Interview with Prime Minister Richard Leonardo:He is Running for President Again
Referendum on Article 1 of the Baltusian Declaration of Rights
No State can Unilaterally Declare IndependencePrime Minister Richard LeonardoThe Socialist Prime Minister was interviewed on the Andrew Barr show today, about his government, his position, and the future of Baltusia:
Good morning Prime Minister, good to have you on the show,
Great to be here Andrew.
Following the assassination of former President Fitzgerald, is the issue of monarchism over in Baltusia?
Well firstly can I say that I of course condemn the horrific terror attacks, there is no place for violence in our politics. However I will say that it does appear that those horrific events have put an end to the question of installing a Baltusian monarchy. I wish the issue could have been settled less violently but unfortunately it was not.
You've been leader of the Socialists for 30 years now, and you've been the 'Secretary of State for Finance' or the 'Shadow Secretary of State for Finance' for pretty much all of that time. Do you not think it's time to retire and let some upcoming talent take over your party?
Absolutely not, we've just made extraordinary gains in the election. We are now the second largest party,
I am the Prime Minister, and we achieved over 23% of the vote. And not to be forgotten, not only is the wonderful Nyle Bevan the governor of Gevaro, but we have a single-party-majority in the local government of Gevaro. You know, even back when our party achieved over 40% of the vote we didn't have a majority in a local government. So we've made excellent achievements recently and now have our eyes on a Socialist President after the next election and further gains for the Left in years to come. So long as the membership wants me to stay on, I shall be happy to do so and serve the people in Congress.
There's been a lot of noise recently from new political parties, namely the National Populist Front, the Nationalist Workers' Party of Baltusia, and the Revolutionary Socialist Front. After the next election will any of them be invited to join the Socialist Alliance?
We will always work with any other party wherever we have common ground, and I will happily work with any socialist party on economic issues, however in regards to if any of the parties you mentioned will become full members of the Socialist Alliance, I am dubious. Firstly they would want to, which is unlikely in the case of the; National Populist Front, who on their website call the values of 'liberalism' and 'communism' harmful, both of which we have members who are in favour of; or the Nationalist Workers' Party, who similarly decry liberalism. The exception to that would be the Revolutionary Socialist Front, while we definitely don't agree on everything with them, we agree with them about as much as, say the Working Class Party. So we would not necessarily be opposed to them joining, if they had the support of the RAC and the Working Class Party. Indeed we have recently applied for membership of an organisation which they have created, called the United Socialist Alliance and we look forward to working with them to spread the values of socialism.
There is currently a budget deficit of almost 14 billion dollars, that has been the case for quite a while now, why isn't that decreasing?
Well, you say that and of course it sounds like a lot of money. However that only represents 0.5%
of GDP, which is quite reasonable when one considers that that allows our over 300 billion dollar surplus in the private sector.
Now I want to get onto one of the big stories of the day, the governors of Athosia and Lindar Valley threatening to secede from Baltusia if the next government doesn't reverse nationalisation. You obviously want to be elected again and form another government to continue with nationalisation, but isn't it better from your point of view to allow a capitalist government and stop the break up of Baltusia?
Absolutely not, I trust in the Baltusian people and if they want to halt nationalisation then they could vote for someone else however if they want to halt the break up of Baltusia then the simple answer is for the people of Athosia and Lindar valley to vote for a governor from the Secularist, Socialist Party, or another party who will try and keep Baltusia together.
If a state assembly votes to hold a referendum on continued membership of Baltusia, would a socialist government allow it?
Well, firstly we wouldn't accept a vote for independence in a local assembly, let alone a unilateral declaration of independance by a governor. However with regards to a vote for a referendum, I don't think that would be a matter for local government. I think that if a local assembly passed a motion expressing support for a referendum or for independence then it would be up to the Baltusian Congress, not the government, to allow a referendum.
And would your party vote in favour of allowing a referendum?
It would depend on the circumstances.
Which circumstances?
Well, if it were just an attempt to shake off socialist policies rather than a sincere request for statehood, then perhaps we would not vote for it.
But isn't that exactly what Governors Blinden and Vernson want to do, and if that is the case would you vote against it?
Perhaps yes, but it would depend on the circumstances like I say, and we'll have to see at the time. So that we can analyse the whole situation and make up our mind at the time.
There is a public perception that Congress is uneffective and never does what it promises. Will there be a referendum on Article 1 of the Baltusian Declaration of Rights as was promised a decade ago?
Well I am very pleased that you've asked that because I am pleased to announce that we are actually putting legislation before Congress this week which will give us a referendum alongside the congressional and Presidential elections in 4306. This will replace Article 1, with a new Article which will only protect those people who want protection.
Finally, are you running for President again?
Yes.
Prime Minister, thank you.
Thank you, Andrew.