EUROPA



Europe is at once unified and fragmented, a paradox that can only be explained by the presence of 30 languages and dozens of once-powerful nation-states. Although the European Union, along with its euro currency, survived both the disintegration of the Atlantic Alliance and the New Mutation, Europe fared poorly in satisfying the demands of its multitudinous ethnic groups. Each group has now carved out a tiny homeland within the European Union, diluting the power of Europe's voice and in several cases starting nasty local (civil) wars which have marred development along the margins.

The Basques have their own Euskadi, Bavaria's Catholics now practise their state religion in their own 'country', and Corsicans at last celebrate their independence, little though it helps them. The only country which appears to be unifying is Ireland, where Loyalist/Unionist factions have finally acceded to the inevitability of reunification with the South in the face of demographic change. Poland's Christian crusading zeal wears thin the patience of its EU partners, while France's experiments in Neutopian social engineering frighten old-style liberals everywhere. The Balkans remain a European Legion protectorate, while Spain and Greece suffer drought because of desertification and rampant macroparasites.



The European Union

"European Council members today unanimously agreed to approve the Commission's planned new internal safeguards regulating infosphere rationalizing, with future revisions to AJAX-II being negotiated through DG-12 by late 2039. London was up 650 points on the news, Frankfurt up fractionally by 441, with heavy volume on the CAC40 complementing the rally. In foreign news, delegates from the flooded regions of Morocco and Tunis today met European Foreign Minister Pierre Jeunecrest in Marrakech to discuss immigrant repatriation procedures, and the urgent creation of counter-insurgency task forces in cooperation with the European Security Office. Officials did not comment on the probable use of microbombs to combat Fez separatists, but unconfirmed rumours indicate that DG-14 transport veetols have been satspotted over the Atlas mountains. [adbreak] As Commission President Fischer adds final touches to the Union Memorial in The Hague to commemorate soldiers in the Pacific War..."

Member States
The European Union is probably the second-most powerful economic bloc on the planet, and a formidable military force in extreme situations, but its internal political squabbles often lead to policy paralysis and weak diplomacy. The member states are: Germany, France, Britain, Padania, Catalonia, Poland, Spain, Netherlands, Bavaria, Denmark, Italy, Brittany, Silesia, Ruhr-Rhine, Scotland, Ireland, Flanders, Wallonie, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Provence, Czechovia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Crete, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Iceland, Serbia (nominal), Albania (nominal), Malta, Euskadi, Portugal, Slovakia, Bosnia, Corsica, Sicily.

Structure
The European Commission is the executive branch of the EU, and its President speaks for Europe on the international stage even though his voice is often drowned out by the squabbles of member states. The European Parliament is the democratic voice of the people and works with the Commission to establish laws and manage relations with the member states. The European Court of Justice is the judicial branch and deals with the interpretation and enforcement of all pan-european laws (regional enforcement is left to national judiciaries). The European Legion is Europe's combined military force, which is usually only effective during major crises and total war.

The Parliament
The European Parliament is a bicameral institution divided into the Assembly (Lower House) and the Conference (Upper House). The Assembly is based on proportional representation (1 EMP per 500,000 persons) and is composed of roughly 800 members who are elected from the various EU regions. The Conference is based on regional representation (1 region, 1 senator) and is basically Europe's Senate. The Parliament is located in Brussels-Capital, has its own secretariat, its own security forces, and handles such major affairs as the EU's budget, regional subsidies, and pan-european taxation. Parliament's importance has been fading for the past ten years as corruption and waste grate on the public's nerves. The major political parties are : Social Democrats (leftish), Christian Democrats (rightish), Liberal Republicans (far right), Pan-Europeans (centrist), and the reformed Communists (far left).

The Council
The European Council is composed of the national heads of government (Presidents, Prime Ministers, Chancellors) and their ministers to discuss common policy. In recent years the Council has ceded most of its former powers to the Commission, but it is still a big influence on policy in the EU. After all, these are (theoretically) the most important politicians in each country. However, many younger politicians are setting their sights on careers in the Commission or on plum seats in the European Conference and consequently local/national politics has become rather unimportant. Today the Council serves mainly as a showpiece for national leaders to puff up their feathers and seem important.

The Commission
Real executive power in the EU resides with the Commission President, who leads the administration on a day-to-day basis, implements Parliamentary legislature, and issues directives. The President and most of his Commissioners (Cabinet members) are directly elected every five years from a pool of the most talented politicians in the Commission and the Parliament. The Commission is divided into departments known as Directorates-General, which handle the administration of the EU and are as follows:

  • DG-I — Exterior : Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs (typically held by the Commission Vice-President)
  • DG-II — Economics : industrial planning, regional aid, corporate affairs
  • DG-III — Interior : citizenship, committee of the regions, integration
  • DG-IV — Competition & Regulatory bodies
  • DG-V — Labour and Social Affairs
  • DG-VI — Agriculture
  • DG-VII — Transport
  • DG-VIII — Commerce & Trade
  • DG-IX — Culture & Media
  • DG-X — Environment & Safety
  • DG-XI — Science, Research & Technology Control
  • DG-XII — Informatics & Telecommunications, Eurostat
  • DG-XIII — Natural Resources (Fisheries, Mining, Forestry, etc.)
  • DG-XIV — Security : Joint Intelligence, European Security Office
  • DG-XV — Justice & Law, Europol, the Inspectorate
  • DG-XVI — Energy (including Euratom)
  • DG-XVII — Finance : taxation, budgets, monetary policy
  • DG-XVIII — Border Control, Immigration, Customs
  • DG-XIX — Education, training and youth
  • DG-XX — Health & Welfare
  • DG-XXI — Defence : the European Legion
  • DG-XXII — Space Development


Other Institutions
Other organizations include the independent Eurobank (ECB), the European Court of Justice (autonomous from DG-XV), and the Court of Auditors. Europol is the European Police Agency and serves in a capacity similar to the FBI + US Marshals in cooperation with national police forces such as the French Gendarmerie. The Inspectorate is the internal-investigations arm of DG-Justice and also serves to investigate corporate and clan activities, sometimes in the form of covert operations on 'foreign' soil. The Inspectorate is generally considered to be efficient and incorruptible. Euratom handles atomic energy in the EU. Eurostat is the official statistical office. Joint Intelligence is a pooled network of the various national intelligence agencies such as MI6, SEDEC, and the BND. It provides coordination for most civilian intelligence and espionage activities, but is riddled with semi-friendly competition between its many groups. The European Security Office is supposed to be the EU's main intelligence apparatus, but it's generally considered to be a joke because national governments are still too suspicious to trust the ESO with very sensitive information. The ESO has to rely on its own agents and resources, and is generally quite bad at its job - except in the fields of protection and SIGINT. DG-Security also coordinates the numerous national anti-terrorist teams such as GSG-9 and the SAS. It must be noted that despite the seemingly- monolithic appearance of DG-XIV, it always has to ask for permission when using national security forces. National governments are still strong enough — and paranoid enough — that the EU's control over their security forces is quite limited.




Micro-States

Europe's countries are almost as fractured as they were during the time of the Holy Roman Empire. Dozens of new micro-states have sprung up in any place that boasts a separate ethnic identity. Once, these regions could pressure their national governments for subsidies and funds in return for staying within the state. Today, with national governments mostly weak and the majority of aid arriving from the EU superstructure, such regions feel no need to tie themselves into larger states. The old notion of mutual-defence has been replaced by the power of the European Legion. Free trade has deprived national governments of even the incentive of large markets. The ethnic semi-racism of the intercontinental Clans replaced the ideology of the social-welfare state.



Neurand

Official Name: Neu-Randstad
Other Names: The Rand, Eurocity
Population: 9.6m
Ethnography: 87% White, 5% Brown (Arabic), 2% Black, 4% Mixed, 2% Yellow
Languages: Dutch, English, German, French, Frisian
Location: Noord-Holland (NW tip of Netherlands)
Contamination: 5
Security: 6

Located in the heart of the New Europe, the massive conurbation known as the NeuRand is considered to be Europe's premier modern megacity. Although many Europeans scorn it as 'synthetic' and 'modernistic' (often a swear-word in Europe!), the Neurand has prospered in the role of informatics core in a United Europe. Whereas Brussels-Capital remains a mind-numbingly boring administrative centre, the Neurand has inherited Paris' passion, Berlin's wealth, and Amsterdam's liberal cosmopolitan lifestyle. Lacking the high culture of famous places such as Milan or the industrial efficiency of cities such as Munich, the Neurand wisely latched on to the new wave of digitalisation that swept across the EU in the small panic-stricken years after the Year2000 crisis.

Following the secession of Flanders in 2004 and the effective dissolution of Belgium, the economic problems in that region helped to spur a large migration of people, most of whom settled in the newly-expanding RandStad area. With Amsterdam's economy booming, and the arrival of poor new members in the European Union, migrant workers soon flocked to this Silver City. Well-educated East European programmers and designers were willing to work for a pittance in the Neurand, and the area has been attracting highly-skilled and creative professionals ever since. Even Germans from the depressed coal-mining regions found jobs in heavy industry, and the closeness of Brussels allowed politically-motivated businesses to thrive in the region.

A flood of newcomers and a shortage of living space (that old Dutch bane) soon extended the urban metropolis into the reclaimed lands of the Ijselmeer. Amsterdam expanded and the new suburban estates swallowed most of the Randstad. Yet strong pressure from powerful Green groups eventually forced the Dutch government to promise to return the reclaimed lands back to their natural state. Unwilling to abandon the massive construction projects it had almost finished, the government decided to turn the New Settlements into a sort of 'city-on-the-waters', complete with massive canals and water parks nestled amidst ecologically-sensitive estuaries and wetlands. This compromise solution was modified to include replica historical houses and old city hafenwerk blocks in perfect detail to appease traditionists. The result is a unique urban space which appears as half a nature conservatory and half a modern megalopolis.

The area was soon christened as The NeuRand, and its sophisticated artsy atmosphere quickly earned it a bleeding-edge reputation. Chic urbanites moved there to appreciate the modern dwellings, or to live in traditional surroundings. The NeuRand also attracted businesses interested in providing affluent gated communities for nature-lovers (and who wasn't in those days, when Global Warming seemed just about ready to inundate most of the Netherlands). The NeuRand today hosts a number of world-class gland/biogene and pharma firms, and provides a unique urban environment to those trendy megadesigners who require more than a fat pay packet. The NeuRand's residents number more than 9m, and the connurbation continues to extend all the way to the massive Rotterdam/Europoort complex - the largest transportation hub in the world. The NeuRand's excellent transportation facilities make it a major airline hub as well, and it's financial sector remains one of the most daring within the European Union.

The Neurand's nightlife veritably teems with deranged entertainments, most within safe (far) distance of the 'proper' homes of upright citizens, many of whom also manage to surreptitiously sneak into the Rudstraat for their illicit pleasures. The elegant canals and integrated pavilions of the East Coast slowly give way to functional ecofast high-density community blocs (which are energy-recycling, power-conserving, environmentally- friendly; and also stunningly dull) found in the centre of the Peninsula, which in turn rapidly degenerate into grubby flophouses and oldsystaam downtown areas around the Old City of Amsterdam (incorporated into the Neurand in 2025) towards the south.



PROVENCE ESTATES & MARSEILLES FREEPORT (Occitania/Occitanie)
Started as a development project by the French government, Marseilles quickly grew into a smuggling haven and massive freeport to handle Mediterranean trade. Faced with the dirigiste Neutopian ideas of the Sixth Republic, and with waves of expelled immigrants from the North, the people of Provence appealed to the EU for recognition as a separate 'region' in 2020. When the Commission declined to support either side, the Provencales staged violent protests which escalated into the seizure of most government buildings. The Union Corse then funded a large mercenary army to defend the region when French troops moved into the area. For two years Army troops were harassed by civilians on all sides. The mutation-weakened French Army fought unpleasant skirmishes with locals which inevitably resulted in high civilian casualties, and international pressure against a violent solution eventually forced the French government to enter negotiations instead of risking a bloodbath and possible censure from the EU. The negotiations have continued to this day, while Marseilles profits handsomely from bribery, trade and smuggling. France proper considers Provence to be a degenerate den of thieves infested with dirty foreigners, and so relations are poor to say the least. Nevertheless, as a fellow member of the EU there is little that can be done...overtly.

[Security: 4, Contam: 7, Pop: 10m, SOL: 80%, COL: 80%]


RUHR-RHINE REGION
After the German government moved the capital from Bonn to Berlin, the main industrial Ruhr region suffered a decline in public employment, and in heavy industry as old-style steel factories and coal mines were shut down because of the region's notoriously high labour costs. With the merger of Germany's three biggest unions into the IG-Metallgesellschaft, the region was rocked by massive strikes and the disruption of European transportation for almost 4 months. Faced with a rebellious urban region, the Federal goverment threatened to revoke social benefits. In tense negotiations, the Chancellery's best offer turned out to be a meagre subsidy program - and a demand that the new union be balkanised. The outraged union duly rejected the offer, and in the next elections its hand-picked candidates won by a landslide. These politicians had promised a 'strong autonomy' within the EU which was a de facto secession from the Federal Republic of Germany, saying that "the Rhine's taxes should support the Rhine's workers". Protocol formalized the status of the Ruhr into a Freehold, and the European Commission, fearing further unrest, pressured the German government to accept a 'temporary' separation. Today the Ruhr remains a depressed region with high unemployment, social instability, high taxes, generous welfare benefits, and a stifling socialist government. The rest of Germany patiently awaits its return to the fold.

[Security: 6, Contam: 6, Pop: 26m, SOL: 75%, COL: 85%]


ROME : THE ETERNAL CITY
Rome is now a free city operating under the aegis of the Vatican, and has prospered despite the ruin inflicted upon Southern Italy by the Mafia. When the New Mutation reached Italy, Pope Augustus XIV was quick to capitalize on the End-of-the-World syndrome that swept the nation. With daily casualties mounting, protests against the ineffectual government turning into riots, and looting by desperately-sick people, the city's police forces were overwhelmed. Faced with chaos, the Pope appealed to the citizens of Rome for "a spiritual order to calm our souls and prepare us for the union with God", while sending emissaries and priests to organize local neighbourhood watches. With the Vatican's moral and physical support behind it, Rome's citizens restored order to the beleaguered city. A month later the Vatican successful turned popular outrage at the Federal government's mishandling of the crisis into a referendum on the future of the city. Two-thirds of Romans voted to separate from Italy to form a free city under the nominal authority of the Vatican, but administered by a local council and mayor. Faced with similar trouble in the North, and secessionist movements in Sardinia, the Federal government officially dissolved itself on April 22, 2029. Today Rome is like a giant religious theme park, but with occasional puritanical overtones - homosexuals are not welcome. Although theoretically a democracy, the Vatican (and the Pope) exert a strong influence on all decisions, and most of the civil service is drafted from the ranks of the revamped Jesuit Order. Religious feelings run strong, but Rome still retains some of that liberal relaxed Italian atmosphere. As always, Swiss Guard mercenaries perform ceremonial duties, but the new militant-crusading Vatican no longer shies away from using real force if necessary.

[Security: 7, Contam: 4, Pop: 10m, SOL: 120%, COL: 130%]


FRANCE : THE FACE OF NEUTOPIA
Long before the New Mutation and war in Asia brought chaos and strained the resources of every country around the world, the French state was already preparing for Doomsday. During the early NewCen, France was split by feelings of resentment against Arab immigrants, with some even advocating a complete expulsion of all non-European foreigners. As growing unemployment combined with foreign gangs and criminals embittered people, extreme right-wing parties gained more and more power. French intelligence, fearing war in the Middle East would bring waves of illegal refugees, started plans for forced removal of unwanted people from the South. The onset of the New Mutation caused panic in the right-wing French government, which immediately suspected a foreign plot to destabilize France. When a brutal state of emergency in Provence provoked outrage in that region (and eventual secession), the administration's worst fears were vindicated. If foreigners were attempting to dismember La Belle Republique, then retaliation was necessary by all means necessary.

Amidst massive Communist street protests in major cities, martial law was declared and President Seguille officially dissolved the Fifth Republic on May 10, 2021. The Gendarmerie engaged in running street battles with young Fifth Republicans ("filthy fifties") for 11 weeks while state officials drew up plans for a new state system whereby citizens would undergo genetic screening ("to avoid contamination"), implantation, mandatory eugenics, and a massive clampdown on all networks. The European Commission protested, but France simply invoked national security and ignored outside warnings. For the last two decades France has been a de facto police state operated under the Neutopian Party (former Gaullist coalition) whose security apparatus ensures compliance with all regulation. A thick pall of distrust and racism now pervades French society, with most immigrants having fled to the Estates of Provence or to friendlier places such as England. French society, culture and values are forcefully promoted, while all non-EU products and citizens are heavily taxed and generally denigrated. Although free-trade agreements and EU law prevent it from imposing quotas or bans on foreign goods, the government uses every dirty trick in the book to discourage them in a legal way. France has instituted a rigid system of Eyesat surveillance, citizen location monitoring, tight movement prohibitions, and mass media control which stifles all resistance. Leftist parties and groups are intimidated into silence; countless saboteur groups continue to raid and harass the security forces. From birth citizens are indoctrinated in the orthodoxy of 'proper' French behaviour and the rightful state of current affairs. Neutopianism does not rely on Christian or mystical overtones, but is instead a coolly scientific rationalism which reduces human beings to ingredients in a state-directed 'happiness machine'. Neutopianism has a strong following in Imperial China, Russia, and Japan.

France is today notable for its state-run industries (which are falling behind), its massive debts to the EU, its repressive 'Neutopian' system of social engineering, and its highly-trained military (a feisty part of the European Legion). Within the EU, France maintains a fanatical pro-European — almost colonial — attitude to the rest of the world, but its promotion of peacekeeping missions into North Africa has already cost many lives to no discernable benefit. France is also home to the infamous Bureau of Sabotage, a secretive network of pro-democracy saboteurs working within the ranks of the bloated bureaucracy whose stunts and flair for publicity have exposed the government's ugly face to the rest of the world.

Paris
Paris is still the centre of French civilization, but it no longer holds any sway over matters intellectual, artistic or cultural. Much of the city's famed architecture has been turned into a candy-cane tourist attraction or an embalmed tribute to a glorified past. Free thought and original artistry are suppressed by the Neutopian state even while a veneer of haute couture panders to the controlled tastes of the state orthodoxy. Paris still glitters and parties as always, but that joie de vivre that made French culture so vibrant has fled underground into cellar-bars and illegal exhibitions which are closed to the brainwashed public and are frequently raided by secret police. Paris has a thriving saboteur culture, which often takes the form of graffiti on especially pompous monuments or ad-libbed freeform sculptures placed in locations sure to offend the authorities. Surprisingly, the French attitude toward sex and romance has been little affected by disease or government policy, so love still flows as freely as champagne in the City of Light.

[Security: 9, Contam: 5, Pop: 45m, SOL: 90%, COL: 120%]


SWITZERLAND
Depite numerous attempts to covince, cajole and trick this small country to join the European Union, taciturn Switzerland remains a sullen neutral in the heart of unified Europe. Despite eventual free-trade with the rest of Europe, and the support of the powerful business community, Switzerland's independent voters refused to relinquish any authority to Brussels. Switzerland instead promoted itself as the Heart of Compromise between the EU and the rest of the world, and aggressively maintained its lead position as arbitration centre of the world. Although Basel and Zurich may have weakened their hold on international banking, Protocol's basing in Geneva entrenched that city's dominance in global negotiations, conferences, and symposiums. Switzerland retains a difficult form of direct democracy, with numerous referendums on nearly every issue of import.

[Security: 9, Contam: 3, Pop: 6m, SOL: 180%, COL: 200%]


BAVARIA
Official Name: Bayern Freistaat
Population: 12m
Cities: Stuttgart, Munich
Ethnography: 83% German, 7% Other European, 6% Turkish, 4% Other
Languages: German, Austrian, Swiss German
Location: SE Germany, NW of Austria
Contamination: 6
Security: 6

Differences over religion, education and strong connections to Austria eventually conspired to pry Bavaria away from the Federal German fold. Bavaria is technically still a German Lander but enjoys rights equivalent to a sovereign state is recognized as such by the EU. Bavaria is mostly Catholic Christian and resents outside interference and immigration. Having won many disputes against the Commission, and being a very successful industrial economy, Bavaria has managed to forge ties to Austria, Chechovia and Padania which enabled it to dominate European vehicle production.


PADANIA
Other Names: North Italy, Lombardy
Population: 32m
Cities: Venice (Venezia), Pavia, Milan, Turin
Ethnography: 80% Italian, 10% Other European, 2% Tyrolian, 5% Arab
Languages: Italian, German (Süd Tirol); French (Val d'Aoste); Slovene (Friul)
Politics: The Lega Nord recently lost power to Forza Norda
Contamination: 6
Security: 5

Named after the Po River (Padus in Latin) which runs through this region, Padania separated from the rest of Italy during the turbulent years of the New Mutation when the central government in Rome was weak and incompetent. Padania has always been much wealthier than Italy's South and has always resented paying subsidies to 'lazy and corrupt' southern Italians. Many Padanians feel that Italy was an artificial 19th century creation and that historically the North has always been separate and superior. Padania is fully integrated into the EU and enjoys a good standard of living despite taking many casualties during the New Mutation and despite a low birth rate. The Lega Mazzini - suppressed political party which has gained much support in recent years - operates out of Florence (Fiorenza) seeks to re-unify Italy by harking back to common Italian traditions and culture. The mysterious Carbonari organization also operates in Padania, but apart from the theft of valuable works of art their goals remain unknown.


NAPOLI TRADING ZONE
BRETAGNE (Brittany)
EUSKADI
Capital: Bilbao
Languages: Euskara, Castillian, Catalan Pop: 2.1m

SILESIA (Slask)
Capital: Wroclaw?
Languages: Polish, German
Pop: 8m

FLANDERS (Vlaanderen)
Pop: 7m
Political Parties: Vlaams Blok, Volksunie
Languages: Dutch (Flemish)
Capital: Brussel-Capital
Independence in 2002.

SCOTLAND (Alba in Scottish Gaelic)
Pop: 5.1m
Languages: English, Scottish Gaelic (almost extinct)
Annexed in 1707.
Capital: Edinburgh

CORSICA (Corse)
Pop: 500k
Languages: French, Corsican
Capital: Ajaccio
Main Political Party: Union Nationale Corse

BRETTANY (Bretagne, Breizh in Breton)
Pop: 4m
Capital: Rennes
Languages: French, Breton
Main Political Party: Union Democratique Bretonne

SARDINIA
Pop: 1.7m
Capital: Cagliari
Languages: Italian, Sardinian

Wallonia (Wallonie)
Languages: French, Walloon, Picard, Lorraine, Champenois
Pop: 3.5m Capital: Namur Catalonia (Catalunya), Castille (Castilia)
Europe is on the eve of a peaceful separation-reaggregation movement whose result will not be a conglomerate of the European States as we know them.
acquis communautaire
Senate of the Regions
localism, democratic deficit, subsidiarity, right of rescission,
Russian Ministry of Extraordinary Situations (cool!)

Sources: Europa, Stephane Dohet's EU Infosite.