Voskian Times, Winter 2015/2016
Voskia to accept refugees after all
(10 March) - Voskia will accept refugees after all. This was decided in Brussels today during a summit between representatives of the European Union and the Voskian government. Voskia also agrees to normalise its border patrols in exchange for logistic support from Brussels and a quicker acceptance of the association agreement between the EU and Voskia. The refugee crisis caused Voskia to hermetically close its borders with Greece for non-EU citizens, which disabled a possible route to Western Europe through Italy. Especially Hungary criticised the Voskian government for this approach, which caused more pressure on the Balkan countries and Hungary.
Lukas Dòdziĕvs (Piratiĕ) new Head of Capital District
(6 March) - In the elections for the leadership of the regio Gurdia, the capital district and the provinces of Mesē Kūģe, Pādģiōrs, West-Gurdia and South-Rugia, the Champions of the Republic (PD) of president Başkim Arhali suffered painful losses; Ģiannis Bagecivs, the PD candidate in Pādģiōrs, received a record low of only 43 votes. Prime minister Luçia Apavia's liberal party V-ĢP received far better results: three of the six Heads that were elected today are members of her party. The result in Divis, the capital district, turned out as a surprise: Lukas Dòdziĕvs, the leader of the Voskian Pirate Party (Piratiĕ/Piratat/Ils Pirats) managed to secure his party's first large victory.
The Heads (Kaffō (Voskian), Drejtora (Gurdian), Schefs (Rumantsch)) of the capital district and the provinces are elected for a five year term, those of the regions for a six year term. Three of the provinces where elections took place today were headed by PD-members in the last couple of years. The Head of Pādģiōrs, Pizus Nadģuvs, was elected in 2011 based on promises to end corruption, but he was subsequently involved in several ongoing schandals; when he announced his intention to run for a second term, the general surprise was indescribable. V-ĢP candidate Anna Mançini-Muvia won the election easily.
The Head of South Rugia province, Piupa Pāvuşiūz-Urtizas (PD), did better, although she ended just secondly after her opponent Pēneupē Liçus (V-ĢP). In Mesē Kūģe incumbent Luvidz Odişeviūs (PD) could not be reelected after fifteen years in office, and his fellow party member Ģiōģia Kelviuvs-Çedizd scored the only PD victory in these elections. In West Gurdia the socialdemocrat Head Arben Turtulli (K-ĢP) wasn't elegible for a third term; he will be succeeded by Melpomenì Çepa-Manuşi (V-ĢP).
V-ĢP didn't however succeed to win on the regional level: Kastryt Prekpalaj (K-ĢP) asked and got a second term in office as Head of Gurdia region. The Capital District (Divis) put itself in the centre of this elections' attention, when both incumbent Head Pernādas Majyģiūz (PD, not to be confused with the former finance minister of the same name) and his V-ĢP opponent Florjan Syrbo both lost in favour of 'Pirate' Lukas Dòdziĕvs. Dòdziĕvs (34) didn't address large topics in his campaign, but focused on a more practical and governable (digital) infrastructure of the capital city, which should - among other things - lead to a better management of the unemployed.
Prime minister Apavia told the press that she was satisfied with the results. "Despite the fact that Syrbo didn't win in Divis, half of the sixteen provinces are henceforward headed by V-ĢP Heads", she said. "Syrbo was the ideal candidate for Divis, but we obviously underestimated the appeal of the Pirates to the inhabitants of the capital."
Voskian diplomat Not Curschellas candidate Secretary General AGL
(29 January) - Foreign minister Hasan Aliçka is confident that the next summit of the AGL that will take place in Chimor on 19 March, will finally provide the League with the necessary treaty changes, the discussion about which has been going on for several years now. The international committee that was charged with the re-revision of the changes of teh Treaties of Aralethe and Jarjana (the foundation and human rights treaties of the AGL) in 2014, recently presented its results. According to the Voskian government, the proposals in their current form are ready to be adopted during the summit. "After all the failed attempts to change these treaties in the past couple of years, I think everyone will agree that it is time to make some decisions", the minister said.
Other subjects that should be discussed are the admission of the Channel Islands as a full member of the AGL, and the appointment of a new Secretary General, as the incumbent Heidi Ankerskjöld recently announced that she won't be available for a second term. The Voskian government has nominated diplomat Not Curschellas, who is currently serving as the Voskian ambassador in Sweden. Before that, he was involved in the foundation of the Union for the Mediterranean, of which Voskia is a founding member, ambassador in Greece and Venezuela, and between 1991 and 1993 he was minister of foreign affairs in the second Ventsch government. When the military coup d'état was staged in 1993, Curschellas was abroad; upon return he was arrested and spent several years in prison.
The question is if Curschellas will be good enough to be appointed Secretary General; his only competitor is the former prime minister Guimarc Bonamy of Île de Romanhe, who has an excellent state of service and who played a successful part in ending the Tarmoryan civil war.