NSNN - Nea Sverige News Network

[Nea Sverige]

New Government announces volte-face on old diplomatic isolation.

 

Good morning, and welcome to NSNN.

 

Nea Sverige's newly elected centre-right Prime Minister, Carl van Horslten, has announced that the government is to formally seek the deletion of Article XXII of the Constitution, which binds the government to refrain from 'excessive or agressive overseas ventures' and also inhibits the nations military power.

 

Though the government had pledged to improve Nea Sverige's international standing in its election campaign, nothing of this magnitude had been imagined by any of Mr Horsltens' opponents. Their reaction to the announcement was mixed, with the Socialist League coming out in strong condemnation of the move, whilst the centrist Liberal party issued a breif, lukewarm statement in support of the move. Mr Horlsten must now press the repeal through with the support of three-quarters of the Riksdag (the Nea Sverige unicameral Parliament), before it must be approved by three-quarters of all regional assemblies within one week.

 

The Royal Palace, as always, has remained aloof of developments in the government, but there has been talk that the king, Gustav X, may provide a crucial ally in the fight to get these reforms passed quickly.

 

In the meantime, the Nea Sverige Foreign Affairs Bureau has announced it will be engaging in talks with other nations in Europa over the exchange of embassies and developing diplomatic links.

[Nea Sverige]

Government announces 'Grand Deal' to pass major new reforms programme.

 

Good morning, and welcome to NSNN.

 

Prime Minister Horlsten has announced that the governemnt has struck a deal with the centrist Liberal party and a number of independent Riksday Members (RMs) on the government's radical reform plans.

 

The pact, frantically negotiated between the government and the Liberals last night, sees the government agreeing to new marital legislation that would clarify the status of same-sex couples and simply divorce proceedings, whilst the Liberals have agreed to support the proposed repeal of Article XXII of the Constitution at both national level and local level. The first test of this alliance will come tommorrow morning, when the Riksdag closes the day-long debate on the proposed repeal and votes on the repeal motion.

 

In other news, the Nea Sverige Central Bank and Reserve (NSCBR) has released new business confidence figures for August, revealing a slight (2.3%) increase in confidence ahead of the election which brought the centre-right National Party to power. This is seen as positive news for an economy which has been stagnating for over a year now.

[Suverina]

Carl van Horslten

OOC:

He might be dutch or something but if you meant having a swedish name it's von. Don't you 'bout your language and names so I won't complain about horslten.

 

Not meant in any offensive way...

Edited September 21, 2006 by Suverina (see edit history)

[Nea Sverige]

OOC: Thanks for the heads up on the name, Suverina! I shall change the 'unfortunate typo' in the next update.

[Nea Sverige]

NEWS FLASH: Constitutional revision given the green-light by Riksdag

 

Good morning, and welcome to NSNN.

 

In the last few minutes, the Riksdag has voted to accept the governments' new Article XXII proposal. The proposed amendment signficantly rewords the previous Article, granting the government the right to engage in unlimited diplomatic, scientific, cultural and economic work overseas, as well as granting greater powers to establish and use military formations. The vote was nearly lost earlier this morning when a number of Liberal RMs threatened to revolt over plans to eliminate certain safeguards regarding military operations from the draft text.

 

In other news, the NSCBR Board has released further economic data today, this time the countrys' average wage increases. Nationally, wages increased by a meager 0.05% ahead of inflation last month, with five boroughs seeing their average wages failing to rise faster than the CPI inflation rate. Wages rose slowest in the primary sector, but there was good news for those in the world of high-tech, as they saw their wages rise by 0.6% ahead of the CPI inflation rate, the best increase across the board. This depressed economic data is expected to turn around in the next few weeks as the new government engages in sweeping economic reforms.

[Nea Sverige]

Government announces seven-point economic plan to restart the economy, unions threaten national strike

 

Good morning, and welcome to NSNN.

 

The government has today announced its seven-point plan to stimulate economic recovery and growth. The plan, long anticipated by many in the National Party as well as in the opposition, has revealed at a press conference this morning by Finance Minister John Risleg. Here is a summary of the plan:

 

1) Business taxes for small businesses to be reduced by 30%, for medium businesses by 15% and for large businesses by 5%.

2) Government spending on all levels of education, but especially retraining workers, to be increased by 15% over 3 years.

3) Review of financial regulations at all levels to be introduced to identify areas where regulations can be either streamlined or eliminated.

4) Labour market to be partially liberalised, notice period for firing workers to be reduced to 3 weeks from 5, redundancy procedures to be streamlined and regulations to be modernised and trimmed.

5)Government investment in infrastructure to be increased by 10% over 3 years and 15% over 5, aiming to improve transport links to facilitate better growth.

6) Foreign trade procedures to be eased by the signing of free trade agreements with foreign governments to stimulate investment, special measures to prevent 'hot money' from fueling bubble economy.

7) Liberalising of stock, bond and commodities market to open up new investment and business opportunities for domestic and foreign businesses.

 

Mr Risleg said he hoped the plan would allow the Nea Sverige economy to climb out of its current recession and develop into one of the leading economies in Europa within 5 years. However, union leaders have reacted angrily to the plan, claiming that it would expose Nea Sveriges' workers to unnecessary risks, and would permnanently undermine the welfare state. The unions have demanded that the plan be 'significantly revised', or else they will call a series of national strikes to force the governments' hand. Shortly before this article went to press, the government hit back at these claims, stating that 'we have the mandate of the people of Nea Sverige to rescue their economy from the depths of recessions, and we will not let them down now'.