NationStates European Council
A POLITICAL ROLEPLAY
Each player will represent a single person, and a group of four people will represent a single country, a member of the European Union. The NEC will be divided into 4 separate Councils (as opposed to 5): Council 1 (sometimes simply “the European Council”), which is comprised of the Heads of State of each European country; Council 2, which deals with General and Foreign Affairs and is comprised of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of each European country; Council 3 (sometimes simply “ECOFIN”), which deals with economic and financial affairs and is comprised of the Ministers of Finance of each European country, and finally; Council 4, which deals with Home and Justice (as well as Environment and Energy) and is comprised of the appropriate ministers of each European country.
Since I don’t realistically expect 150 people signing up for this RP, I have cut corners and ‘united’ some European countries under a single banner. For example, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia (who all share similar economies and societies) will be represented by a single delegation instead of 3. This delegation will act as if it only represents one country (eg. Lithuania), but in qualified majority voting that delegation’s votes will include the votes of all Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. In effect, there are 16 delegations in total, as opposed to the 28 we would have in the real world.
To play in this RP, you must at least have basic knowledge of how the European Union functions. In a very short summary, there is the European Commission (the ‘government’ if the EU was a single country), which is the only body that can propose laws. These laws are passed onto the European Parliament and the European Council, which are the two ‘houses of parliament’ if the EU was a single country. Now that that has been explained, we can understand that the Commission writes and proposes laws, and the players of this RP will vote on them. The Commission will keep throwing proposals at you, relevant to topics of interest in the real world, and you will vote on them in this RP.
There is also the voting procedure to explain (qualified majority voting and unanimity): for QMV, every European country has a vote that is weighted on its population size. For this reason, it is harder to pass certain laws (but far more democratic), as not only do they need 55% of countries in favour to pass, but also 65% of the EU population. This gives big countries a lot more political clout. Unanimity is self-explanatory.
So, who’s interested?
ONLY THE FIRST TWO COUNCILS ARE CURRENTLY OPEN
- A Reminder that that means:
- Council 1: Heads of State
- Council 2: General and Foreign Affairs
- List of Playable Delegations (with QMV votes)
- Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg: 29 OPEN
- Bulgaria/Romania: 24 CLAIMED (C1 - The United Eastern States of Europe; C2 - Tulkomanistan)
- Croatia/Slovenia: 11 OPEN
- Czech Republic/Slovakia: 19 OPEN
- Sweden/Denmark*/Finland: 24 1/2 CLAIMED (C1 - Of the Quendi; C2 - OPEN)
- Estonia/Latvia/Lithuania: 15 OPEN
- France: 29 CLAIMED (C1 - Atlanticatia; C2 - The New World Oceania)
- Germany*/Austria: 39 1/2 CLAIMED (C1 - San Pera; C2 - OPEN)
- Greece*/Cyprus: 16 1/2 CLAIMED (C1 - United Provinces of Atlantica; C2 - OPEN)
- Hungary: 12 OPEN
- Ireland: 7 OPEN
- Italy*/Malta: 32 1/2 CLAIMED (C1 - Vozergovnia; C2 - OPEN)
- Poland: 27 1/2 CLAIMED (C1 - Argentarino; C2 - OPEN)
- Portugal: 12 OPEN
- Spain: 27 OPEN
- United Kingdom: 29 1/2 CLAIMED (C1 - Yaana Noore; C2 - OPEN)
- Head of Commission: 0 RESERVED (Arkolon)
- President of the European Council: 0 OPEN
- Commission Council 2: 0 OPEN
- Commission Council 3: 0 OPEN
- Commission Council 4: 0 NOT CURRENTLY NEEDED
