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Also, read my previous campaign articles:
*Announcement of Candidacy
*Government Manifest NoTie II


She wants to debate too..

Dear citizens of the eNetherlands,

Yesterday a CP-debate was held (a summary can be found here). In this article, I will give my reflection on the CP-debate.

First of all, I’d like to thank Mattio. He recently became active again, and brought back the old tradition of CP-debates. Not only that, he also kick-started another succesful newspaper in our thriving media section. I hope Mattio will continue entertaining and informating our citizens, indeed! I would also like to thank Joep O, for being a worthy opponnent both in the CP-debate and in the coming the Presidential campaigns and elections. I wish him good luck for the 5th of February, and will happily congratulate him with no hard feelings, if he would win.

I certainly favour the concept of the CP-debate, in which candidates have no time to prepare themselves on the questions being asked. This way, the candidates are tested on their actual knowledge and their capability of being CP. I do however think it’s a wise thing to sit down on the actual questions, and make a constructed reply on them, another requirement for a succesful CP-candidate, with integrating long-term vision, instead of making smashing one-liners and (semi)populistic statements. That’s why I’ve decided to look again to the questions asked in the CP-debate, will clearify my answers given to them and will give additional comments if needed.



12 different questions were being asked during the CP-debate. I'll list them below, and will give me reflection on each of them (once again).

Question 1: In which way will the next government term be better than the current one?
I admitted several times the current government team, NoTie I, didn’t process as I hoped before I got elected. It was not a complete failure, the government was stable, but many of my promised points never saw the (complete) light of day. Big part of this it to blame on the political situation our country has been under the last few weeks and months. That’s why I’ve decided on keeping these elections completely free from practises which could be considered bribery, reconciled with the different parties and insist on having a ‘national government’, which involves contribution from every different party, both in government policy and positions in the government team of NoTie II.

Question 2: The Polish have a treaty with Germany at the moment, so for now they won’t attack us. During the next government term this treaty may fall, causing our oil to become interested again for the Polish. What do you think of this danger, what are you planning to do with this and what you do think that the role is of MPP’s, (T)EDEN, our army, the supply budget and the economy?
The danger of Poland is still looming over us, and I’ll always keep this in my head during my government term. That’s why I want to ensure our ‘buffer’ against the Polish, our German allies, is protected at all cost. Every Polish threat to Germany will be considered an attack on our lands too, and we’ll fight together with the Germans as if it would be for our own survival. This principle was demonstrated in NoTie I, and will be done again in NoTie II, if necessary. This means giving supplies, information instructions to all our citizens, coordination with Germany and (T)EDEN and prioritizing German-Polish battles. We’d rather have these steps taken, then let Germany fall and await Poland invading us - in which signing ridiculously amount of (insane) MPP’s will not compensate the loss of our buffer.

Question 3: Imagine a situation in which the Netherlands could be totally occupied by a foreign enemy. Would you sign a deal in which the Netherlands were partially to be given up, just like Germany did not long ago?
I answered with a plain ‘no’ on this question. I will not give up my nation, like was done in the past by giving away our core lands to our grave enemies. I’d rather fight and fight once again. I always vowed for no continued negotiations with Poland in the past, and will continue holding this stance against any occupying enemies. In the end of day, every liberation attempt will succeed (as proven by ourselves just a month ago), signing forced ‘treaties’ will only extend that wait.

Question 4: Do you think that there is a real threat that Poland will return, attacking their way through Germany? If so, what should the Dutch government do before that happens?
We can not be sure when another attack will occur, and we can’t continuously live in fear of a Polish revenge, wasting our efforts (e.g signing useless MPP’s and wasting surpluses on already-filled weapon stocks) which could be used on sane, long-term planning, like keeping NLG out of circulation (As explained later in this debate). We’d rather have plans about what to do exactly, when a renewed Polish offensive on West-Europe actually does occur, as explained by me in Question 2.

Question 5: You get online and see that Poland did an NE to the Netherlands 15 minutes ago. What do your next 24 hours look like?
A counter NE-proposal will be immediately proposed, so that we actually do benefit from a worst-case scenario (After a NE has been accepted, bonuses will be gained when training). All citizens will be informed immediately and be directed to #nl-army, where government/defense officials (substitute officials will be appointed, in case of no official government/defense persons available) will be available during the entirety of the Polish attack to hand out instructions and supplies (which will be opened immediately), to both our citizens and foreign mid-tanks. Finally, I’ll enquire the possibilities in both our military alliance EDEN and other friendly foreign powers regarding their support in our fights. An official ‘emergency situation’ will be declared, in which lengthy congress procedures can be bypassed. If however fighting seems senseless to continue, we will give up, but we will NOT enter negotiations. We will wait for a better attempt to fight back, again and again.

Question 6: how are you going to improve the communication to all citizens, since not all of us are reached now?
As I proposed in my government manifest, which can be read in my previous article and have clarified in yesterday’s debate, I want to work on three things regarding transparency, which will chance from NoTie I’s policies. I want to bring back the weekly government updates, which will give information about each ministry and combine them with the ‘Ask!’ editions, introduced by me during NoTie I. Secondly, all government publications will be given in both English and Dutch, except in times of emergency. Thirdly, the government will ensure that the media will stay neutral, by not intervening too much in the media section. Neutral media is the key to transparency.

The transport of information is a split responsibility, for both the government and it’s citizens. The government needs to make sure information is available in appropiate channels, the citizens need to show they’re politically interested and need to interact (by reading the articles e.g). I do not support spamming/overloading our citizens with information, but think my proposed plans are the limit regarding offering information, without annoying anyone.

Question 7: You need more members in the government (than there are now) to let them operate properly.
I do not agree; numbers does not automatically account for a good governmental team. The reason why the current government is ‘failing’, is because the proposed team never got to govern; the fundamental of my proposed government fell down before it could start and could never recover fully from it. Instead of adding many members from my favoured parties, I will invite every political party to step in. I will rule by experience, not by numbers! The current political situation require progressive measures, like establishing national governments, which was recently brought up by I&W member Auggustus.

Question 8: What ministry is the most important ministry in your government? You have to choose ONE.
In my opinion, this is a very hypothetical question, which doesn’t apply at all. The key to a successful government, is every ministry being led by experienced and active people. Each ministry is only a part of a successful cabinet. If I really had to choose, I would say the Ministry of Finance, the ministry which makes both the other ministries possible to do their job and also keeps the whole country running.

Question 9: Is it the responsibility of the Country President to make sure that citizens are informed about everything the government does, or is this the task of the ministries that are concerned?
As explained in the second part of my answer on question 6, it’s a shared responsibility by both the government and the eDutch population.

Question 10: There is a large budget surplus, meaning that the eDutch government receives much more money (especially from taxes) than it spends on investments and aid to citizens. Do you (1) see this as a problem and (2) think that lowering taxes is needed / would be a good idea to reduce this surplus?
As explained in my government manifest, a (large) surplus is not a problem, but a solution to our weak exchange rate of our national currency, the NLG. We do not want to spend this surplus, but keep it out of circulation. This results in less NLG available, which gives us a stronger NLG value. It requires long-term vision, a requirement for every serious presidential candidate, to manage the economics of our nation, one of the most important sections of eRepublik indeed. While we could spend the surplus on extra subsidies, it will not help our citizens at all; they’ll be dependant upon the government and these subsidies don’t reach every needy citizen. By taking measures like keeping a surplus unspent, we’ll increase the purchasing power of our citizens, which will help them better reaching self-sufficiency, the ultimate goal of long-term vision. All arguments considered, keeping NLG out of circulation will better help improving our economy, than actually spending all money would be on the long term.

Question 11: It is allowed for a CP-candidate to do EVERYTHING to convince people that he is the right Country President, including offering people positions, money or products for their vote. After all: voters are able to make up a decision by themselves.
In my opinion we should not keep ourselves busy with ‘moral laws’. What is allowed and what is not, is decided by eRepublik Laws. All things listed in this list are ‘allowed’ by eRepublik Laws, so the answer is undoubtedly ‘yes’. However, practices like these are socially not acceptable as shown last month, that’s why I’ve decided to guarantee, as Joep does, a honest election result.

Question 12: What is your idea of a long term monetary policy for the eNL?
As explained in my answer on Question 10, I will repeat the answer I’ve given on this statement in the CP-debate;
‘’My long term goal is to increase the exchangerate of NLG, instead of practising short-term policies like Joep proposes which might seem better in short term, but will make our citizens poorer in long-term. I want to have a fixed percentage (50😵 of monthly expenses being kept out of circulation, which will, once again improve our exchange rate and make our citizens richer than they would be by spending money, just for the sake of spending. Managing our economy is a big part of being capable of governing, as is long-term vision. I do believe I'm better fit in both of them''




She still does crave your votes..

NoTie112,
Presidential Candidate