Reform Lacking Form
(Europeia - July 14, 2015) On July 9th, the gavel came down and the 2015 Constitutional Convention began. Europeia waits with bated breath to see what, if any, changes may be coming over the horizon.
Now that a few days have passed, a few of those hypothetical future changes have begun to show over that possible horizon. As of 0:00 GMT 14/07/2015, the discussion on the possible expansion of power for the Citizen's Assembly is the most commented and viewed topic, with 35 comments and 321 views. The discussion on the proposal of a self-electing Senate takes the second-place spot with 23 comments and 204 views. With both topics being under the Legislative umbrella, does this mean that citizens feel like this is where Europeia needs reform the most, or is it that citizens are more vocal on changes that would affect such a fundamental aspect of how the government operates? In truth, it is a bit of both.
The Citizen's Assembly, which has undergone a number of changes of its own over the years, was founded with the purpose to "serve the Europeian region by encouraging the development of legislative writing of the Citizens of Europeia.". It has flourished, diminished, had bouts of intense activity, and times of where it was essentially a barren wasteland. So the debate becomes, what is to be done with this sometimes useful, sometimes neglected, aspect of Europeia? Do we give it the power of the veto as Fortunado was the first to formally propose in thread? Or as World Assembly Delegate Mousebumples listed in her first post in the discussion, possibly give the Chair of the Citizen's Assembly a vote in the Senate? Other suggestions have been presented, some have been quickly shot down, while others have met with a lukewarm reception. As of yet, nothing seems to have really caught the support of the convention. The debate only seems to agree that something needs to be done with the Assembly, but exactly as to what, it is much less clear.
Meanwhile, in the second-most discussed convention topic on a self-electing Senate, two camps have emerged: Supreme Chancellor HEM Tiberius and Senator Rylian in support of a self-electing system, with almost all others being much more pragmatic and cautious of such a change. Where this debate progresses to depends on HEM and Rylian being able to lay out a constructive argument of pros and cons of such a system, which as of this writing has not occurred. Without a way to showcase the benefits to Europeia or its Citizens, they will be hard-pressed to bring more supporters to their way of thinking.
Elsewhere in the Convention, some proposals have met with almost unanimous dissent. Of particular note is the proposed change to having Justices elected which has met with a resounding "No." from almost all that have commented in the debate. The only point raised which has gained any sort of traction is the possibility of the election of the Chief Justice from the pool of Justices, which is something Europeia has had in the past. The presiding view however is that the region is best served by a Judiciary that is not beholden to an election cycle for any aspect of it.
So we stand almost a week into the Convention and focal points are beginning to coalesce. We have yet to see any strong movement for reform under any of the main umbrellas of discussion but as time goes on, and once we're past the upcoming Presidential Election, people may turn their focus back to the Convention to continue planning Europeia's future. Will HEM manage to sway people into pushing for a reformation of the government, will the status quo stay in place, or we will end up with some mix of the two? It's still too early to say for sure, but we can at least hope it will be a vigourous and lively debate had by all.
Written by Rylian
Edited by Sopo and Writinglegend
