Prime Minister Kuchma announces "first wave of reforms"

[President Costava]

ARSTOTZKA - Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma announced a “first wave of reforms” today aimed at rolling back decades of state control over the country’s sheltered and dysfunctional economy. The changes seek to improve public welfare, he said in a nationally televised address. Mr. Kuchma’s speech, delivered as a sort of state of the nation address, appeared to reflect confidence that he could confront vested interests in the country, including businesses that could suffer in a more liberalized and competitive environment.

 

He vowed to reduce the state’s role in an ambitious list of sectors: education, energy, trade, health care, finance and telecommunications. He also appeared to signal a desire for more foreign participation in the economy, saying that alleviating poverty would require “international grants, aid, loans and technical expertise.”

 

Largely because of state control, cellphones remain prohibitively expensive for most of the small country’s 15.000 citizens, and the banking system, largely based on cash transactions, is primitive. The country has no lending for terms longer than one year, and no home mortgages. “Economic reforms will really prompt political reform,” Mr. Kuchma said. The program announced on today may help “convince the average person that they will benefit,” he added.

 

Mr. Kuchma has sought to cut all ties with the totalitarian past of the country, but he is also competing with Mr Symonenko, leader of the opposition party Democratic Union of Arstotzka, for the hearts and minds of nostalgic citizens. This mix has caused frictions in recent days, with Mr Symonenko stealing the spotlight for a moment when at one point the vote results were uncertain.

 

Twenty years ago, after the collapse of the USSR, Arstotzka privatized industries and sold off state property, a process that benefited tycoons and other people linked to the regime. Mr. Kuchma vowed for a more open procedure for the wider category of assets under consideration. A foreign investment law will be passed during the next session of Parliament, scheduled to begin tomorrow, Mr. Kuchma said. The planned government’s reforms — including the loosening of news media controls and new law to protect freedom of speech and independence of the judiciary — have persuaded Western countries to invest in Arstotzka and sign new trade agrements. 

 

Icons of Arsotzkan capitalism like Grestin Constructions Inc. and the Electric Company of Arstotzka have announced plans to open new businesses in the country. While shifting his focus toward the economy, Mr. Kuchma said he would continue to work on “national reconciliation, national peace and stability and the rule of law, and the safety of the public.”

Edited September 2, 2013 by President Costava

[Markus Wilding]

"Though the Soviet Union is being invaded by the fascists, we demand Arstotzkan press cease their slandering of our country. We have not and will not collapse so long as our Chairman is still alive and well, and until our Red Armies cease their fighting, which will only happen when the Fascists are repelled, the Soviet Union should not be referenced to as 'collapsed'. Such slander and misinformation is dangerous to the citizens of the Soviet Union. We wonder if the Fascists have taken hold in Arstotzka."

 

- Minister of Foreign Affairs Konstantin Markovic

[President Costava]

"Though the Soviet Union is being invaded by the fascists, we demand Arstotzkan press cease their slandering of our country. We have not and will not collapse so long as our Chairman is still alive and well, and until our Red Armies cease their fighting, which will only happen when the Fascists are repelled, the Soviet Union should not be referenced to as 'collapsed'. Such slander and misinformation is dangerous to the citizens of the Soviet Union. We wonder if the Fascists have taken hold in Arstotzka."

 

- Minister of Foreign Affairs Konstantin Markovic

"When referring to the Soviet Union, Arstotzkan medias and politicians mean the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" that existed between 1917 and 1991. Arstotzka was a soviet republic between 1922 and 1991, as Autonomous Socialist State in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1991 due to the collapse of the USSR (1922-1991) Arstotzka ceased to exist as the "Arstotzkan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic" and renamed itself to "Glorious Republic of Arstotzka" also known as "Arstotzkan Republic/Republic of Arstotzka" or simply "Arstotzka". Therefor, none of the statements by President Costava or Prime Minister Kuchma refer to the "Caucasian Soviet Union" which we refer to as the "Caucasian Union" in order to distinguish it from the Soviet Union we were part of for almost 80 years. Arstotzkan citizens are aware of the difference and in Arstotzkan common talks the name "Soviet Union" always refers to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, and never the Caucasian union."

- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Arstotzka
 

Edited September 2, 2013 by President Costava