actions of the BRS effectively cancelled it.

OOC Note: This post follows after this.

Mr Yves-Damien Carteret (Chair): The Chair recognises the deputy for the Santonians overseas. You have the floor, Mr Lacépède.

Mr Matthieu-Sébastien Lacépède (Outremer): Thank you Mr Chair. We in the Opposition are very much interested in the proposal tabled by the Minister of Defence regarding the proposed agreement between the Kingdom of Saintonge and the Kingdom of Prydania. Can the Minister give us some background on the proposal?

Mr Marc-Maëlmon de Liescoët (Minister of Defence): I would like to thank my colleague for the question. I presume he would be very much interested in the background, given that he represents Santonians abroad. Without getting into too much sensitive detail, the Kingdom of Prydania withdrew from active participation from the Second Dučrijekan War on the side of Andrenne. The Kingdom of Prydania converted their military mission from a combatant role to a humanitarian role. They are now helping civilians retreat to the safe zone established by the Kingdom of Hessunland.

With this shift, the Kingdom of Prydania has reached out to us for assistance in re-focusing their military doctrine to a primarily defensive one, with a focus on humanitarian missions. Those two areas – defensive military and humanitarian missions – are two areas that the Kingdom of Saintonge has expertise in. Our Prydanian counterparts asked for advice and training to re-orient its military. We responded to their request to come up with this draft agreement.

Mr Lacépède: Thank you Minister for your enlightening answer. Seeing that we, the Liberals, represent a party dedicated to fiscal prudence, can you explain why the Kingdom of Saintonge will have to pay for some of the expenses incurred by the mission, when it is for the benefit of the Kingdom of Prydania?

Mr de Liescoët: As we all know, the Kingdom of Prydania is still recovering from the effects of its fifteen-year civil war. The Kingdom of Saintonge is still providing the Kingdom of Prydania with £9 billion livres of official development assistance for this year alone. His Majesty’s Government deems that some of the expenses to be incurred by the mission as simply a part of, or an addition to, this official development assistance provided to Prydania. It would be ridiculous and disingenuous if we give them aid money, only for them to pay it back to us for the mission.

I would like to clarify to the Committee that Saintonge will not be paying for everything. Saintonge will be paying for the salaries and deployment expenses for our military personnel that will be sent there. But Prydania will be footing a much larger bill – especially for things that will stay in Prydania. For instance, the salaries of the Prydanian soldiers that we will train, any defensive emplacements they will construct, any military equipment they will buy… Prydania will have to pay for it.

Mr Lacépède: What, then, does the Kingdom of Saintonge seek to gain from the arrangement?

Mr de Liescoët: His Majesty’s Government hopes that with this arrangement, the Kingdom of Prydania would be able to join and conduct humanitarian missions throughout the world. Another country that would be able to join and help us in such missions would be very much welcome. Training their military for defensive purposes will help them protect their own country and safeguard the progress and development that Saintonge had enabled and promoted in that country.

On that note, I would like to express my personal satisfaction at what is happening in the Kingdom of Hessunland. The Kingdom of Saintonge had massively helped Hessunland recover from the war and its hunger winter in the early 1990s. Look at them now – they are leading the humanitarian mission in Dučrijeka. I was personally deployed in Hessunland in 1991 as part of the mission by the Royal Santonian Navy and I am proud of the transformation of that country. Saintonge helped make it happen. This, my colleagues, is what Saintonge seeks to gain and should strive to achieve.

Mr Lacépède: A noble goal for Saintonge then. I have no more questions, Mr Chair.

Mr Carteret: The Chair now gives the floor to the deputy from the Bouche-du-Rhâne. Mr Grandprey, you have five minutes.

Mr Jean-Baptiste Grandprey (deputy from Bouche-du-Rhâne): Thank you Mr Chair. Mr Minister, I have a simple question: Is this agreement a military alliance?

Mr de Liescoët: No it is not.

Mr Grandprey: Hmmm, that’s a short answer. Quick and direct to the point.

Mr de Liescoët: You asked a simple yes-or-no question. Unless you want an elaboration?

Mr Grandprey: Go ahead, Mr Minister. It would be very much appreciated.

Mr de Liescoët: The agreement does not have a commitment to join the other in its wars; neither does it have a mutual defence clause. This is simply an intergovernmental agreement, which is why the process we are having is just this parliamentary review as part of the oversight functions of this Committee. If this was a formal alliance treaty, the government would be pursuing the ratification process for a treaty.

Mr Grandprey: That is comforting for Saintonge and our long-held neutrality. But do you think this violates Santonian neutrality?

Mr de Liescoët: No, it does not. Being neutral means you are not taking sides in any conflict. Helping a nation, one that is technically at peace now, to build up its military for defensive purposes and to train them for humanitarian purposes, is not taking a side in the conflict.

Historically, the Kingdom of Saintonge had undertaken even bolder steps than this. For instance, during the Second Nordic-Syrixian War in the 1820s, the Kingdom of Saintonge insisted on its right as a neutral to trade with Syrixia and supply it with food. Such actions, and this one, is compatible with that of a neutral nation.

Mr Grandprey: Is there any chance that Saintonge will be dragged into a war as a result of this agreement?

Mr de Liescoët: It is extremely unlikely that Saintonge will be dragged into a war as a result of this agreement. Prydania has no active enemies and threats right now. All of its neighbours are its allies via the Bergum Pact.

Mr Grandprey: That’s comforting to know. Thank you Minister.

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Top Stories


by Marc-Junien Morinaud in Saintes
13 October 2020 - 1025h
SAINTES – the Institut royal de la statistique et des études économiques (IRSEE, Royal Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) had released the results of Saintonge’s decennial census data.

Decennial census
The IRSEE conducts a census every ten years. The census enumeration occurs on June of the last year of the decade; in this case June 2020. The data from the manual enumeration is reconciled with the population registers in each intendance. The population register includes all citizens and permanent residents (including refugees) of Saintonge. All citizens and residents of Saintonge are legally required to report their addresses or change of address; this is used to update the population register.

Population growth
The population of the Kingdom of Saintonge in 2020 is 133,505,667, a 9,817,913 (7.94%) increase from the 2010 population of 123,687,754. The average annual population growth rate from 2011-2020 is 0.767%.

The birth rates and death rates remained stable. The crude birth rate remained at around 15 births per 1,000 people, corresponding to about 1.9 million births every year. This translates to 221 babies born every hour in Saintonge, or one every sixteen seconds. The crude death rate was around 8.3 per 1,000 people, with about 1.1 million deaths every year. Total fertility rate was 2.5 births per woman, one of the highest among developed countries.

Immigration
Immigration was a significant contributor to the population growth. Despite the immigration quota of 0.1% of the population, it still meant that 120,000-130,000 people were able to legally immigrate into Saintonge annually as per the quota. However, two factors increased the immigration beyond the limit.

First, the Santonian Parliament exempted Prydanians from the immigration quota from 2013 to 2017, coinciding with the intensification of the Prydanian Civil War. These were the years when the Royalists slowly took over the country from the Syndicalists. The spike was due to the need to evacuate the refugees and asylum-seekers from the Santonian consulates and safehouses to prevent them from being caught in the crossfire as the battle lines drew nearer. The IRSEE recorded 473,739 Prydanians entering Saintonge from 2011-2020.

The second factor was the 2019 Loi Stirbois, which amended the 1944 Foreigner Registration and Residency Law (Loi Joyal). The immigration quota was changed to 0.1% of the population plus the number of migrants that returned permanently to their home countries. A substantial number of Korovan and Prydanian refugees were returning to their homelands after the civil wars ended. The National government wanted to free up the slots used by these refugees for prospective immigrants, which Saintonge has a long waiting list. It meant that the quota for 2020 was 182,069, a huge increase from the previous year, which was 131,549.

All in all, it meant that 1,630,686 immigrants entered Saintonge from 2011-2020, with Prydanians forming the largest group, followed by Prediceans (425,432) and Hessunlanders (275,603).

Emigration remained negligible. Emigration by Santonians was almost non-existent, with only 10,533 Santonians emigrating during the ten-year period. The IRSEE only counts as emigrants those Santonians who have renounced their citizenship; Santonians moving to other countries but still retaining citizenship are still counted.

Migrants returning to their countries were increasing, the highest number in 2020, where 49,561 migrants returned to their home countries.


Distribution
The population growth was unevenly distributed throughout the country. Central and northern Saintonge had faster rates of population growth compared to the east and south, which experienced economic difficulty in the latter part of the decade. The Saintes and Nyon metropolitan areas experienced the highest growth, although the city proper themselves registered low growth rates. This is because most of the increases were in the suburbs and exurbs, as both cities have reached their urbanisation limits.

Indeed, the parishes with the highest rates of population growth included the Saintes suburbs of Bellechasse, Sandillon, Louestault, and Lans-l’Hermitage (Lisle), and Forguénac, Bourmehiec, and Montrottier (Cenise); and the Nyon suburbs of Beloeil and Gondregnies (Bouche-du-Rhâne).

The central plains exhibited average to above-average population growth, fuelled by the influx of more than two million Prydanian refugees during the previous two decades. The resettlement of these refugees in the rural areas and the opening of homesteading opportunities for them contributed to the growth in the centre. The population growth was strongest in the Aubeterre-Roanne corridor in the middle Loine valley, and along the breadth of the Saine valley from Barenton to Nogent-sur-Lisle. The lower Rhâne valley from Ratisbonne to Nyon also experienced average to above-average population growth due to the influx of Predicean immigrants.


Meanwhile, the rural mountainous areas grew more slowly, with the intendancy of Montfaucon (Haut-Rhâne) growing the slowest. Eastern Saintonge’s population growth also slowed down: of the fifteen departments considered as part of eastern Saintonge, only the Baltée and the Capoterre registered above-average growth; the Simbruins’ (3.36%) and the Basses-Alpes’ (3.88%) population growth rates were the smallest after the mountainous Haut-Rhâne’s.

In many eastern cities, the population growth was thanks to an influx of refugees and immigrants. The cities of Novale (Basses-Alpes), Plaisance (Corb), and Coire (Haine) would have been smaller were it not for the Prydanian refugees resettled in these cities. Of Saintonge’s large cities, Plaisance and Coire now have the highest percentage of residents of Prydanian descent.

The east’s slow population growth was mainly due to the economic downturn in the east, exacerbated by the mid-decade recession and the slowdown of the extractive industries that power the east’s economy.

Prediction
IRSEE predicts that Saintonge’s population growth rate will continue to slow down in the coming years. “Our fertility rate and our birth rates are stable to slowly dropping,” said Jean-Théoren Lacanal, demographer at IRSEE. “Barring a large refugee-generating event in the next decade, the immigration rate will decrease now that the immigrants that Saintonge had accepted are returning to their countries.”

translated by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
13 October 2020 - 1623h

L'Indépendant > Mercanti > Local > Centre


by Jonathan-Paul Riquier in Thouars
13 October 2020 - 0916h
ST-TOBIE-DE-CALBERTE (Ravennes) – in all of Saintonge, the parish holding the current record of the highest rate of population growth in 2010-2020 was Saint-Tobie-de-Calberte in the department of the Ravennes. Saint-Tobie-de-Calberte was transformed from an almost-abandoned hamlet of three people in 2005, to bustling village of 1,020 in 2020. Its official population in 2010 was 24, giving it a population growth rate of 4,250%.

Central Plains population growth
St-Tobie-de-Calberte is an exaggerated example of the demographic changes in the central plains, which posted average to above-average population growth between 2010 and 2020. The department of the Ravennes had a 9.12% population increase, which was mostly concentrated in the lowland intendance of Thouars (11.65%). St-Tobie-de-Calberte is located in the uplands of the department, in the intendance of St-Crépin, which had a below-average population increase (5.96%). This makes St-Tobie-de-Calberte’s population growth even more remarkable.


History
Formerly called Calberte, St-Tobie-de-Calberte was settled as an agricultural commune by Prydanian refugees starting 2012. Calberte used to be an independent parish in the then-province of Theiphalie, with its own seigneurie. At its height in the 18^th century, Calberte had a population of almost a thousand. The population decline associated with the mechanisation of Santonian agriculture brought its population down to below a hundred, after which it was amalgamated with neighbouring parishes to form the parish of Valberte.

In 2005, Calberte’s official population was down to three, father Charles-Cunimond Calberte, his son and daughter-in-law Étienne-Raimbault Calberte and Anne-Rolende. The Calberte family owns the Château de Calberte and were descendants of the hereditary lords of the area. Although dispossessed by the Santonian Revolution, by the mid-20^th century, the Calberte family regained their lands and were the only landowners (and inhabitants) left in the hamlet after people moved away.

Charles-Cunimond Calberte inherited the lands from his aristocratic father in 1995 and ran it as an agricultural estate. His workers came from nearby Valberte, but seasonal work was done by people from as far away as Predice.

Cunimond convinced his son Raimbault, who was a trained economist, to come back to help him run the farm. But Raimbault’s children were not interested in farming. “We’ve converted the estate into a corporation, so that my children can still be a part of it even though they are not here or doing the farming. But somebody needs to do the farming.”


Prydanian refugees
When the Prydanian Civil War broke out in 2003, Saintonge took in thousands of Prydanian refugees. As per Santonian government policy, the refugees were to be distributed and settled throughout Saintonge's 89 departments.

“I heard Prydania was a farming country,” Raimbault said. “I thought that if the Santonians didn’t like the farming jobs, I can offer it to Prydanians and help them start a new life.”

Through the departmental government of the Ravennes, the Calbertes sought to settle Prydanian refugees in their estate and employ them as farmers. They brought in three families in 2005: the two related Övregard families, and the Thulstrup family.

“The arrival of the Prydanians improved and increased our production,” Raimbault said. “But even with their older children helping out after their schooling, we still had a lot of idle land.”

The Calbertes sought to hire more Prydanians, but they encountered a hurdle. As per Santonian government policy, refugees were to be distributed throughout the country, with each department having a quota. The department of the Ravennes had a quota of nine hundred. However, the immigration rules also state that an area should not have more than fifteen percent immigrant population. This rule was made to promote assimilation of immigrants and to prevent the formation of ethnic enclaves. With fifteen Prydanian immigrants, the hamlet of Calberte already accounted for the allocation of the entire parish of Valberte.


Petition to exceed limit
In 2009, Étienne-Raimbault Calberte wrote a letter to the intendant of St-Crépin to allow him to take in more refugees. “Calberte has a lot of available land that would be useful in settling refugees,” Raimbault wrote. “We would be glad to be of assistance in this endeavour.”

After consultation with the superintendent of the Ravennes, the intendant of St-Crépin, Yves-Martin Poutaraud, liberally interpreted word “area” in the rules. Mr Poutaraud combined the limit for Valberte and four smaller adjacent parishes. This allowed the Calbertes to take in another family of six, the Lillelids. It raised the population of the hamlet to 24.

Mr Poutaraud had a precondition: that the Prydanian immigrants be taught Santonian, integrate into society, and eventually acquire Santonian citizenship. It was intended to be another creative interpretation of the rules: if the initial families acquire citizenship, it meant they had already assimilated and may no longer be counted as immigrants.

Rapid expansion of the hamlet
The intensification of the Prydanian Civil War from 2013 to 2017 meant that Saintonge accepted almost half a million refugees within the decade. The Santonian Immigration and Integration Agency (Agence d’immigration et d’intégration, AII) boosted its search for places to resettle refugees.

“I saw the people suffering in the STV news reports,” Anne-Rolende recalled. “I told Raimbault, ‘we must do more for these people’.”

“We had the land. We have the abandoned houses in the village,” Raimbault said. “Why not put them to good use?”

With the support of Mr Poutaraud and the departmental council of the Ravennes, the Calbertes petitioned the AII to allow more refugees to settle in Calberte. The Ravennes council argued to the AII that the refugees, many of whom were farmers back in Prydania, could help revitalise and repopulate Saintonge’s rural heartlands.

The AII replied with a refusal, but with a caveat that if the governments involved would show an integration plan, the AII would reconsider.

From 2010 to 2011, the Calbertes, Mr Poutaraud, and the Ravennes departmental council drew up a plan for an “agricultural commune” of Prydanians. It involved re-establishing the parish of Calberte, constructing a primary school, and recruiting Santonians to settle in to provide services such as education and healthcare.

The AII approved the plan on an “experimental basis” in 2013, coinciding with the rush of refugees into Saintonge. By 2015, the hamlet of Calberte already had more than 500 people. Most of the adults worked in the Calberte estate.


Homesteaders
The Calbertes sought to do more. The oldest family there, the Thulstrups, had already gotten Santonian citizenship. “We wanted to start our own farm,” said Grimkell Thulstrup, patriarch of the Thulstrup family. “My oldest son Bjartmann was starting his family. While we are thankful to the Calbertes for helping us and teaching us Santonian agriculture, we wanted to have something for our family, something to pass on to our children.”

“We understood what they wanted,” Raimbault said. “It’s the same sentiment that ran in our family after the Revolution.”

It also meant that if the Thulstrups would have their farm, the Calbertes would be free to hire more Prydanian farmers and workers.

Having heard that naturalised Santonian citizens of Prydanian descent could get a homestead under the 1808 Loi de propriété fermière (“Homestead Act”), the Calbertes sought to help the Prydanians get their own farms.

The Calbertes inquired about the status of the lands adjacent to their own, and it turned out that these were crown lands – owned by the state. Crown lands were the lands that could be converted into homesteads under the 1808 law. With support from the local governments, the Calbertes asked the Ministry of Interior to set aside some of the royal lands within the parish of Calberte as available for homesteading. After the change in government in 2015, the new interior minister Philippe-Rainier de Créquy approved the conversion. Many of the Calbertes’ employees who became Santonian citizens applied for homesteads within the parish.

“We don’t want to move out to other areas,” said Höskuldur Övregard, 22, who as a child was one of the original Prydanian immigrants in Calberte. “Calberte is our community.”


The Calbertes also set up an agricultural cooperative to assist the homesteaders, including setting up an initial fund from which the homesteaders could borrow capital. Some other naturalised Prydanians heard about Calberte and applied for homesteads there too. Coupled with the influx of more Prydanians as replacement for the estate’s workers who left, the parish swelled to more than a thousand people in 2020.

Saint-Tobie-de-Calberte
Charles-Cunimond Calberte in 2013 asked the bishop of Thouars to establish a parish church in town. The church was finished in 2014 and was dedicated to Saint Tobias of Prydania, the second king of Prydania.

In 2018, the town council, with the support of the departmental council of the Ravennes, successfully petitioned to change the name of the parish to Saint-Tobie-de-Calberte, in recognition of the Prydanian immigrants in Calberte. It also included a new grant of communal coat-of-arms (see right), in which the family escutcheon of the Calbertes were side-by-side with Prydanian symbols.

Demographic change
The demographic changes meant that Saint-Tobie-de-Calberte is now the parish with the highest percentage of inhabitants of immigrant descent (969 or 95% of the village’s inhabitants are of Prydanian descent). It also has the youngest median population in the intendancy of Saint-Crépin, as many of the children of the Prydanian refugees remained to establish and work on the farms.

“I can see my future here,” said Kjell Hundhammer, 19, who went back to Saint-Tobie-de-Calberte after his tour in the National Service – a requisite for Santonian citizens. “This might not be Prydania, but this feels like home.”


translated by Kyle MacTaggart-de Flesselles
13 October 2020 - 1220h