Loan Request for the Commonwealth of Leagio
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If it may be acceptable, Mr. Speaker, that in case the Council has any questions that are related to the loan that the President of the Commonwealth attends this debate to answer those questions? I can personally confirm, during my previous time as Governor-General of the Commonwealth, that the green plan that this loan is for has been an issue that he has been passionate about since he first entered public service.
Francis Plessis
EU Councilor for Leagio -
For sure! Any esteemed guests are welcome to the floor.
Edward Firoux
Council Speaker and Councillor for Inquista -
Spain will support this loan and also contribute to it. I personally hope the money is used for the development of green energies in the Commonwealth of Leagio and no corruption takes place, as in my opinion, Leagio is a country we can trust on.
Donald D. Tusk
Councillor for Spain -
The President of the Commonwealth, Kenith Lifejumper, entered the room and sat down as he waited if any of the Council had any questions.
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I formally request an extension of debate, as I still have a lot to say and was unable to be present in the chamber before.
I'm disappointed at the continued willingness of other member states to literally just give away money without even doing any kind of due dilligence. 0% interest on 400 million without even a question? You're willing to eat a massive loss if they don't pay it back? You hope the money will be used for its expressed purpose?
Proportionally speaking, somewhere between 20% and 25% of that money is provided by my country and no, we aren't willing to just throw it out there without due dilligence.
Interest rates are typically determined by creditworthiness. 0% interest indicates you think Leagio is in an elite position to pay it back. Where is the evidence of its financial position, though? Without credit ratings currently being assigned, I actually don't know what Leagio's national creditworthiness is. That's certainly not a situation that calls for 0% interest. That said, I also don't want to make any money off this, so:
I propose an amendment to Article III:
III. 3% annual interest will be applied on this loan, renegotiable annually. If the loan is paid in full on time, all collected interest will be refunded, adjusted for inflation.
Furthermore, we are totally unwilling to accept any outcome that does not result in the money being paid back in full. There is no concept of "loan forgiveness" in my culture...when you take out a loan, you pay it back...if you don't...bad things happen...
So, I propose another amendment striking out section VI:
VI. In case Leagio falls into bankruptcy, the European Union will remove the quantity left to pay by Leagio from a rescue fund for the nation.Not specifying what happens in the case of default allows the European Union to negotiate with a free hand and all options on the table.
Finally, I have a question for President Lifejumper - You recently went on record for the LBC stating willingness to engage in military operations in Eastern Haane. My question therefore is, if you can afford military intervention abroad, how can you not afford domestic energy infrastructure? To me, it doesn't sound like you really need this loan and are just engaging in what we call "selective poverty" - potentially choosing to spend money on foreign wars instead of on the needs of your own people. You may need to refrain from all foreign military intervention if you want me to take your request seriously. Please justify how you can afford war, but not energy.
Wesley Greene
Councillor of the Duxburian Union -
Debate shall be extended until 08:00 GMT on September 16th, 2020.
Edward Firoux
Council Speaker and Councillor for Inquista -
Of Course, Councilor Greene. The reason why i stated that i was willing to support the Republic of Eastern Haane militarily was due to fact that the Commonwealth kept receiving nothing but reports of the horrendous war crimes that were occurring. So, there was enormous pressure from many citizens of the Commonwealth to intervene to the point that National Congressmen were literally pounding my door to do something about the situation. So, i stated that i would be willing to support the Republic of Eastern Haane militarily. However, i did not state at the moment that i was going to send troops out to Eastern Haane until the situation was fully evaluated and if the moral benefits were worth the costs to the Leagioan Economy. One of the things that people that come to the Commonwealth of Leagio should understand is that we have a strong hatred to a military that constantly commits war crimes and genocide. Now, this is a hatred that goes all the way back to the Leagioan War of Independence, where the oppressors of the Commonwealth (which at the time was a colony) was treated like cattle and slaves. this was not a treatment limited to one race, both white and black suffered under this Tyranny. And so the old memories of the War invokes a spirit within Leagio, where we think that anyone that is being seriously oppressed and beaten is a threat to our idea of liberty, equality, and democracy where we should put aside our personal issues and lookout to the issues of the outer world. That is why I informed the press that i was willing to support the Republic of Eastern Haane. However, i will be glad to announce, which will also be announced formally in Leagio, that due to the current situation that is occuring in Eastern Haane where they are promises that peace will come quick. The Commonwealth will be allowing the Eastern Haane people with the beginnings of the formation of its new government that we are receiving from the various news outlets from there that Leagio will not intervene.
Now, on the economic situation of Leagio, in the recent economic data that was released this month. The problem with getting energy to Leagio is not in western part of the country as i told Commisioner Juncker but it was in the East. The Eastern part of the Commonwealth has a population of at least four million but the problem is getting power to them, because the Minister of Interior cannot just use wooden poles with wires and call it a day. The issue with the East is that at least once a early (three on a really bad year), there is a sand storm that forms up and makes a huge sand cloud that goes through the desert. Now these clouds do not cause much damage but on a strong and powerful one that can go up to high speeds with the clouds going up to hundreds of feet high. Then when those do hit a town or city, they can cause huge damage to homes and send people flying. This was seen about at least 60 years ago when the capital of Vernach was hit and completely ruined beyond recognition. The town lost all power connections, which cut off all remaining communications that the city had with the outside world as it had go through at least 3 to 4 days without aid to recover or physical assistance to rebuild. This resulted in the Commonwealth looking to find a way to keep the electric poles standing incase of another storm like that, which we but the problem was that the process was long, hard, and expensive. The poles are made out of metal and are dug deep through the sand and dirt. So far, we have stable connections to the Eastern territories but the other problem is producing the power.
There are about 7 power plants in the Commonwealth to generate power, or at least try to, for the 21 million citizens in the Commonwealth. The problem is that they do not produce enough for the demands that the country has. Most of the power plants in the Commonwealth are either coal or gas, we are recently trying out solar and wind power which is turning out to have some success but it all depends on their location. The Wind turbines are best suited for the mountainy parts of the Commonwealth, but we would need more to ensure that we can meet up to the electrical demands of the Commonwealth. The Solar Powerplants that we built have success and we hope to build more soon with some being built in Vernach as we speak but here is where the main issue sits. You see the population of the Commonwealth is not always mainly in the capital cities in the states and territories, in some they are spread out like the Territory of Karptiniz in the Northern boundaries of the Commonwealth where we border the country of Kgerland. Not everyone in the East has sufficient power, where they can have an economic life with the internet (especially if a job requires it) or be able to use necessary electrical household items to build a life for themselves. When i talked with Juncker, the lowest total number of people without sufficient power was about 1.5 million people but that was old data as the number is probably at 1.6 million. The Commonwealth had the solution, or so we thought, and that was passing the Eastern Economic Development Act which was suppose to essentially give economic benefits to foreign companies setting up shop in the Eastern territories, especially energy companies. But the probability was that the Commonwealth was not getting much capital investment from the outside world. And every month more and more people go to the East, where a good number of them are going to not have stable and sufficient power levels.
So, that meant more needed to taken on the power issue, the cost of Solar panels and turbines are not cheap to the Commonwealth budget. We have about a 13% budget towards energy and the environment, but have of it goes to each respective category. Before the end of my term as President, i will working to see if more can be placed to that category. But many people in my cabinet tell me that the issue is going to be one that will last at least two to three presidencies if we want to avoid using fossil fuels and other methods harmful to the environment to just get some power to people.
Do these answers help you, Councilor Greene, or am I missing something that the Council thinks that i did not answer?
Kenith Lifejumper
President of the Commonwealth of Leagio -
I have no idea what a race or a slave is, but I can understand there being a strong cultural basis for intervening in situations that you find unjust. Still, military operations are expensive and money doesn't grow on trees. If that's a national priority, something else has to give - a government can't afford to do everything even if people accept being taxed through the roof and even if every cost that can be cut is cut. Government services for true needs have to take priority over luxuries - foreign military intervention is a luxury. The EU doesn't exist to provide your country with necessities so it can go off pursuing luxuries.
That said, green energy is one of those things that improves the world even if the project is in one member state, so we are still willing to entertain the idea under the right conditions. I still have some other concerns now that you've explained the situation in the east better:
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If there are damaging sand storms in the area that destroy electrical infrastructure, why haven't you buried the power lines? Granted, that's expensive, but we did it in Verintono, a city of 12 million, and we had to drill through solid bedrock to do it, not dig through easy dirt and sand. The EU didn't pay for it, either.
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Along a similar line of thought, how do you plan to operate solar or wind farms in the desert areas that need the power and see the big storms? Solar, in particular, is highly vulnerable to wind damage, and neither can be buried.
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If the East is essentially a far-flung, rural area with low population, why aren't people generating their own power on their land? Solar panels on a house roof can power the entire house, backed up with an on-site battery and a regular grid connection. Personal power can also be much more easily protected from storms with sliding shutters, no poles to worry about. You also don't lose huge percentages of the generated electricity trying to transmit it long distances. Again, this is just food for thought and might not be viable in your country, I don't live there and thus don't know the situation on the ground.
We have a large desert in my country and the population there knows the consequences of living there. They have to take personal responsibility for their choice to continue to settle a desert. There is no entitlement to European funds or even federal funds there. When they have major needs, they have to raise taxes or cut costs to fund them. If they can't, they need to give things up until they can. Infra is a core government service and financing it with international debt is not sustainable or a substitute for taxation or cutting costs.
I am not completely opposed to the loan, but I am still seeing it as a service your government needs to provide for its citizens and not one the EU needs to provide. If your government can't afford infra, it needs to take the appropriate measures to - raise revenue from its own people or cut expenditures, like every other country in the EU has to. Either option has drawbacks, but that's life. I am currently thinking Leagio is overly entitled / wants the EU to bail it out of its own national obligations to its people - change my mind?
Wesley Greene
Councillor of the Duxburian Union -
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Debate is now over. It is time to vote on amendments. There are two amendments, both proposed by Councillor Greene. The amendments are thus:
Amendment I
Section I
III. 3% annual interest will be applied on this loan, renegotiable annually. If the loan is paid in full on time, all collected interest will be refunded, adjusted for inflation.Amendment II
Section I
VI. In case Leagio falls into bankruptcy, the European Union will remove the quantity left to pay by Leagio from a rescue fund for the nation.Voting on amendments will commence NOW and will last until 02:15 GMT on September 22nd, 2020.
I vote FOR both proposed amendments.
Edward Firoux
Council Speaker and Councillor for Inquista -
I vote FOR both amendments as proposed.
Charles Michel
Councilor for the Kingdom of Fremet -
I vote FOR both amendments.
Donald D. Tusk
Councillor for Spain -
I vote FOR both amendments.
Mrs. Paul-Gabrielle Muzhare
EU Councilor for the Republic of Nofoaga -
With 4 votes for, Amendments I and II have both PASSED. The legislation has been updated to reflect the passed amendments.
Final voting begins now and will last until 09:30 GMT on September 25th, 2020.
On behalf of the Most Blessed State of Inquista, I vote FOR this loan request.
Edward Firoux
Council Speaker and Councillor for Inquista -
On behalf of the Kingdom of Spain, I vote FOR this loan request.
Donald D. Tusk
Councillor for Spain -
On behalf of the Republic of Nofoaga, I vote FOR this loan request.
Mrs. Paul-Gabrielle Muzhare
EU Councilor for the Republic of Nofoaga -
On behalf of the Union of Duxburian Dominions, I ABSTAIN from voting on the request.
Wesley Greene
Councillor of the Duxburian Union -
On behalf of the Realm of Great Ruthund, I ABSTAIN from voting on this loan request.
Helhuan Zihuruthstukur
EU Councillor, Ruthund -
On behalf of the Commonwealth of Leagio, I ABSTAIN as i feel that this will be a conflict of interest for me to cast a vote.
Francis Plessis
EU Councilor for Leagio -
On behalf of the Kingdom of Retzmag, I vote FOR this act.
Friedrich van Allen
Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag -
With four votes FOR, this loan request has been PASSED.
Edward Firoux
Council Speaker and Councillor for Inquista
The Kingdom of Spain
