Shock on the home front as West Angola joins Overseas Territories
Lafferton: Great day for both nations
A special report by Chief Political Correspondent Lyle Evans in Namibe, West Angola
What was supposed to be a brief meeting over the detainment of football fans has transpired to be a historic moment. As of this morning, the Kingdom of West Angola has become a Euran Overseas Territory, part of the economic and military co-operative pact known as the Eurapshere.
In a statement released to Euran and West Angolan press, as well as regional news outlets from their regions, King Sien III declared that he looked forward to a new era of "co-operation and prosperity between our two great nations." West Angola will be the largest member of the Eurasphere territories, and as they have little previous connection to Eura compared to the other territories they are expected to be given a bigger voice in debate between the territories. West Angolan parliament has been dismissed for a week, with arch enemies King Sien III and Prime Minister Kevin Garret seemingly united in taking a deal that they perceive to be in the national interest. The government will reconvene once appropriate functions of state have changed to befit Euran integration, while the West Angolan military has been ordered to stand down entirely and "await instructions from the King and Parliament." Meanwhile the nation has come to a standstill as the political situation remains unclear. A spokesman for the West Angolan government told the Emplor in an email this morning that the government plan to get the country going again soon, while steps are taken to manage the new state of play.
In Eura, this sudden announcement has taken even members of the House of Metropolitan's at Parliament by surprise. PM Andrew Lafferton, with an election on his doorstep, will meet MP's this evening in a special televised session to discuss exactly what is happening. The Emplor's sources seem to be more informed than our own politicians; the value of the Euran Pound has skyrocketed in the last 24 hours and as many as 15,000 civil servants have left the country since last night. The Ministry of Defence has refused to comment after being asked on multiple occasions as to why a naval carrier battle group, led by the General Hartson class CVN Ambitious, left the naval port at Falourr last night seemingly at the drop of a hat, with many military supplies and pieces of equipment being rushed on to support vessels. Initially this news found its way to West Angola via the internet and caused a momentary panic after the soon to be mentioned speech of King Sien III was broadcast - presumably this implied an invasion at the time, but given that it is a single carrier battle group it is likely intended to make its way towards West Angola to assist in the immediate reorganisation of the West Angolan armed forces.
An unexpected journey: ENS Ambitious leaves port at Falourr in the early hours of the morning, with no explanation given
Sien's speech, which came before the issuing of a full statement which had been recorded inside the royal palace, received a hostile reaction and he even had fruit thrown at him by a mob as the announcement was made. This initial anger seems to be the result of a lack of clarification by West Angola's ruler; a fear that this was the beginning of a coup de'tat and a military occupation. This is clearly not the case and it is predicted that West Angolan public opinion should swing towards a positive outlook by the time parliament is reconvened next week. It is unknown what sort of mood their politicians are in: they were reportedly not consulted on this decision and some may feel it is a betrayal of democratic principles. When government reconvenes, the first session of debate should be lively to say the least. Meanwhile international reaction has been exactly what the Euran Foreign Office will have wanted it to be; indifferent. A spokesman from the government of Ossidiacqua, Fether Tad, simply stated "Down with this sort of thing!" on a social network account, whilst the office of the leader of Ancharmunn (who very recently met the leader of the Capital Party) issued a "Declaration of Meh". Some troublesome citizens of Falconwhereveryouare decided to protest outside the Euran embassy in Falcus but were hurriedly moved on by embassy staff using the much maligned 'ramming tactic' assigned to diplomatic cars these days. The Euran Foreign Office has dismissed dissenting opinion with a brief statement on Drive Directus FM:
"Pfft, wankers."
Within Eura, reaction to the announcement has been largely positive, but with a very large and very cynical minority criticising the government. The governing Social Party have organised rallies supporting their governments move, and public opinion polls suggest a mostly positive reaction to West Angola's inclusion in the Eurasphere, though Euran's displayed a lack of knowledge about the new members of the collective economic community. Reaction to the opening up of massive new employment opportunities and easy access for Euran businesses to West Angola's natural resources and key industries is overwhelmingly positive in particular; defence giant Mansley Systems has already expressed a keen interest in developing a new series of vehicles in this otherwise economically unexplored country. However, Prime Minister Andrew Lafferton has come under a lot of criticism as the timing of this announcement has been made so near to a General Election, prompting accusations that he may have engineered the situation to boost Social Party poll ratings - and specifically rebuild confidence in the current cabinet. Lafferton is expected to rebuke these accusations in parliament. Criticism has also focused on how large the Territorial Stipend given to West Angola will be, due to their relative large size compared to other Eurasphere territories. A lot of questions remain unanswered, but we will surely have answers soon.