Elected and Accountable Council Act 2020 amendment proposal
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Current act:
ELECTED AND ACCOUNTABLE COUNCIL ACT
Proposed by Cllr. Edward Firoux (Inquista) :: Passed (4-1), January 19th, 2020 :: UnamendedPREAMBLE
According to the values enshrined in the Preamble of our Constitution, the European Union is dedicated to promoting democracy and good governance. As the primary legislative branch of the European Union, the European Council is the greatest bastion and gatekeeper of democracy and democratic decision-making in Europe. In order to therefore legitimize itself as a fully democratic institution, and to make itself accountable to the European people, the European Council shall become a democratically-elected body chosen directly by the people of the European Union.SECTION I. DEMOCRATIZATION OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL
I. All members of the European Council, also known as Councillors, shall be directly and democratically elected to office by the people of their member state of origin.
II. The governments of European Union member states may not appoint or dismiss their Councillor without following an official democratic process outlined in this Act.
III. Speakers or invited guests in the chamber must be above the age of 16 unless authorized by the speaker as a special exceptionSECTION II. COUNCILLOR ELECTION PROCESSES
I. Councillors may only (re)take their office within the European Council after satisfying a democratic processes in which all following conditions are met:
a) A state-wide election was held to specifically choose who would fill the position of Councillor;
b) The electorate directly voted for Councillor candidates on their ballot(s);
c) Suffrage was universal and equal to all citizens that were of the legal voting age;
d) The election process was generally seen as free and fair;
e) Candidates for Councillor were able to freely nominate themselves;
f) They successfully received the most votes at the end of the official voting process.
II. Member states shall be responsible for organizing, monitoring and fulfilling their own Councillor elections. Member states shall also be allowed to freely design and implement their own democratic procedures, rules and processes for electing their Councillor as long as all conditions for choosing a successful Councillor in Clause I of this Section are met.
III. Councillor elections must be regular and must occur at least once every four years.
IV. It is encouraged that member states elect their Councillor one month after they elect their national legislatures, or they elect their Councillor during the official European Council Election period.SECTION III. EUROPEAN COUNCIL ELECTION PERIOD
I. An official European Council Election period will be held simultaneously with the first European Commission election of each calendar year. This period shall simply serve as a coordinated effort to harmonize Councillor elections simultaneously between European Union member states and does not require mandatory observance.SECTION IV. TERM LIMITS, VACANCIES AND BY-ELECTIONS
I. Councillors shall not face any term limits and may run for re-election an unlimited amount of times.
II. Councillors may be dismissed or recalled by their government following a simple-majority vote in the highest-decision making body of that member state.
III. Should a Councillor resign, die, be dismissed, recalled or removed from office by any means, a by-election will automatically be triggered and must be held as quickly as feasibly possible to refill the vacant position.
IV. By-elections must follow the exact same procedures, rules and processes as the original election that was previously held.SECTION V. IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCEMENT
I. All incumbent Councillors who have currently been elected in a direct and democratic way shall be recognized as democratically elected to office.
II. All incumbent Councillors who have been appointed or indirectly selected by their government to office shall not be recognized as democratically elected, and an election for their position must be held within the next four years.
III. Any members state which violates any section of this Act, or any Councillor which continues to be unelected for four years, will be considered as having breached this Act and will have their Councillor suspended from the European Council by the European Court of Justice.The Most Blessed State of Inquista
Proposed amendment:
ELECTED AND ACCOUNTABLE COUNCIL ACT
SECTION II. COUNCILLOR ELECTION PROCESSES
I. Councillors may only (re)take their office within the European Council after satisfying a democratic processes in which all following conditions are met:
a) A state-wide election was held to specifically choose who would fill the position of Councillor;
b) The electorate directly voted for Councillor candidates on their ballot(s);
c) Suffrage was universal and equal to all citizens that were of the legal voting age;
d) The election process was generally seen as free and fair;
e) Candidates for Councillor were able to freely nominate themselves;
f) They successfully received the most votes at the end of the official voting process.
g) Councillor candidates are above the age of 16 or age of majority of the nation in question, whichever is higher.
h)Any councillor below the age of 16 shall be recalled from the day of this amendment going into force
II. Member states shall be responsible for organizing, monitoring and fulfilling their own Councillor elections. Member states shall also be allowed to freely design and implement their own democratic procedures, rules and processes for electing their Councillor as long as all conditions for choosing a successful Councillor in Clause I of this Section are met.
III. Councillor elections must be regular and must occur at least once every four years.
IV. It is encouraged that member states elect their Councillor one month after they elect their national legislatures, or they elect their Councillor during the official European Council Election period. -
Debate starts NOW and will last until 21:15 GMT on November 28th, 2020.
I suspect this is amendment coming at the heels of the election of the Austrian Councillor. Even if this amendment is to pass, we can't enforce legislative retroactively, and so the Austrian Councillor shall remain in their post.
Before people inevitably begin bashing the EACA and claiming that it led to this situation, let's make it clear that not only did the Austrian people choose to elect their councillor, but that the government and laws of Austria also, for some reaosn, permit and allow for the election of 4-year olds. The Constituion nor the EACA have an age requirement for Councillors, and so regardless of the EACA's existence, the government of Austria fully and legally allowed for a 4-year old to run, and thus 4-year old Austrians would be allowed to become Councillors of Austria with or without the EACA as it currently stands.
I'm not a fan of the wording of this amendment. 'Age of majority of a nation' is very unspecific, and could literally mean any nation.
Edward Firoux
Council Speaker and Councillor for Inquista -
Indeed it is , it is a joke a 4 year old can ruin proceedings in such a fashion therefore to adress this issue I propose the following amendment taking into account the previous one wouldn't fix the issue of the existing councillor.
Amendment proposal:
SECTION I. DEMOCRATIZATION OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL
I. All members of the European Council, also known as Councillors, shall be directly and democratically elected to office by the people of their member state of origin.
II. The governments of European Union member states may not appoint or dismiss their Councillor without following an official democratic process outlined in this Act.
III. Speakers or invited guests in the chamber must be above the age of 16 unless authorized by the speaker as a special exceptionSECTION II. COUNCILLOR ELECTION PROCESSES
I. Councillors may only (re)take their office within the European Council after satisfying a democratic processes in which all following conditions are met:
a) A state-wide election was held to specifically choose who would fill the position of Councillor;
b) The electorate directly voted for Councillor candidates on their ballot(s);
c) Suffrage was universal and equal to all citizens that were of the legal voting age;
d) The election process was generally seen as free and fair;
e) Candidates for Councillor were able to freely nominate themselves;
f) They successfully received the most votes at the end of the official voting process.
g) Councillor candidates are above the age of 16 or age of majority of the nation in question, whichever is higher.
h)Any councillor below the age of 16 shall be recalled from the day of this amendment going into forceTobias Johnson Farage
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I agree with Council Speaker; now this proposal has a necessary spirit in the matters of age.
But I do not agree with the push of making the position of European Councillors an elected position. This goes against the principle of self-determination of any of the European countries here present. Our internal policies set the determination of the how we as councillors are some sort of elected; forcing to do an election in countries where this is not custom, goes against the right of self determination of our countries to freely choose which system of governance goes in accord with our constitution and principles.
Emma Granger
Councillor for Montenbourg -
Dear collegues, I want to make it clear first and foremost that I am in favor of democratizing the council and the way towards it through the election of councilors in their respective home countries.
But I also want to make it clear that Section Two is against the Nofoaganese legislation that governs how political mandates and appointments are determined. I join my colleague from Montenbourg. This goes against the self-determination of member states and their possible national legislation.
Mrs. Paul-Gabrielle Muzhare
EU Councillor for the Republic of Nofoaga -
Councillor Granger and Muzhare, Councillors are already elected positions. The Elected and Accountable Council Act has been in force for some time now. I also think Section II gives member states more than enough freedom on how to create and implement a democratic elections that follows their own customs or way of doing things in their own member states.
Edward Firoux
Council Speaker and Councillor for Inquista -
I will extend debate for another 24 hours, until 21:15 GMT on November 28th, 2020.
Well, it appears our colleague in question seems to have perished in a blaze. On behalf of the European Council, we send our condolences to the families of those victimized by her actions.
We can still go through to amend the EACA, but I think this proposal probably ought to be withdrawn.
Edward Firoux
Council Speaker and Councillor for Inquista -
From the Councillor of the ridicolous and the extreme violation of the member states sovereignty, now we have an amendment to the Elected and Accountable Council Act 2020 which also pretends to violate member states sovereignty by adding more burocracy and stuff to our elections. I feel that the United Duchies' Councillor wants to destroy the principle of sovereignty with his latest amendments and Acts, and by the comments of my colleagues, I'm not the only one who thinks that.
This proposal needs to be withdrawn and someone whose aim is the opposite to Cllr. Johnson Farage's shall amend this act in much better way than the chosen one. I have the feeling of losing time right now on a amendment we know it is not going to succeed, nor to be properly debated. So Councillor, I ask you to retire this proposal and let the Amendment task to anybody which doesn't pretend to destroy our Union with violations of our sovereignty by using the Council as a limitating institution.
Donald D. Tusk
Councillor for Spain -
While the member who caused this to be needed in question has tragically died and condolences to the family the fact that such a young councillor was allowed to be elected is crazy. This is why an age amendment is needed to stop any future incidences of the same type happening again. An age of majority or minimum age to be a councillor is needed and 16 does seem a sensible age given the age of majority in some countries so I don't see anything silly in the proposed amendments . Though the recall amendment may be a tad redundant now. This should not impact sovreignty too much beyond what is reasonable, i.e that the person elected is an adult. We must avoid a repeat incident.
Tobias Johnson Farage
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Debate is now over. It is time to vote on amendments. The Council shall vote on amendments until 00:45 GMT on December 4th, 2020. There are two amendments, both proposed by Councillor Johnson Farage:
Amendment I
SECTION I. DEMOCRATIZATION OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL
III. Speakers or invited guests in the chamber must be above the age of 16 unless authorized by the speaker as a special exceptionAmendment II
SECTION II. COUNCILLOR ELECTION PROCESSES
I. Councillors may only (re)take their office within the European Council after satisfying a democratic processes in which all following conditions are met:
g) Councillor candidates are above the age of 16 or age of majority of the nation in question, whichever is higher.
h) Any councillor below the age of 16 shall be recalled from the day of this amendment going into force
I vote AGAINST both amendments.
Edward Firoux
Council Speaker and Councillor for Inquista -
On behalf of United Duchies I vote for both ammendements
Tobias Johnson Farage -
On behalf of the Republic of Nofoaga, I vote FOR both amendments.
Mrs. Paul-Gabrielle Muzhare
EU Councillor for the Republic of Nofoaga -
After seeing the purpose of the Amendment and the Explanations given, on behalf of the Kingdom of Spain, I vote FOR this amendment.
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On behalf of the Democratic Republic of Czech Slavia, I vote FOR both amendments .
Václav Kohout
Councillor for Czech Slavia -
On behalf of Alkharya, I vote AGAINST both amendments.
Councillor Aylin Gökçen of Alkharya
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The Empire of Inimicus votes AGAINST both amendments.
Hetty Tilki
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With 4 votes for and 3 votes against, both amendments pass. The legislation has been updated to reflect the passed amendments. Final voting begins now and will last unti 04:15 GMT on December 7th, 2020.
On behalf of the Most Blessed State of Inquista, I vote AGAINST this amendment.
Edward Firoux
Council Speaker and Councillor for Inquista -
For United Duchies I vote FOR this Amendment
Tobias Johnson Farage
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On behalf of the Kingdom of Reitzmag, I vote FOR this act.
Friedrich van Allen
Councilor, Kingdom of Reitzmag -
On behalf of Alkharya, I ABSTAIN from voting.
Councillor Aylin Gökçen of Alkharya
The Kingdom of Spain
