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All-Councilist conference derailed by Brigade resolution on Miersan intervention
A vote on providing "consistent, substantive and unequivocal material support" to the war effort in favour of East Miersa looks likely to pass, as all Erîan council delegates, many of whom are Granico-Autuzian, propose resolution that swamped the conference
Party aide walks across stage during first day of UCÔ conference
Day one of UCÔ Conference, especially following a positive election result and during the honeymoon of a popular co-leadership like that of Mårtén and Burnot, is typically the day that party officials, politicians and les Minisses (ministers) await. With the Autuzian economic data for Q2 2024 broadly positive, albeit with an unexpected retreat in manufacturing sector growth, and July's indices for employment slightly better - and, most importantly, slightly less impacted by the uncertainty created by the War in Miersa - than was estimated, the Government had the beginnings of a triumphant conference. Party unity has also more or less returned, with Mårtén and Burnot appealing relatively effectively to all wings of the expansive union, especially thanks to Mårtén's well-known ability to negotiate between councils.
This contrasts with that of the 2023 UCÔ Conference, which was described as "funereal" by many; President Houbêrt Louxhî was at peak-unpopularity, while the divides between the council delegates who had increasingly become vocal against his populist approach, and the rank-and-file membership who were still mostly approving of Louxhî as a figure, were ripped wide open. Incessant heckling, Louxhî's rambling speech about the "evils of market-capitalism creeping on the shop floors" which implicitly criticised a number of councils he saw as over-reaching their power, and a resolution from delegates being unexpectedly approved by the membership against Louxhî's intended policy to undercut the independence of the Sôcièté do Media Ôtuzyin, Auzance's public sector broadcasting network, through having all Chairman appointments approved by the party, all underscored an overall underwhelming year for the UCÔ.
People were hoping for better this year.
The War in Miersa, however, has yet again thrown a spanner in the works. Delegates from across the Erîan workers' councils, unanimously, signed their names onto a resolution which vaguely commits Auzance from anything between military support packages and outright joining the war effort with Champania and East Miersa. It is understood that the leader of the Czynów (Tchînon) council in the western region of Erîa along the border of East Miersa, where the majority of Auzance's culturally Miersan (nationally known and referred to as "Granicans", making up around 3% of the Autuzian population) live, was the initial proponent of the resolution. Maciej Bartosz, and Grażyna Nowak, have long been key figures in Erîan regional council politics, and their outspoken support for intervention in Miersa has made both well-known, trusted figures for a significant proportion of the Autuzian general public; informally, the group of pro-interventionists, of which Bartosz and Nowak are prominent members, colloquially known as the "Brigade" have pushed from within the party for months to persuade President Mårtén and PM Burnot to take action in Miersa.
The recent week's shift by Gabriyel Mårtén of hinting towards more concrete support for the anti-Krada alliance appears to have, if not failed, then utterly backfired; the Brigade's decision to force a vote on the matter will likely pass the membership with a healthy majority, and the council delegates are - while largely unpredictable at large - unlikely to outweigh the membership vote enough to defeat the resolution. This makes the passage of the pro-intervention resolution not quite certain, but not far off it.
Erîan delegates Maciej Bartosz (left) and Grażyna Nowak (middle) have submitted a resolution to demand the party supports military intervention in Miersa, while Foreign Minister Magrite Librun (right) is expected to deliver a conference speech tomorrow
The result was simple; Conference 2024, or at least day one, was a write-off. Gabriyel Mårtén looked uneasy in his otherwise solid maiden speech at the start of the conference, and the Minister for Education, Djôzefene Delbrossene, openly advocating for the passage of the resolution in a lengthy speech almost exclusively dedicated to lambasting West Miersa and calling on the Government to "lean into our history of justice through action," ended any hopes that the economy or the new leadership could be the new focus. Even the Treasury Minister's well-received speech on the Government's economic policy achievements, such as on providing additional investment to the steel industry, reaching ambitious housebuilding targets for the first time since 2010 and the opening of a new tramway through Lacaixh, could not detract from the tense atmosphere.
Foreign Minister Magrite Librun, a notable political ally of Mårtén, is due to speak tomorrow at the conference, immediately proceeding the resolution vote. How Librun positions herself, and by proxy the Government's position, may decide both the outcome of the vote, and the role of Auzance amid the War in Miersa; with both the anti-interventionist and interventionist parts of the public increasingly setting their positions in stone, it may be hard for the Government to navigate a way around the matter without aggravating one side of the debate.
Only one thing is known and set in stone - the War in Miersa has utterly up-ended Autuzian politics, for good.
