
A conversation with Wirt Harland, Elthize's first commission candidate
- Wirt Harland, who was a member of the Senate from 2009 to 2022, has declared his candidacy for the next EU elections
- Harland, 52, was the opposition's presidential candidate in 2018 and one of the most outspoken supporters of Elthize's EU membership
- Known for his moderate politics in his party, Labour, Harland says he will focus on strengthening democracy and unity within the European Union
Freddie Bonnay - December 25, 2022
After the European Court of Justice nullified the out-of-the-ordinary commission elections that happened in November, another election race has immediately begun. While Elthize didn't have a candidate for the previous commission elections, it has a candidate today: Wirt Harland, former senator and presidential candidate.
Harland told me that he planned to run for elections in February after the four-month term of the commission elected in November would expire. However, things did not go to plan. The November elections were riddled with chaos: One of the candidates had several criminal charges and the other candidate was a downright misogynist. The latter would later have a mental breakdown during the debate, which was held on a random street in Europolis. The candidates barely got any votes, with countries opting to write in the incumbents: Jean-Claude Juncker, the Premier Commissioner who is running for a second term this time, and Kevin Cotilla, the Internal Affairs Commissioner that hasn't announced anything yet.
From accidental senator to famous politician
I strolled around Harper Park, an upper-class neighbourhood in southeastern St. Lucas, to find the house of the man himself: Wirt Harland.
For most of us Elthics, Wirt Harland is not an unfamiliar name. He rose to prominence in 2009 after being appointed as a senator. Yes, appointed, not elected: Harland was aiming to be a member of the National Assembly, which he succeeded to do so in the 2008 elections. However, the sudden death of Senator Wallace Michalski meant that the Labour Party had a vacant spot they were responsible to fill.
After passing around six or seven tree-lined streets, my phone finally cheered the words: "You have arrived!". Meanwhile, Mr Harland was waiting for me, the interviewer, on the third-floor balcony of what seemed to be a recently constructed condo. He left the balcony, presumably to unlock the outside door to let me in.
The year he was selected to fill the late Michalski's position was one of the most tumultuous times for Elthize in recent times. After then-president Archibald Franklin announced that the government would cut almost all social programs and leave their funding up to the provinces. He was gravely opposed to the decision, going as far as calling it "total annihilation of the state". In the next few years, he would be known as the loudest voice demanding the impeachment of Archie Franklin.
Conflicts of the past
I walked inside the building after pushing its outside door that loudly clicked a couple of times, indicating that someone was trying to open the door from the inside. The elevator appeared to be out of order, so I took the stairs to get to the third floor. Surprisingly, despite this being the first time I got to interview him, I was not nervous at all. He opened the door, we did the usual greetings and went inside his rather minimalist home. He told me that this is his second house, bought shortly after it was built a couple of years ago, confirming my thoughts.
"Excuse me if it looks like a mess... I'm packing some things up before going on the debate and the rallies and whatnot," Harland tells me. I, of course, tell him there's no issue.
Harland was one of the key figures in the vote of no confidence issued against Franklin on November 2011. While the vote itself failed, the constant press surrounding Harland was enough to make him one of the most prominent figures in the opposition at the time.
"It still surprises me that Franklin survived that vote," Harland remarked. By this time we had sat down for the interview, with our drinks, mine a glass of water and his a cup of plain black tea. "I mean, a lot of LibDems were dissatisfied with Franklin. I guess it's because a vote of no confidence would trigger an election, which could've destroyed the LibDems."
He paused for a while and continued: "But then, here's the thing: In the 2012 elections, they still held a majority in the parliament! Granted, it was a minority government, as everyone hated them enough to not come close to a coalition, but you'd think that they'd be decimated."
His last words reminded me of something he had stated in the past, causing me to interrupt him right after the end of his sentence: "Mr Harland, if I recall correctly, around three years ago you made a speech where you blamed that situation on your party's incompetence."
"Yes, I have," Harland immediately replied, before taking a sip of his tea. "It wasn't around three years ago, though, it was in 2013. I frankly considered leaving Labour at that time because of how appalled I was at Maria Franke's leadership. If Jenkins didn't take the leadership off her I would've left."
Harland spoke Franke's name like it was derogatory. As if it was shameful to be her, the one who was the leader of Labour from 2009 to 2014. Franke's leftist and socialist-adjacent ideals clashed directly with Harland and the rest of the moderate wing of the party, who sought to take the parliament off the Liberal Democrats' hands in 2012.
"Labour truly deserved better than that," Harland continued, now more annoyed than ever. "It upsets me. I'm still enraged about it even after a decade has passed. In an environment where people were seeking alternatives to vote, aside from Franklin's LibDems, Labour couldn't catch any of them because of Franke's sheer incompetence. And we still allowed her to lead us to the 2014 elections, where, after we got utterly defeated by Grimwald, we finally realized that we should've picked up someone new."
As a presidential candidate
Harland has some credibility when it comes to competence: Despite his decade-long service as a senator, he was the main presidential candidate of the opposition back in 2018, backed by Labour and Greens. While Harland was not endorsed by the Socialist Alliance or The Crimson like most candidates that preceded him or his successor this year, Matthew François, he was still closer than any other candidate to beating Greenwich Grimwald.
"There was like, what, less than one percent difference between me and Greenwich? Matthew couldn't manage that," Harland grinned. "And I did it at a time when [Grimwald] was more popular. People perceived him as a liberal reformer that would pick up where Archie messed up, and he won based on that. And, again, I managed to get only thirty thousand votes less than him four years later."
Harland continued after taking the last sip from his cup: "There are a lot of out-of-touch politicians I still have to advise in Labour because they have no clue what the people want. I'm serious."
"Could you give me an example?" I interjected after trying to drink the water in my glass, not realizing it was empty.
"I mean, Labour's position regarding EU membership would be a great example. Instead of asserting that we would join, we took this weird neutral stance where we wanted a referendum. Why? All the polls show the same thing: Around two-thirds of Elthics want Elthize to join the EU. Why did you need a referendum at that point? Oh, right, to please the clumsy left that gets less than five percent of the votes. When are we gonna understand that their ideas are not popular?"
"We could've structured our EU membership in a way where we could've promised to make sure it would benefit the middle and the lower class. We didn't do that. We still are stuck in our ways that don't even work anymore." After saying that, Harland got up to refresh our empty cups.
Harland's plans as a commissioner
After sitting down with another glass of water for me and another cup of black tea for himself, Harland continued without missing a mark: "With my candidacy to the commission, I'll have far less association with my party, which is mostly a positive thing."
This remark took me by slight surprise. "Could you elaborate on that, if you don't mind? Does that mean that your candidacy isn't supported by Labour?" I asked.
"Sure," Harland replied. "No, that's not what it means. My candidacy is financially backed by Labour, and Jenkins will talk to The Greens to see if they would be happy with endorsing me as well." He took a sip of his tea and continued: "That means that I'll have more freedom for my political agenda, without much compromise."
"And what would be that political agenda, Mr Harland? What are you planning to offer to the European voters as an Internal Affairs Commissioner?"
"First of all, I want to reform the election process that the EU has for its commission. The commission elections we had this November were an utter disaster, and, if we want people to take the European Union seriously, we need to have a more foolproof electoral system."
He continues: "My first reforms will concern the unopposed candidates. We will have an approval voting process for them, where, in other words, there will be a referendum on whether the member states want the lone candidate in the position or not."
"If the candidate gets enough votes, they get elected. If they don't, a special election is immediately held, with the failed candidate barred from entering. These special elections will not start until there are at least two candidates, and I wanna take that precaution to ensure that we don't have these special elections over and over again."
"Second, I want to make sure that people who are asking to be in the executive body of an institution as big and significant as the European Union are fit for the job. Can you believe that a woman as insane as Bauer managed to get into the elections?" I don't say anything and nod approvingly as Harland references Annelise Bauer, the Istkalener who ran to be Premier Commissioner in the previous elections and had several attacks on councillors under her belt.
"Exactly," he continues. "That is why you need to make sure that the candidates don't have criminal charges and are mentally fit for the job. And I want to make sure that is the case when I'm in the office."
"The other important thing is that I want to make changes to the way the European Council functions. More specifically, I want to add a three-fifths or sixty percent approval rule on the bills that affect a country's internal affairs."
"Could you elaborate on what you mean when you say internal affairs?"
"It's about laws that would affect how a country functions inside its borders. So that would be the country's civil law, government structure, and school system, just to name a few."
"Wouldn't this slow down or block the passage of needed reforms and laws that could benefit the average EU citizen?"
"I would argue that this benefits the average EU citizen as this way the bills passed would have more credibility and better longevity. It would encourage the councillors to be collaborative, to reach out and convince other councillors why they should vote for their bills. It would force them to be competent and compromising as they now have to listen to the opposing side if they want to see their bills pass instead of just relying on which ideology has more power in the council. Yes, fewer bills will pass, but the bills that pass will be of higher quality."
"And it's not like it's not possible to pass bills that would benefit Europeans greatly without much controversy: The Banning of Conversion Therapy Act of 2020 is a great example of this. It solidified the EU's support for its LGBTQ+ community by banning make-believe practices against them that did more harm than good. But what's relevant here is how competent the councillor behind it, Kent Evergreen, was. He managed to amend the bill in a way that made sure that there was nothing to be opposed to. He was such an expert at wording things, and that's what helped the bill not only pass but pass with no votes against it and thirteen votes for it. That is unheard of. It is a great example of what I'm talking about."
"I've mentioned something about being competent, compromising and collaborative... Well, I guess those three words would describe me, my political career and this commission campaign."
"But you said that you were aiming for less compromise in your commission campaign."
"Less compromising with my political party, yes. Not with the Europeans, not with the member states. I will listen to all of them, all of their opinions, regardless of whether they voted for me or not. I'm not here to push an ideologically-driven agenda, I'm here to accomplish what's best for the Union and what's best for its citizens. I won't do foolish outcries when I see the unfair, I will work on a solution, as I always have as a senator."
"Mr Harland, from what I'm assuming with your promises, you don't seem to be a fan of integration in the EU."
"I mean, there's actual integration, and then there is federalism sold as integration. I can't say I'm a fan of the latter. That's what I'm trying to prevent with my reforms. A good chunk of the European Council doesn't seem to be aware of the cultures and the circumstances some member states are in. The recent prison bill from the Czechs are a great example of this. They want a country whose entire prison system consists of private prisons to change within months, putting extra weight on the Elthic government. The Duxburian Union also has a similar issue [with the bill]."
"Mr Harland, I have one last question, and it is about how are you considering to handle the situation in Svarna Surya."
"Well, it seems like the war is gonna start anytime soon, hell, before I could take office, probably. The best outcome I could ask for is an swift end to the war, a definitive treaty and the start of the country's transfer to its citizens. If I take the office, I'm ready to help. Always."
After that, we both got up to say our goodbyes. I wished him good luck in his rallies, he said it was a pleasure to have me here. I left, and the first thing I realized was that the elevator had started working again. Huh.