Aikolandais Bureau of Information [Q&A]

[Aikoland]

Aikolandais Bureau of Information

Greetings, and welcome, to the Aikolandais Bureau of Information, a service created and provided by the Government of the Empire of Aikoland.

The Empire of Aikoland is a small French-speaking island country located to the south of France, near the islands of Corsica and Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea. With brief interruptions from 1812 until 1815 (when our nation was part of the First French Empire) and again from 1940 until 1945 (when our nation invaded by the Axis and governed as part of Vichy France), we have maintained our independence since at least the 9th century, during the reign of King Christian I, the earliest Aikolandais monarch who's reign is verifiable by contemporary records.

Since the late 18th century, Aikoland has been governed as a constitutional monarchy under four different constitutions, with the current constitution going into force in 1902. Under the current constitution, the position of head of state is enshrined in the monarch, presently Empress Élisabeth IV, who has reigned since 1992, and the position of head of government is enshrined in the office of Prime Minister, presently Mélodie Bélanger, who has been in office since 2010.

The legislature of Aikoland is Parliament, which comprises two chambers: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Both chambers of Parliament are currently controlled by the centre-left Social Democratic Party with the centre-right Conservative Party serving as Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition. Other parties in Parliament are the left-wing Aikolandais Socialist Party and the right-wing Aikolandais Nationalist Party.

Now that a brief overview of our country has been given, feel free to submit any questions you may have about our nation to the Bureau of Information, but please be aware of the following information before asking:

1. No questions will be answered by Her Majesty or the Prime Minister, all questions will be answered by members of the Bureau of Information
2. Questions must be considered relevant to the Bureau of Information's goal of educating foreign nations about our country and culture. We reserve the right to refuse to answer any questions for any reason whatsoever.
3. Questions concerning any form of alliance between Aikoland and your nation will not be permitted, as the Bureau of Information (obviously) not responsible for such things.

With that information in place, the Bureau of Information looks forward to answering any questions that the nations of the world may have about the Empire of Aikoland.

[Natishna]

Does Aikoland have a military? If so, how large is it?

[Aikoland]

Does Aikoland have a military? If so, how large is it?

Our nation maintains a small military, the Royal Aikolandais Armed Forces, which currently consists of 9267 active personnel and 21,626 reserve personnel. Due to our nation's status as an archipelago, most members of the military are part of the Royal Aikolandais Navy, which currently makes up 65% of the military, as opposed to our smaller army and air force.

[An Islamic World]

Are their Muslims living in your nation?

[Zhouran]

What is the Aikolandais government's official stance regarding labor unions and workers' cooperatives?

[Aikoland]

Are their Muslims living in your nation?

There is a small Muslim population in our nation, numbering about 116,000. The Muslim population almost entirely comes from our small population of immigrants from North Africa.

What is the Aikolandais government's official stance regarding labor unions and workers' cooperatives?

The government as a whole does not have an official stance regarding these topics, as the stance can change depending on whichever party is in power. However, we can say that the Social Democratic Party, who currently form Her Majesty's Government, are officially supportive of labour unions and workers' cooperatives and such support is in their party manifesto.

[Aikoland]

The Bureau of Information is still open to answering any questions one may have about Aikoland.

[The Glass Oasis]

How many pets are there in Aikoland?

[Aikoland]

How many pets are there in Aikoland?

We do not know - although we can report that, based on surveys, an estimated 62% of Aikolandais households own at least one pet, as of 2018.

[Natishna]

Why has your nation not yet adopted the euro as its currency?

[Alpes a Septentrionali Imperium]

What are the powers of your monarchy exactly?

[Estado Novo Portugues]

What transportation (ground/air) does the head of state have? How about other government officials? Who pays for their use and upkeep?

Our state limousine is a Lexus LS 600h, and our state aircraft is an Airbus A380-800 with special modifications. Civil Director Afonso Salazar also has several privately owned automobiles: a Lexus LX 570, Ferrari 458 Italia, and Mercedes-Benz S Class. All of them are paid for with public money.

[Izvbard]

Why did France invade your nation in 1812? I would imagine Napoleon had his hand full, busy fighting Spain in the Peninsular War and his invasion of Russia.

[Aikoland]

Why has your nation not yet adopted the euro as its currency?

Our nation is not part of the European Union and therefore sees no justifiable reason to replace the franc with the euro.

In 2003, a vote to at least recognize the euro as legal tender alongside the franc was defeated in the Chamber of Deputies by 29 votes.

What are the powers of your monarchy exactly?

The Emperor or Empress functionally has no more executive or political power, beyond what is ceremonially required of them. In some cases, they may still retain certain powers, but they have not been utilised in so long they are considered to only exist 'on paper'.

The powers which are still utilised by the sovereign are as follows:
- Appoints the leader of the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies to the office of Prime Minister (Constitutionally, the sovereign could also appoint someone from the Senate, but no Senator has been Prime Minister since 1906)
- Formally appoints the members of the Prime Minister's Cabinet after they have been approved by the Chamber of Deputies to form His or Her Majesty's Government
- Serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Aikolandais Armed Forces and has sole official authority to declare war or make peace with other nations (in practise, it is accepted that the sovereign has functionally delegated the authority to make war or peace to the Ministry of Defence)
- Is responsible for the formal opening and dissolution of the chambers of Parliament (the sovereign only dissolves Parliament either based on the electoral schedule [six years following the most recent election for the Chamber of Deputies and every two years in the Senate] or, in the case of the Chamber of Deputies, if a motion of no-confidence passes and the current Government does not resign or if the Chamber of Deputies votes for an early dissolution and election) (The sovereign does retain formal authority to dissolve both chambers of Parliament and force a simultaneous election at-will, although this has not occurred since 1903)
- Delivers an annual Speech from the Throne to a joint session of Parliament
- Grants royal assent to all legislation passed by Parliament
- Can grant pardons and amnesties towards any individual or group for any crimes
- May confer titles of nobility or awards to citizens of Aikoland, including the creation of new titles of nobility at-will

What transportation (ground/air) does the head of state have? How about other government officials? Who pays for their use and upkeep?

Our state limousine is a Lexus LS 600h, and our state aircraft is an Airbus A380-800 with special modifications. Civil Director Afonso Salazar also has several privately owned automobiles: a Lexus LX 570, Ferrari 458 Italia, and Mercedes-Benz S Class. All of them are paid for with public money.

The official state car used for transporting HRH Élisabeth IV is a 2005 Renault Vel Satis, which replaced the Renault 25 that had been used as the official state car since 1984.

Two Airbus A330-300 are utilised for the transport of the Empress, other members of the Royal Family, or the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister utilises an armoured Renault Latitude as their official transport since 2012.

All official state vehicles are paid for with government funds.

Why did France invade your nation in 1812? I would imagine Napoleon had his hand full, busy fighting Spain in the Peninsular War and his invasion of Russia.

As you might have expected, our nation had already fallen under French influence prior to the 1812 invasion, although we still managed to maintain our formal independence as they were obviously unconcerned with our small nation of barely 700,000 people at the time.

What had led to the actual invasion was the passage of a law by the United Assembly dissolving Aikoland and integrating it into the French Empire, a law which is considered to have been passed under duress and with a goal of preventing any bloodshed.

Naturally, Emperor Auguste II refused to grant royal assent to this law and, considering our nation's armed forces at the time amounted to ~2500 personnel, France didn't need to divert that many soldiers from either the Peninsular War nor the Russian invasion to our islands. In fact, the whole invasion, deposing of Auguste II, and integration into the French Empire took less than a week.

[Conservative Christian American States]

What are your nation's policies in regards to socialism and communism? In our nation, both ideologies are illegal and you can be arrested for admitting to be one, with socialist and communist leaders executed for treason.

[Aikoland]

What are your nation's policies in regards to socialism and communism? In our nation, both ideologies are illegal and you can be arrested for admitting to be one, with socialist and communist leaders executed for treason.

There is no government policy in regards to those ideologies and both are legal in our nation. The Aikolandais Socialist Party, established in 1973, currently has 8 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 2 seats in the Senate.

[Socialist Heronia]

Who is the person depicted in your current NS flag?

[Aikoland]

Who is the person depicted in your current NS flag?

This thread isn't intended for out-of-character questions but if you must know, it's a saleswoman from the Takarazuka-Kita Service Area dressed as the character Oscar François de Jarjayes from the popular 1970s manga The Rose of Versailles as part of a promotion that has been running since earlier this year.

[Natishna]

Why wasn't the office of Prime Minister created until the 1830s?

[Aikoland]

Why wasn't the office of Prime Minister created until the 1830s?

It has to do with the legislature we had at the time. Prior to the creation of the modern bicameral Parliament, our legislature was a unicameral legislature known as the United Assembly, which consisted of 100 seats, with 50 seats being held by members of the nobility appointed by the monarch and 50 seats being elected and held by commoners.

Seeing as the legislature was intended to serve as a union between the two social classes, it was decided that the sovereign would retain their status as the head of government, signifying that they ruled over both the nobility and the commoners.

[Aikoland]

The Bureau of Information is still open to answering any questions one may have about Aikoland.

[Arachkya]

Are you a Matriarchy?

[Aikoland]

Are you a Matriarchy?

No, and we are not quite sure why this question is even being asked.

[Arachkya]

Are you a Matriarchy?

No, and we are not quite sure why this question is even being asked.

Your flag to be honest.

No offense.

[Purpuriae]

"How easy is it to get a car and a driver's license? In Purpuria, cars aren't that expensive to buy and driving tests are pretty easy (I know because I created them, haha). But still, there's hardly any traffic. You want to know my secret for keeping roads empty? Tax the hell out of road users, except the wealthiest. Here, registration fees are inversely proportional to the value of the car—a license plate for a Peugeot 208 costs half as much as the car does, but a Rolls-Royce won't cost a penny. Owners of expensive cars also care more about their precious rides than someone driving an old banger, so they're more likely to drive carefully. So this makes driving safer, too."

Violette I, Queen of Purpuria