Posts made by BrumBrum

Nation Name: United Duchies
Artist: The Killers
Song: Don't Shoot Me Santa
Link to youtube: Link
Vote deliverer with their image linked: Joe Lycett
Link to your flag: Flag

Roscoes given to workers

Roscoes has restructured to dilute shares and give shares to the Roscoes Welfare Association which will be renamed the Union for Roscoes Workers. The restructuring will see the business move to the following ownership:

Workers will own 50.63% of the business having 10 of the 20 members on the board to become semi-worker owned and controlled. The Roscoes will take the greatest hit in value with their shares being worth 102 billion Euros down from 1.478 Trillion Euros. Rachel Reubenstein-Roscoe Co-Ceo along with Co-Ceo Ruth Cadbury said in a joint statement "We believe it is time to give our business to the workers as a legacy of our families values. We have run the business in accordance with putting the worker first and benefiting future generations. The shares have been gifted under deed restriction that they cannot be sold by either the Union for Roscoes Workers or the Roscoes Foundation or any of their sucessors. We hope this will keep the businesses values and ethics safe in the long term . No more voting shares may be issued on the stock market by covenant in order to protect the business from outsider infiltration." It is rumoured businesses like TUI have been considering also moving to semi-worker owned model.

Moderate- Centre Left Coalition confirmed
Today a Moderate , Liberal and PSD coalition has been confirmed after the election results last week with the three party government having a majority of 145 in the house of Commons and 22 in the House of Duchies. The new government is to focus on the increase of public services using economic growth , simplifying international trade through treaties and EU laws and increased labour protections for workers. The coalition are to commit to a raising of minimum wage increase to 22 Dux Libra or 6.2% increase , an increase of Paternity and Maternity leave to 15 weeks within 1 year of birth of a child and increase to 11 weeks of paid time off. The lack of lowering the hours before overtime cap is a notable and it is understood the Moderate Party was concerned lowering this would impact the economy too significantly believing the current cap is set at the right place. The coalition government will also result in a network of 7 million plus linked up DuchiesGuard Smart CCTV network with residents able to recieve payment to integrate private residence street facing CCTV and doorbells into the network to fight security risks and reduce incidence of crime. A priority of the government is to prepare for the summit with Leagio within the next week.The Liberal party secured the ending of non-public owned prisons and more priority of community sentences for less serious crimes as well as less severe prison sentences in return for the smart cctv and stricter punishments of more violent crimes,

The election resulted in the election of Aviv Rubenstein-Roscoe, Uri Mizachi-Roscoe and Jade Abbott Durham into the House of commons for the Brummagem South , Southwest and South East seats for the Moderate party. The election ha also resulted in the resignation of the UoD leader after their loss of 94 of their 111 House of Commons seats and 32 of ther 39 House of Duchies seats to the Moderate Party and Unus.The party is rumoured to be in civil war with a potential collapse of the party in the near future.

The election results are as follows:
House of Commons:

House of Duchies 2024:

Breakdown House of Duchies:
%:

Votes:

Seats:

House of Commons:

House of Duchies 2024:

Paths to Power:

Council Gridlock
I must state my absolute disappointment in the council gridlock caused by officials not moving acts through on time or on schedule. The people of Europe and governments of Europe voted for a council that works and actually proceeds with legislation. I have limited time in office and want to use this time to benefit the European people by continuing to harmonises standards through acts. This is being obstructed by obstructionists and inefficient council procedures and beaurocracy. I urge the council to vote on legislation in good time and work with my commission to pass acts that benefit the European people through harmonisation of policies on trade, quality standards and safety to ensure cheaper more affordable goods for all in the EU through simplifying of red tape.The commission cannot do its job if the council is not sticking to times set out in the constitution and efficiently moving legislation through the council.

Roscoes released without charge from Czechslavia
Today news has come through that the Roscoes arrested in Czechslavia Yohanna, Danya and Mathias have been released and are now in the United Duchies. Reports indicate no charges were pursued in the end by Czechslavia in what was seen by many as a political arrest to distract from domestic issues in the country. It is not known if a deal was struck for the release and what was in the deal if one exists.

However recently the Duchian Business Council has revised its stance on Czechslavia. The Duchian Business Council has now said "We do not believe buying goods from Czechslavia is a risky venture and partnerships of limited nature for production of goods in Czechslavia is a safe investment. We still believe there is work to be done if Czechslavia is to be considered safe for foreign owned assets fully but business with Czechslavian companies in the context of importing goods not of sensitive IP nature from Czechslavia is safe for businesses to do."It is not known whether Roscoes intend to conduct any business with Czechslavia in the future.

PSD announce workers benefits boost plan
Today the PSD rallied on their workers benefits plan in a press conference with unions. The party pledged the following proposals:

The pitch it seen as a radical increase in workers rights and conditions if elected into government with the PSD saying these increases and an increase of 10% in benefits rates would be the major red lines for a coalition. The Party said "We believe the hard working people of this nation should keep more of the growing wealth of this nation. We also believe these proposals will as backed by evidence be a win win for workers and business alike as evidence shows this policy results in increased productivity." The Moderate Party have kept tight lipped about these areas though they have pledged an increase in minimum wage to 22 Dux Libra by January 2025 while the UoD opposed the proposals describing them as a "economic suicide of the highest magnitude". Unus and AfD refused to comment on the platform only saying "We believe in workers rights and protecting Duchian workers interests." The Liberal Party have proposed minimal changes in labour policy saying " We believe the balance works well now though are open to changes in return for the right policies getting through in other areas." The Liberal Party are expected to be willing to compromise in return for some reforms of criminal justice to lighten sentences and increase community service sentencing for "minor crimes" .

I thank the right honourable councillor of the Duxburian Union and welcome his amendments. I do believe the new technology clause is flexible enough as it reads "such as" so wouldn't limit new technologies only to blockchain or crypto but just cites them as examples .

I do not believe that retail banking is obsolete or close to being so since many want the stability of an institution and protection of security features and financial protection offered by the industry. The chargeback and EuroPay Guard I believe is necessary to provide confidence in the network that would encourage people to use the system and its much better to have it organised at the Euro Pay level than through the banks or financial institutions without such a protection the system will be far too open to fraud and by setting aside a fund of 0.5% of transactions on the network we can cover transactions where money cannot be recovered from an account.

James Mizrachi-Roscoe, IAC commissioner

I am pleased with your support of the idea and take not of your oppinion on the voting majority. Howevery there needs to be a figure in place for committee decisions so I chose to use the European council principle.I settled on the 55% + 1 for sanctions as its the criteria the European councils vote level but adds a layer of protection to require more uniformity to impose sanctions.

I am concerned by eliminating the provision that the EuroPay network has to work to implement new technologies in its systems could potentially cause it to gradually become outdated. The EuroPay network needs to move with the times to use them most relevant payment technology of the day so would disagree with ammendment II.

James Mizrachi-Roscoe, IAC commissioner

On behalf of United Duchies I vote FOR this budget
Skye Hook , Deputy Councillour for United Duchies

I today propose the EuroPay network to simplify movement of money and financial transfers in the EU.

EuroPay Act
Proposed by James Mizrachi-Roscoe, IAC
Preamble: Noting the need of a single European payment processor and the benefits of a unified quick payment processing system for Europe this bill aims to set up a European single payment processor called

Article I: EuroPay
I.EuroPay shall be set up as a default European payment processor and card issuer
II.EuroPay shall be regulated and run by the ECB
III.Euro Pay shall facilitate transactions between banks and vendors as well as interbank transactions to facilitate easy and swift transactions of payments in Europe
IV.All payments on the EuroPay network must be completed within 1 hour under a normal operational environment
V.The network shall be funded by a percentage of transaction payment processing fee up to a cap and per card card issuing fee charged to banks for every physical card issued on the EuroPay network
VI.Where possible new technologies such as blockchain and cryptocurrency shall be available to use on the Europay network
VII.Any bank registered in an EU country may issue cards on the EuroPay network
VIII.Transactions on the EuroPay network shall be covered by a EuroPay Guard which shall cover refunds due to a product or service not being provided as advertised or to refund any money lost to fraudulent transactions or where other European or national laws allow for refunds to the consumer.
IX.Customers shall raise a dispute under EuroPay Guard through either a phone or online chat or portal to apply for EuroPay Guard refund. The complaint shall then be assessed within 2 days then a refund processed within 1 day if approved.
X.0.5% of any transaction shall be put into a EuroPay Guard refund fund to pay back money lost due to fraudulent transactions on a compromised account
XI.EuroPay shall have the power to chargeback transactions that fall under the EuroPay Guard protection for consumers. Should this not be possible the transaction may be refunded from theEuroPay Guard compensation fund until such a time the bank can reclaim the money off the vendor.
XII. Banks on the EuroPay network may withhold future payments on the network to a vendor to gain back money for successful disputed transactions as result of the vendor being at fault.
XIII.Any fees and transaction merchant fee caps may go up by the European ECB inflation rate or by a 55% +1 vote of the EuroPay committee.
XIV.Alternate payment processing systems may compete with EuroPay in the European Union.
XV.EuroPay shall be secured by Chip and Pin and two factor authentication with security methods updated as needed or as new technology arises that can offer better security methods.
XVI. EuroPay shall set the standards on cards designed to be used on the EuroPay network and what information must be present on the card.
XVII. The EuroPay system shall allow for creation of virtual cards on the EuroPay network.
Article 2:Governance and compliance
I.EuroPay technology standards , policies and operational procedures shall be overseen by the EuroPay committee with one representative from each member state.The committee may update any of these areas as necessary with a simple 50%+1 vote of present committee members.
II.The EuroPay headquarters shall be located in Europolis
III.All payment processing card terminals sold in the EU must accept EuroPay
IV. The European Council by a vote of 55% + 1 may sanction countries including EU member states by blocking their banks access to the EuroPay network

Duchies Assured backed by consumers

Today a survey of consumers by Which duchian edition and in conjunction with Opinnium has revealed a high level of trust and uptake of the Duchies assured schemes. 73% of those surveyed said they'd only buy Duchies non-consumable goods , electronics and white goods made or designed in Duchies if they had the quality marks from the scheme on them while 83% said they'd only buy Duchian food with the Red Tractor mark or Duchies Assured mark on them and would view any goods or food without them as lower quality and more expensive in the long run. 56% of respondants said they would consider Duchies Designed labeled products over other products and pay more for goods seeing them as potentially higher quality.

In the survey they also surveyed attitudes to holiday and travel buying with 70% saying they'd only book with travel agents or companies on the Dara Protected , Duchie Track Assured and DICTA assured schemes which all Duchies companies have to follow putting 5% of the ticket or holiday price into an emergency fund to pay out if a company fails or claims have to be paid to companies for rebooking due to acts of God.The results show a positive uptake of the schemes.

The scheme has spread with all Duchian designed or made products in Roscoes , Tengelmann group companies(including Sainsbury's and Argos) ,Albert Heijn, M&S and Waitrose meeting the standards with it growing in popularity among manufacturers in the United Duchies. The scheme is predicted to cover 80% of Duchian products within 3 years garunteeing that Duchian products will exceed any European common standards . No party has proposed making the standard mandatory though market pressure has essentially made it essential to certify to the standard.

The Duchies Assured organisation is also investigating setting up additional schemes to cover ferries and software and online services to cover those sectors of the markets among other schemes. It is also looking at working with other European partners in ECON if the proposal for a CE mark fails to set up a scheme involving any ECON and additional countries to certify quality of goods within the bloc. This scheme would be administered internationally aligning standards across boarders to guarantee quality of goods for consumers though any standards of these sort are potentially going to be lower in warranty periods and part availability requirements than the Duchies assured schemes.

Projection poll Duchies 01/08/2024
House of Commons

House of Duchies

Moderate security pledges
The Moderate Party today unveiled its security policy going forward for the Duchies. The party has been on a journey since the Red Attacks and terrorist attacks in the last few years in the Duchies. The party stopped the rollback of the smart CCTV system.

The party pledged the following policies:

1. Increasing smart cctv network to at least 7 million Smart CCTV facial recognition cameras within 3 years from election and creation of a unified Duchies Guard smart CCTV network.
2. Linking up private CCTV cameras in publically accessible places into a Duchies Guard smart CCTV network.
3. Installation of smart CCTV cameras into all sensitive locations for national security.
4. Incentivise residents to ingetrate private CCTV feeds facing public streets and corridors into a Duchies Guard smart CCTV network.
5. Increase policing around the nation by boosting police officer numbers by at least25% over 4 years.

The policies have been opposed by the Liberal Party who described the policies as "an assualt on liberty and privacy of all Duchians totally disproportionate to the threat from crime and violence" and pledging to remove smart CCTV at the first chance it gets. Meanwhile the Moderate Party rebuffed this statement saying "We believe smart CCTV expansion is a vital tool in our crime fighting arsenal. We believe that the safety and security benefits it brings to the public cannot be overstated." The PSD are officially supportive of a "smart CCTV policy with safeguards" while Unus support more security and tougher sentencing than the Moderate Policy with Unus saying "Just increasing smart CCTV is not enough. We need to increase background checks on immigrants , stop politically correct policing and institute a random stop and search policy with no right to refuse the stop and search and requirement for all citizens to identify themselves to police when asked. The Moderate Party and the UoD are frankly weak on this issue."

Election poll of polls 24/07/2024

News TV channels

Duchian Broadcast Media:
TV and Radio:
TV and Radio are regulated media . All TV news channels must maintain impartiality and invite all political parties on to any panels. Content may not show political bias on tv or radio towards any one party or political organisation. If these are not followed the broadcast license may be removed , any rights to an office in the country may be removed or fines may be levied against the organisation for every offense against impartiality. The main organisations are as follows:

Newspapers and Political Magazines:
The United Duchies media requires newspapers be impartial and objective. To this end they must present all viewpoints .Newspapers may not favour a political party though religious newspapers may promote a certain religious point of view. To get a newspaper license the newspaper must agree to these conditions . Foreign ownership of newspapers is not allowed under law.Newspapers may host oppinion pieces but must have opinion pieces divided equally between all political parties.Failure to follow these rules will lead to potential closure or financial fines and sanctions per offense.

Any partisan publications must avoid the use of the word news in any description of it and outwardly state its political bias. They may also not be sold in the newspaper section but instead in the magazine section.

EU Quality Standard Scheme Act
Proposed by James Mizrachi-Roscoe, IAC
Preamble: Acknowledging the cost of meeting multiple national standards of quality and potentially having to meet the conditions of multiple quality marks to get to market and the inefficiency of testing the same product multiple times. This act proposes a single quality and safety mark scheme, safety mark and vehicle safety scheme with standards set by experts from countries around the European Union and input from countries throughout the European Union to set a minimum standard for products in the European Union.

Article 1 Definitions
I.Minimum safety standard:A minimum standard of safety within the expected use of a product
II.Minimum Quality Standard:A minimum standard of quality and functionality for a defined time period based on expected use of product
III.Minimum Warranty Period: A guarantee of replacement of parts and labour costs to be covered for functionality within a reasonable time frame of use of a product
IV.Vendor:Seller of the product
V.Manufacturer: Company that makes the product
VI.CE mark scheme:A guarantee that a product has passed quality and safety tests as set by the European Trade Standards Organization
Article 2 Minimum Standards
I.All products in the CE mark scheme must meet a minimum safety standard as set out by a Product Safety Standards Committee
II.All products in the CE mark scheme must meet a minimum standard of functionality as set by a Product Quality Standards Committee
III.All products in the CE mark scheme must come with a Minimum Warranty Period as set by a Product Quality Standards Committee
IV.Reasonable wear and tear as set by the Product Quality Standards Committee shall be allowed under this act
V.Member states may choose if they require a CE mark to sell products in their nation and whether to fully align their standards with the CE mark scheme

Article 3 Regulation of Standards
I.Two committees the Product Safety Standards Committee and Product Quality Standards Committee shall be set up under the European Trade Standards Organization
II.Each Committee shall have one representative per member state in the ETSO with one vote on policy and standards overseeing their area. This may be selected in any way the nation desires
III.Each committee may set up sub-comittees for specialist areas to set standards for those product categories to ensure the highest quality decision making. These shall have one representative from each member state in the ETSO
IV.Any ETSO standard must be agreed to by a 66%+1 vote in favour by committee or sub-comittee members present
V.The head of the ESTO shall be elected by a majority of the committee members
VI.Customers shall first be directed to approach the vendor or manufacturer of the product to get a refund or replacement which shall be decided by the member state laws
VII.Products shall be tested in a standardized safety and quality test by the European Trade Standards Organization as set out by the European Trade Standards Organization these tests shall be paid for by the manufacturer or vendor if they choose to do so
VIII.The passing of the test shall be marked by a Certified by ETSO mark marked by the CE mark which shall look as follows
IX.The CE mark shall apply but not be limited to the following products:Toys,Electronics,Wrist Watches,AC Adapters,LED Lighting Products,Energy-related Products, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Eyewear, Machinery, Bicycles, Scooters, E-Bikes, E-Scooters, Medical Devices, Construction Materials, Measuring Instruments, Gas Appliances, Lifts
X.Vehicle safety shall be regulated in a separate standard with member states able to opt in to a European New Vehicle Assessment Programme(Euro NVAP) which shall be overseen by a committee with 1 representative from each member state.Companies shall be required to pay for the tests if the member state the company plans to sell vehicles in is opted in to the programme.Ratings may be checked by customers in an EU run database by any communication technology or method the European Trade Standards Organization considers useful for the purpose
XI.The head of the Euro NVAP shall be elected by a majority of the committee members
XII.Any Euro NVAP standard must be agreed to by a 66%+1 vote in favour by committee members present
XIII.Products that pass quality and safety standards shall be given a CE mark of quality and a product number that may be checked by customers in an EU database by any communication technology or method the European Trade Standards Organization considers useful for the purpose
XIV. No Member State shall be forced to mandate the CE mark or Euro NVAP scheme with Member States able to opt out either scheme or any common standards and be able to set the scope of companies,organizations and products required to have the CE mark or Euro NVAP ratings.
XV.Memberstates may require a minimum Euro NVAP rating for a vehicle to be sold in their country
XVI.Low volume manufacturers as defined by each member state may be exempted from CE requirements or Euro NVAP requirements even if nations are member of the schemes
XVII.Companies and organizations may require that the Customer have proof of payment such as a receipt in order to ask for a refund or replacement product
XVIII.Each Member State in the scheme shall designate an agency or agencies that consumers can go to adjudicate in case of failure of the vendor or manufacturer to refund or send out a replacement product of equivalent function. These agencies shall have final authority on whether a customer is refunded or sent out a replacement of an equivalent function as well as acceptable forms of refund.
XIX.Vendor and Manufacturers shall only be required to provide a replacement product upon production of a product code or warranty code set by the manufacturer with responsibility on the manufacturer if the item was brought in a second hand sale.This shall only apply to warranty repairs.
XX.Failure to meet product, safety and warranty standards shall lead to a refund and in case of injury or damage to property as a result of failing to meet standards the award of the costs incurred by the customer on the failure.
XXI.Member States shall set the burden of replacement and proof in their own Member States jurisdiction as well as time period proof of payment is required by law
XXII.Member States may exceed the minimum requirements set out by the Product Quality Standards Committee and Product Quality Standards Committee and set their own national standards higher if they wish to.

I today present this act as a change in approach to common European standards . This essentially just creates CE mark scheme and lets the experts do their work flexibly and independently and lets nations choose whether to require the CE or Euro NVAP mark or a certain rating or exceed those requirements.

James Mizrachi-Roscoe , IAC