Plushunia

Plushunia Pluşunia
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Te slăvim, Pluşunie
[[File:Bucharest, Romania Slobozia, Ialomița county, Romania|frameless|upright=1.15]]
Capital	Plușeni
Official languages	Romanian
Demonym(s)	Plushunian
Government	Unitary parliamentary democracy
• President	Cristian Dobrev
• Prime Minister	Iepuraș Slobozan (PDL)
• President of the Parliament	Iepuroi Hop (PDL)
• Deputy Prime Minister	Judy Hop (PDL)
Legislature	Parliament
Establishment	20 October 2017
Population
• Census	7 Romanians 514 Plushunians
Currency	Plushunian Ban
Time zone	GMT+2. GMT+3 (summer time)
Website Official website Plushunian News Service

Plushunia (IPA (English): [plʌʃu:nia], Romanian: Plușunia, IPA (Romanian): [pluʃu:nia]) is a Romanian micronation and electorate of the Holy Roman Empire founded on 20 October 2017 by incumbent President Cristian Dobrev. It claims five landlocked regions surrounded entirely by Romania. An important aspect of Plushunia is that it recognises toys as citizens alongside humans.

The nation is currently a unitary devolved semi-presidential democratic republic, with the Plushunian Parliament being the country's legislature, the President serving as head of state and the Prime Minister as head of government. The incumbent President (since October 2017) is Cristian Dobrev, while the incumbent Prime Minister (since 13 September 2020) is the Democrat Liberal politician Iepuraș Slobozan. Since the August 2020 administrative reforms, Plushunia is divided into municipalities and sectors, which currently enjoy a high degree of devolution as a result of the 2019 constitutional reforms.

On the micronational stage, Plushunia has diplomatic relations with several nations from the MicroWiki sector, and is a member of the Union Against Micronational War, of the Holy Roman Empire, of the Micronational Olympic Federation, of the Grand Unified Micronational, of the Plush Nation Cooperation Union and of Help Joining the GUM, and a former member of the Organisation of Active Micronations.

Etymology

The name "Plushunia" comes from the Romanian word for plush ("pluș") and the suffix "unia", indicating the fact that the country recognises plush toys as citizens.

History

Main article: History of Plushunia

Early beginnings

The first attempts made by the incumbent President to organise a toy-based state were made in 2015 and 2017. The first version of Plushunia, created in 2015, was a federal state recognising toys as citizens, but the President did not suceed in organising a state, so this first incarnation of Plushunia remained largely dormant until 2017.

Foundation era/Early Hop era (20 October 2017 - 1 January 2018)

Iepuroi Hop, Prime Minister of Plushunia between October 2017 and June 2018, was the most influential politician in the early days of Plushunia

The current incarnation of Plushunia was created in October 2017 by incumbent President Cristian Dobrev, this time as a plush-based unitary parliamentary democracy. On 20 October 2017 the President officially created the nation, appointing Iepuroi Hop as provisional Prime Minister of Plushunia. First, the country was to recognise only plush toys as citizens, but after some Lego and plastic toy infrastructure and buildings were introduced by the very active Provisional Government, Lego figurines and plastic toy figurines were also granted citizenship. A few days after the foundation the first Plushunian political parties were created (see the Government and Politics section) and the 2017 legislative elections were held. The center-right Democratic Convention coalition (made out of the National Front, the National Liberal Party, the Democratic Party, and the Christian Democratic Union ) led by Iepuroi Hop won 50% of the votes and was given approval by the President to form a government led by Hop (the Parliament not existing yet at the time of the election), the Hop Cabinet having the aim of organizing the key state institutions including the Parliament. The Hop cabinet also acted as the legislative of the country until June 2018, when the Parliament was organised according to the results of the 2017 elections. The Hop Cabinet was sworn into office on 1 November 2017 and was very popular during the first months of its term, when it implemented several popular measures such as the building of several apartment buildings and the creation of the public transportation system in Plușeni.

Middle Hop era (1 January 2018 - 1 May 2018)

The Hop Cabinet's popularity declined during January after it decided to adopt several authoritarian policies and implemented several failed economic policies that almost led to the country's dissolution. The incapacity of the Cabinet to organize the Parliament for almost 8 months after the election and its failure to manage the February Riots (which were organised by the National Federalist Alliance, that attempted to establish a federal government) also led to a continuous decrease in the popularity of the Hop Cabinet and of the Democratic Convention, the political alliance supporting the Cabinet. During the riots, the Hop Cabinet was forced to leave Pluşeni (the only territory of the Bucharest Region at the time) and became a government-in-exile. Despite a predicted revival of Plushunia after the riots, in February and March 2018 the President mostly lost interest in Plushunia, which entered a period of dormancy and anarchy.

Re-foundation era/Late Hop era (1 May 2018 - 25 June 2018)

The Government only returned in May, at the request of the President, which became interested again in Plushunia, and order was re-established in the country after government forces regrouped and ultimately defeated the Federalist Alliance. Following the return of the legitimate government, the country went through a period of reconstruction which lasted until June 2018, with the Government attempting to repair some of its economical and administrative mistakes. During May and June the influence of Iepuroi Hop over the nation's politics also declined, making way on the political stage for other politicians, many of which mostly unknown before. June 2018 also saw the organisation of the Plushunian Parliament (after months of disputes between the Liberals, the rest of the Democratic Convention, the Social Alliance and the National Federalist Alliance) and the rise of the Social Alliance, widely considered as the only real alternative to the increasingly unpopular Democratic Convention, and the latter's loss of the political hegemony it had during the preceding eras. The Hop Cabinet was finally dismissed on 25 June after the Liberals left the Democratic Convention and proposed a motion of no confidence which passed with 13 votes in support to 12 votes against.

Early Socialist era (25 June 2018 - 1 August 2018)

Ursu Polarescu, Prime Minister of Plushunia between 1 July 2018 and 1 April 2019, the most influential politician of Plushunia during Socialist era

After the Hop Cabinet was dismissed 15 members of the Parliament resigned to force snap elections, which were organised on 26 June 2018. The parties from leftist Social Alliance won together 68% of the votes after the Democratic Party left the Democratic Convention and joined the Social Alliance together with the new Social Democracy Party. The alliance, made out of the Toys' Worker Party (PMJ), the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Popular Revolutionary Front (FPR), the Democratic Party (PD) and the Social Democracy Party (PDS) managed to defeat the National Liberal Party and what remained of the Democratic Convention (the National Front, the Christian Democratic Union and the new National Christian Democratic Peasants' Party (PNȚCD) and proposed PMJ president Ursu Polarescu for the prime minister office, which was given confidence by the Parliament to form a Cabinet, which also passed the confidence vote. During the first weeks of the term of the Ursu Polarescu I cabinet the democracy started to make itself felt, with the Parliament elaborating the first formalised laws and starting to draft the first Constitution of Plushunia. On 15 July all parties in Plushunia opened simultaneously their Congresses, effectively paving the political road of Plushunia for the following months. On 27 July the Christian Democratic Union was absorbed by the National Christian Democratic Peasants' Party, and on 30 July the Democratic Party left the Social Alliance and formed the Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats (ALDe) together with the National Liberal Party and the National Christian Democratic Peasants' Party, thus ending the Social Alliance's political hegemony over Plushunia. 30 July also saw the dissolution of the Democratic Convention, which remained with only one member (FN) after the departure of PNȚCD, and on 31 July 2018, after the Social Alliance lost its majority following the departure of the Democratic Party, the said party joining ALDe, Plushunia entered a political crisis caused by the 50/50 parliament deadlock between the government and the opposition.

Middle Socialist era (1 August - 20 September 2018)

After the Socialsts lost their majority in the Parliament and political hegemony over Plushunia, the Polarescu I cabinet was restructured and became the Polarescu II cabinet, supported by a coalition between the Social Alliance and the National Front. Despite the Socialists now had a strong political rival (the Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats), they managed to win an important political contest: the Vice Presidential election on 3 and 4 August, when Cățeluș Slobozeanu (Social Alliance candidate) won the first round with 38% and the second round with 51%, just four votes ahead of the runner-up Ghiță Purcel, becoming Plushunia's second Vice President. After the election though, the government entered a period of relative inactivity characterised by the absence of the President from Plushunia. The period of inactivity lasted just one week, after which the President returned from his vacation and started to collaborate with the Government in creating several laws. On 17 July the opposition leader Ghiță Purcel made a press statement in which he criticised the Government's apparent lack of activity (no law passed between 1 and 19 August), to which the Polarescu II cabinet responded by submitting several laws to the Parliament for adoption, such as the law on employees' cooperatives, which enrolled all employees within cooperatives and gave them incentives to participate within the cooperatives, and gave employees and unions a role in administration of the companies. In late August, the Social Alliance also decided to adopt a programme which aimed to put Plushunia "on the road to Socialism". However, the programme was poorly received by the middle class of Plushunia, who started large-scale protests in Plușeni. The state authorities and the security forces, however, decided to suppress the protests, while the angry protesters clashed with the security forces. Outnumbered, the security forces of Plushunia were defeated and surrendered, leading to the enrollment by the government of working-class Plushunians (supporters of the leftist Government) in militias which were used against the protesters to defend the Government. However, the militias were also defeated by the angry rioters, who used captured Security Force personnel and equipment to ensure their victory in Plușeni, forcing the Government to flee the city and move its headquarters in 1 Iunie, a settlement in the metropolitan area of the capital.

Plushunia during the Plushunian Civil War (September 2018 - December 2018)

Following their victory over the government forces, the rebels established the Plushunian National Republic in the controlled areas of Plușeni. The republic was governed by the Revolutionary Committee, the only legislative, executive and judicial institution of the National Republic, which was only a provisional institution that was meant to administrate the Republic until the eventual victory or defeat of the revolutionaries. The Committee ruled over Pluseni with an iron fist, often arresting and sometimes even allowing the furious rebel bands to brutalise Government sympathisers and partisans in an attempt to minimise opposition to the revolutionary rule. However, they had difficulties governing the occupied areas, since they were continuously confronted by both the remaining Government forces and a number of pro-Government partisans and forces that remained behind the lines of the rebels. Those forces, loyal to the Government, still held areas of Plușeni during the revolution, making multiple attempts to break the rebel encirclement and sabotaging rebel activities. By October, the revolution has turned into a full-scale civil war, with daily bitter clashes between the two sides and with the political parties of the country either supporting the rebels (FN publicly, ALDe tacitly) or the Government (AS), and some regions even declaring independence (the former Plușeni commune Baia, the Argeș Region). Despite Pluseni was torn apart by the raging war, in other regions, like Ialomița, the war had little to no effect on the lives of the Plushunian citizens.

However, the balance of power completely changed after the President allowed the Government to commission two platoons (~60 soldiers) of professionally trained, fully equipped infantry soldiers, forming the core of the Plushunian Army. The brand new army won many victories against the rebels, while in rebel-occupied Plușeni several pro-Socialist uprisings took place. Overwhelmed, the revolutionaries proposed a ceasefire on 14 November, 2 months after the start of the war. A few weeks later, a treaty between the two parties, was signed, it later being extended to include the other two warring parties. The document stipulated that Plushunia was to remain under the rule of the Polarescu II Cabinet until 1 November 2019 (the October 2018 elections being cancelled) in order to ensure the political stability of the country, and that the said cabinet was to be granted several special legislative and executive powers. In exchange, the rebels received several concessions, such as cancelling the "Road to Socialism" programme, giving autonomy for the Outer Plușeni, Baia and Argeș areas (which were to be ruled by ex-rebel local governments) and immunity for participating in an armed insurrection against the Plushunian government (however the leaders of the Plushunian National Republic were sentenced to three months of exile in Outer Plușeni and were banned from entering the non-autonomous areas of Plushunia during that period). The peace settlement became known as the Quadripartite Pact, and became the country's de facto constitution, however the clauses which extended the term of the Socialist government for another year and divided the country between the "socialist" mainland and the "rebel" autonomous regions , were heavily criticized, independent observers and Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats members (which stayed neutral in the conflict) called the pact a "highly divisive decree which splits the nation in two parts and dramatically reduces the role of the democracy and the democratic institutions in this settlement", while the President of Plushunia called it "a painful compromise, which is necessary however, at least until the next elections, in order to satisfy both sides and bring peace to the country" and stated that he "will continue safeguarding the democratic values of Plushunia and prevent any abuse of the new political structure of the country".

Late Socialist era/Postwar era (December 2018 - March 2019)

The Pact brought political stability to Plushunia, however the authoritarian rule and poor economic policy of the Socialists led to the failure of postwar recovery and to a severe economic recession. Polarescu's approval rating dropped, and he became highly unpopular among Plushunians, the rather right-leaning and anti-socialist Baia, Argeș and Outer Plușeni autonomous regions, created after the war, even threatening to secede from the country. In March 2019, as the situation kept worsening, Iepuroi Hop, the leader of the National Front, decided to condemn Polarescu for his handling of the national economy and stated that the Quadripartite Pact is "an unconstitutional decree which illegally extended the term of the Socialist cabinet and sacrificed our nation's unity and prosperity by allowing these people to stay in power", asking the Prime Minister to resign, calling for protests. The latter refused and threatened to take military action in order to "preserve the peace within the nation", however Cristian Dobrev, the president of Plushunia, decided to back Hop, and stated that the pact is void and contradicts the Plușeni Declaration (the founding document of Plushunia) and requested Polarescu to step down and "let democracy retake its course". Ultimately, after the military decided to back the President's decision, Polarescu resigned, and the event, known as the "March coup", remains the only instance when the President of Plushunia actually interfered in the country's politics. A few days later, snap elections took place, resulting in the victory of the center-right Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats, which won a plurality of the popular vote, forming a new center-right government with its ally, the newly established Save Plushunia Union (formed after the National Front's leaders, dissatisfied with the low electoral scores of the party in the last elections, decided to merge with the Revolutionary Movement Party, the political arm of the Revolutionary Movement, an organisation founded by some leaders of the September Revolution and which aimed to "continue promoting the values of the Revolution and move its struggle from the streets to the political landscape"). The new Cabinet, led by Ghiță Purcel, was the first government-supported only by moderate parties, representing an important achievement for Plushunian democracy after almost two years of nationalist and socialist cabinets.

The Rise of the Right (1 April - 1 July 2019)

Ghiță Purcel, Prime Minister of Plushunia between 1 April 2019 and 16 February 2020, the most influential politician of Plushunia during "the Rise of the Right" period

Despite the Liberal - USP victory at the elections, the Purcel I cabinet decided to act as a caretaker government, with no important reforms being made in the beginning. Some Socialist and Social Democrat leaders even accused Purcel that his cabinet did not bring the economical growth and encouragement of private enterprise it promised during the electoral campaign, with most of the Plushunian economy still being represented by the state-owned sector, the same situation as in the Socialist times, and many state enterprises were even abandoned (like the Plushunian Vehicle Company) because the lack of demand, causing economical stagnation. However, the Purcel cabinet improved the living conditions for many Plushunians after it almost completely redesigned and rebuilt Pluseni, the devastated capital of Plushunia, the new apartment blocks built by the Purcel cabinet being larger and less cramped than the old, Hop-era buildings. The Purcel cabinet also invested much more in scientific research and in education than the previous governments, with a lot of resources being invested in the Plushunian Academy of Sciences, a new institution created by the cabinet. Recently, a political scandal stemming from Iepuroi and Judy Hop's loss of parliamentary immunity following a vote in the Parliament (the two are being involved in the currently investigated "abusive expropriations" case, in which Iepuroi and Judy are accused of abuse of power, the loss of parliamentary immunity for the pair allows further investigation and ultimately trial by a criminal court) has caused a political crisis in Plushunia, with the pro-Hop faction of the USP separating from the rest of the party and leaving government (thus forming a new opposition political group named the National Front), split which led to the Purcel government becoming a minority cabinet. However, the now-majority opposition was split between the leftist Plushunian Socialist Party and Social Democratic Party and the right-wing National Front, which completely refused any collaboration with the left. The crisis left Plushunia into an unstable situation, with a grand coalition government between the Liberals, USP and Social Democrats led by Purcel being formed (the Purcel II cabinet).

Compromise Period (July 2019 - August 2019)

The new grand coalition government took office on 1 July, almost immediately starting work on important political and economic reforms. In the first weeks of July 2019, the Government concentrated itself on the external policy, by having Plushunia become a member of the Union Against Micronational War and of the Organisation of Active Micronations and opening diplomatic relations with several nations of the MicroWiki community. However, in late July, the Government also revealed several important projects, such as a new, more federal constitution of Plushunia and a "master plan" to combat the current economic crisis in Plushunia. Another great diplomatic achievement of the Purcel II Cabinet was the passing of a new Foreign Policy in the parliament, which also provides for the establishment of overseas territories of Plushunia. However, on 18 August 2019 the Social Democrats and the parties from the Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats brought the stable political compromise of Plushunia to an end, following a disagreement between Prime Minister Ghiță Purcel and the PSD leadership, which led to the PSD withdrawal from government and the formation of a new cabinet.

Tensions and unrest (August - October 2019)

After the fall of the grand coalition Purcel II cabinet, Liberal leader Ghiță Purcel managed to negotiate a new cabinet with the Save Plushunia Union and the Democratic Party, the Purcel III cabinet, which was set to govern until the upcoming September legislative election and to organize the August local election, while also continuing the application of the constitutional and economic reforms started by the preceding cabinet. The reform process and the integration of Plushunia on the micro national stage slowed down during the term of the new cabinet, due to its rather narrow majority in the Parliament and the increasing political tensions in the country, however major achievements such as having Plushunia join the GUM were made in this period of time.

Despite the partial victory of the newly formed Democracy and Truth Alliance (acronym DA, the alliance between the ex-ALDe Democratic Party and the Save Plushunia Union) in the Plushunian 2019 local election and the Plushunian 2019 legislative election, the said alliance failed to form a government because their coalition partners in the Purcel III cabinet, the parties from the Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats decided to break their agreement with DA (which stated that the two alliances will compete separately in the elections while proposing a common Prime Minister candidate from DA) and to propose Liberal leader and outgoing Prime Minister Ghiță Purcel for a new term as Prime Minister.

However, after the election, in which DA won the first place with 29.7% of the popular vote and 8 seats in Parliament, it proposed Democrat leader Iepuroi Hop for the office of Prime Minister. Not willing to become a junior party in a coalition led by a rather controversial politician, the ALDe refused to support Hop, and proposed then-outgoing PM and ALDe leader Ghiță Purcel (also supported by the Conservative Party) for a new term. Soon, the Social Democrats, which refused to propose their own PM candidate, announced their endorsement for Purcel and his new Cabinet (following some negotiations deemed "dubious" by the Democrats and other opposition parties), the Liberal leader thus gaining the support of a majority of MPs and being appointed by the President to lead the new Government. The Purcel IV cabinet easily passed the confidence vote in the Parliament, becoming the first minority government in the history of Plushunia.

The term of the Purcel IV cabinet was a short and tumultuous one, being supported by a weak coalition with no common ideology or clear government platform. Despite his weak majority, the Liberal cabinet decided to finally make the radical economic reforms needed for transitioning from a post-Socialist economy to a free market one (such as the privatisation of public companies, elimination of the restrictive worker-protection measures imposed by the Socialists), as well as de-bureaucratising and streamlining the Plushunian administration and public companies in a bid to eliminate the many sinecures left from the Socialist era and to reduce the then-enormous administrative costs, redirecting most of the money formerly spent in administration towards other areas, such as infrastructure. However, the reform plans were not well-received by the working class, whose members starting protesting as soon as the Government announced that it would reform the economy, dismiss many public company managers which were affiliated with the Plushunian Socialist Party and did not comply to the official economic policies and eliminate the labor unions' very important role in the management of all companies (at that time, Ursu Polarescu's Law on the Administration of Public Companies, passed by the Socialist-dominated Parliament in 2018, was still in force, the said law stating that the employees from each company should form a labor union and that all decisions of the directors of the said company should be approved by the union). The protests were organised by the Plushunian Socialist Party, which named the reforms "a blatant violation of the fundamental workers' rights which we have always supported", however, it is widely believed that the party only organised the demonstrations in order to keep its influence in Plushunian economy, as many public company directors were affiliated with the Socialists and the said party controlled most labor unions.

Throughout early October, the workers' demonstrations gained momentum and became increasingly violent, while several right-wing groups formerly affiliated with the September 2018 "revolution" attempted a coup against the Government with support from some military officers. The coup failed, degenerating into a civil conflict between the government loyalists and the rebels (which were forced to adopt a defensive strategy and established their headquarters in east Plușeni). Civil unrest reached its highest point since late 2018, the cabinet declaring a state of emergency and sending troops to contain the riots and defeat the violent uprising. Eventually, the rebels decided to abandon their defensive stance and launch a large offensive towards the western part of Plușeni, where the bulk of the city's population lives and where the Government relocated after the coup failed. Fearing that the right-wing rebels would join forces with the increasingly violent workers, the governing parties made an agreement with the labor unions and left-wing organisations supporting the latter, making several concessions such as special employee protection measures and delaying the economic reform, pushing it back to mid-November, in exchange for withdrawing union support for the protests. With the left-wing protests now over, the government now could fully focus on the right-wing rebellion, which was defeated at the Battle of the Unirea Square (failing to capture the government building and to strengthen its position in Plușeni) and forced to retreat back to the eastern parts of Plușeni (where the original rebel strongholds were located). Shortly after, the leaders of the right-wing rebels decided to sue for peace, eventually reaching a deal with the government, the deal granting all rebels immunity for their actions during the rebellion in exchange for all rebel forces and military units who fought against the government surrendering and recognising the Purcel IV cabinet as the legitimate government of Plushunia. The deal was largely respected by both sides, although a few rebel strongholds remained active until their eventual defeat in late October, the leaders of the said strongholds being tried and imprisoned.

With both the rebellion and the left-wing riots having ended, the Purcel IV cabinet's rule further consolidated, and the government could finally implement its planned reforms, starting with constitutional reform. The October 2019 constitutional reform modified the country's legislature become a unicameral legislature, the office of Legislative President being disestablished and the election system and number of MPs no longer being written in the Constitution, but in the electoral law. The reformed Constitution was quickly drafted and passed the vote in the Parliament and the subsequent referendum too, officially coming in force after 20 October 2019. Despite this success, Prime Minister Ghiță Purcel decided to resign his office as PM and trigger snap elections, stating that he took the decision in order to ensure that the constitutional reform of the legislature is applied, with Purcel's decision being also influenced by the high levels of political instability from September and October (the PM hoping that a more stable political climate could follow the snap election).

The election was held on 27 October 2019, and it resulted in the victory of the Social Democrats, which won 30.77% of the popular vote and 6 seats in the Parliament, followed by the DA with 26.43% of the votes and 6 seats, with the Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats came third, with 24.75% of the votes and 5 seats. The fourth-place went to the newly founded Unity and Dignity Alliance, a nationalist and conservative alliance comprising the Conservative Party, the Plushunian National Unity Party and the Unity and Solidarity Party (which broke away from the Save Plushunia Union in late October, the party has been the former nationalist wing of the Union), while the Plushunian Socialist Party came last in the election, only winning one seat and even failing to get its leader Ursu Polarescu (who has been a constant presence in the Parliament since the very foundation of Plushunia) to get a new term as MP.

Despite becoming the single largest party, the Social Democrats didn’t propose a Prime Minister from their party, with PSD leader Rilă Slobozeanu declaring that “our party will continue supporting Ghiță Purcel for a new term as Prime Minister. We and the ALDe have a good, healthy and stable political partnership, and we will keep giving the ALDe Government support in the Parliament. We do not request any ministries in Mr Purcel’s new cabinet, yet we have some experienced people who could help Ghiță Purcel should he appoint them as Ministers”. The Social Democrats’ decision to support a cabinet in which the ALDe would hold most ministries (the PSD eventually got one ministry, the presidency of the Parliament and some other less important offices) was viewed as a strange decision, with many critics of the ALDe – PSD collaboration suggesting that the ALDe and the PSD could have signed another, the secret protocol by which the mostly ALDe government supposedly agreed to offer the PSD and its members several advantages, such as offices and influence in the public companies or favouring PSD investors in the privatisations promised by ALDe.

Growth and stability (October 2019 - February 2020)

The instauration of the Purcel V cabinet, despite the lack of ideological cohesion between the main two parties supporting it, brought political stability to the country following months of turmoil. Ghiță Purcel decided to take advantage of the said stability and had his cabinet enact an economic reform: tax rates were reduced, the process of registering a company became much easier, employees and unions no longer had an official role in the administration of companies, workers' cooperatives established by the Polarescu governments were disestablished and an massive privatisation of all public companies except for the ones managing public services. These measures, which gave private investors more power in the economy, revitalised the public companies (which were dealing with poor public management which made them highly unprofitable), boosted public revenue (which was later used for infrastructure projects, such as the New Plușeni High Speed Railway) and pumped more money and capital into the economy, leading to unprecedented levels of economic growth.

The aforementioned growth was the strongest in the imobiliary and retail sectors, the city of Plușeni reaching the peak of its development during early November, and the annexation of New Plușeni further boosted the said growth, a new Plushunian city rapidly developing in the said area. Furthermore, following the economic reform, the Purcel V cabinet decided to diminish public spending (as part of their fiscally conservative economic policy) by reducing expenses with public administration, the then-existing bureaucracy within both the central and local administrations being regarded by the Liberals as "too big and costly for a country with only 500 residents", thus it decided to enact an administrative reform which greatly streamlined the local administrations by eliminating the regional and local councils and making the Mayor the only elected official in local administrations. Meanwhile in the opposition, the failure of the Democracy and Truth Alliance to form a governing coalition after the September and October elections was blamed on the moderate, centrist leadership of the Democratic Party (the largest party of the alliance, which gave the radical wing of the party (represented mostly by the former National Front, which split in June from the Save Plushunia Union and merged into the Democratic Party), led by Iepuroi Hop, the opportunity to overthrow the party's leadership and to instate Hop as party leader. As soon as he took over the party, Hop gave it a new political identity, sharply turning it away from centrism and towards a liberal conservative ideology with nationalist and populist influences, changing the green-white color scheme on its logo to an orange-blue one. This major reformation of the party was highly advantageous, growing its popularity, and this turn to the right led to the party cutting all its ties with the Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats and instead forming a partnership with the right-wing nationalist Unity and Dignity Alliance and its successor the National Democratic Party, solidifying its position as the leader of the Plushunian opposition.

In order to properly enact the administrative reforms, the Liberals decided to hold a local election on 22 December 2019, with a second round on 28 December. However, due to a lack of coordination between the government parties, the opposition Democratic Party won 2 out of the 5 Mayor seats which were contested in the election and thus managed to hold a majority of the Mayor seats, scoring an important victory for the opposition and bringing dissent between the two main governing dorces.

Government and politics

Plushunia is a unitary devolved parliamentary republic. The basic law of the country, which establishes the core institutions of the state and the fundamental rights of the citizens and holds precedence over all the other laws, is the Constitution. Thus, Plushunia is, according to the fundamental law, a representative democracy, and the power is divided between the three separate powers of the state (legislative, represented by the Parliament, executive, represented by the Government and the President, and judicial, represented by the Supreme Court and the national courts), separation of powers and rule of law being supreme values of the Plushunian state.

Legislative branch

The Plushunian Parliament

Structure of the Plushunian Parliament as of March 2021 (elected 7 March 2021)

  PSD: 4 seats

  PNL: 7 seats

  PC: 1 seat

  PDL: 16 seats

  PND: 3 seats

The Plushunian Parliament is the legislative of Plushunia, and it is organised according to the principles of representative democracy. It is a unicameral legislature and it is composed of 20 members elected yearly using a party-list proportional representation system. It votes all laws in Plushunia, including the Constitution and any constitutional amendments (which also need to pass a popular consultation vote/referendum). The Parliament also gives confidence to the Government of Plushunia and to the Judges of the Supreme Court and can dismiss the members of these institutions by means of a motion of no confidence. It meets on a monthly basis (the last Sunday of each month) but it can be convocated in extraordinary sessions by the President, the President of the Parliament or the Prime Minister. The last election for the Plushunian Parliament took place on 7 March 2021.

Executive branch

The President

The head of state office in Plushunia belongs (since the adoption of the new constitution on 6 August 2019) to the President of Plushunia, office currently held by Cristian Dobrev. The President is directly elected by the population of the country for a 4-year term and has the right to compete for any number of terms. The President has the duty of representing the nation on the foreign plan (signing treaties, establishing diplomatic relations) and of appointing the Prime Minister of Plushunia and the Judges of the Supreme Court. The President also has the right to participate in and chair government meetings and to veto any law/decree passed by any state authority for maximum three times.

The Government

Main article: Government of Plushunia

Iepuraș Slobozan, Prime Minister of Plushunia since 13 September 2020

Judy Hop, Deputy Prime Minister of Plushunia since 21 March 2021

The Government of Plushunia is the executive of Plushunia and has the role of running the country on a daily basis and applying the laws through government decrees. It also acts as the legislative of Plushunia in the absence of the Plushunian Parliament, and normally has limited legislative powers, which the cabinet exercises through government ordinances. The government consists of one Prime Minister and 11 ministers with a designated portfolio.

Since 13 September 2020, the office of Prime Minister is held by the PDL member Iepuraș Slobozan, which is the head of the 13th cabinet of Plushunia, the Slobozan III Cabinet, which was sworn into office on 21 March 2021. The Slobozan II Cabinet has the following structure:

Office	Name	Party	In office since	Term end
Prime Minister	Iepuraș Slobozan	PDL	21 March 2021	Incumbent
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Internal Affairs and National Defence	Judy Hop
Minister of Regional Development and Public Administration	Marin Caracatiță
Minister of Justice	Pisic Plușeanu	Ind.
Minister of Economy, Public Finances and Commerce	Cățel Plușeanu	PDL
Minister of Labor and Health	Ollie Caracatița
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development	Puiuț Pufoșel
Minister of Environment and Tourism	Broscoi Plușeanu
Minister of Education and Research	Oița Baciu
Minister of Transports and Infrastructure	Luminel Plușeanu
Minister of Culture and National Identity	Horațiu Pferd
Minister of Communications and Digitalization	Puiuț Chițăilă

Politics

The position of the Plushunian political parties on the Political Compass chart

Main article: Political parties of Plushunia

In Plushunia political pluralism is very important and emphasised on, with 8 registered political parties with a great diversity of ideologies and political views (ranging from Socialism to classical Liberalism and Conservatism) existing in the country. The politics of Plushunia has a very important role in the nation's culture and history, and is mostly based upon the politics of Romania, with many parties having a present or former correspondent in Romanian politics.
The four most important parties (and the main actors on the political stage) of the country are:

• The Democratic Liberal Party (center-right, conservative liberalism).
• The National Liberal Party (center-right, classical liberalism, conservative liberalism)
• The Social Democratic Party (center-left, social democracy)
• The National Democratic Party (right-wing, nationalism, conservatism)

In Plushunia is also possible for two or more parties to form political alliances, groups of parties which usually support common candidates in elections and attempt to increase their influence by grouping themselves into larger entities. Currently, only one such alliance exists:

• The Liberal Alliance (center-right, classical liberalism, liberal conservatism)

Law and order

The Plushunian Supreme Court of Justice is the supreme court of Plushunia and the country's nominal court of last resort. As it is the only court in Plushunia, it handles all cases filed in the country and serves as well as the constitutional court of the country. It has 5 judges, of which one serves as the President of the Supreme Court. The judges are appointed by the President and are given a confidence vote by the Parliament and the Government.

Foreign relations

History

For almost 9 months since its foundation, Plushunia had an isolationist foreign policy, but this ended on 14 July 2018 when the President, the Vice President and the Minister for Internal Affairs, Justice, National Defence and Foreign Affairs decided to have Plushunia join the MicroWiki Community, and the country quickly started diplomatic relations with two nations, Juclandia and Sabia and Verona, which also recognise plush toys as citizens. However, during the Plushunian Civil War, the Government decided to shut down the international edition of the Plushunian News Service and to start a new period of isolation, in a bid to avoid any news leaks of the then-ongoing civil war, that could have possibly turned into an international affair should that news leak. This policy continued for 10 more months until the Purcel cabinet decided to re-open the MicroWiki Commission of the External Affairs Department and to have Plushunia join the MicroWiki Discord server.

Present

Currently, Plushunia has diplomatic relations with several nations of the MicroWiki community and has a well-established presence in the micronational community. In terms of micronational organisations, it is a member state of the Grand Unified Micronational, of the Union Against Micronational War and of the Micronational Olympic Federation, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire and a co-founder of the Plușeni - Lubec Pact. Plushunia has also been a member of the now-defunct Plush Nation Cooperation Union and Organisation of Active Micronations (New Eiffel Union)

Diplomatic relations of Plushunia

Nation	Flag	Start of diplomatic relations	Notes
Juclandia		July 2018	First nation to establish diplomatic relations with Plushunia, fellow member state of the GUM, informal relations
Kingdom of Sabia and Verona		July 2018	Informal relations
People's Federation of Quebec		July 2019	Defunct nation
Principality of New Eiffel		July 2019	Defunct nation
Qaflana		July 2019	Plushunian Embassy established in Qaflana
Sovereign Principality of Snowy Plains		July 2019	Informal relations
Kingdom of Wegmat		August 2019	Fellow member state of the GUM, informal relations
Gymnasium State		December 2019	Fellow member state of the GUM, mutual recognition treaty signed.
Vishwamitra		October 2020	Fellow member state of the GUM, mutual recognition treaty signed
Commonwealth of Naveria		November 2020	Fellow member state of the GUM, mutual recognition treaty signed
Misberian Confederacy		November 2020	Fellow member state of the GUM, co-founder of the Plușeni - Lubec Pact, mutual recognition treaty signed
Republic of Aswington		November 2020	Mutual recognition treaty signed
Free Socialist State of Paloma		December 2020	Mutual recognition treaty signed
Imperium Aquilae		January 2021	Mutual recognition treaty signed

Military

The Plushunian military is represented by the Plushunian Army, a well-equipped force responsible for both national defence and the upkeep of public order in Plushunia. It consists of two fully-equipped infantry platoons stationed in the military base of Plușeni, (formed in late 2018) which consists of about 60 soldiers and officers in service, as well as three light infantry platoon squads (one for each region, the largest one in the capital) formed in early 2018, named the Plushunian Security Force, which carries out police-like duties. The Army also has a small motorised section, consisting of a few toy-size tanks and mobile artillery units. Most of the Plushunian military infrastructure (the infantry platoons, the tanks and the Pluseni Military Base) was put into use during the Plushunian Civil War by the government, which needed a professional, properly equipped army to defeat the rebel forces and restore order. Since then, the Army has become a key institution of the State, the Plushunian citizens being particularly fond of the Army. Currently, Plushunia did not take part in any war between micronations, but the Plushunian Army and the Security Forces did fight in several internal conflicts.

Geography and climate

Physical geography and climate

The territory of mainland Plushunia is represented by four distinct landlocked enclaves, surrounded by Romania: the Bucharest enclave (containing the Bucharest Region), the Ialomița enclave (containing the Ialomița Region and the Aureşti Region), the Argeș enclave (containing the Argeș Region) and the Muscel enclave (containing the Muscel Territory). The Ialomița and Bucharest enclaves are located in the Wallachian Plain, and have an arid, semi-steppe climate. The Argeș and Muscel enclaves, on the other hand, are located on the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains and have a continental climate. However, a great share of the Plushunian territory (~35% in the Ialomița enclave, ~90% in the Bucharest enclave) is located indoor, the said areas enjoying a controlled climate setting.

Political geography

Since the August 2020 administrative reform, Plushunia is divided into 5 municipalities (geographically contiguous regions with residents) and one territory (a region with no residents) plus three overseas territories (regions located overseas, with no representation in the Plushunian Parliament). Some larger municipalities, such as the Municipality of Plușeni, are further divided in sectors.

Plushunia is divided in the following municipalities, territories and overseas territories (claims with disputed/uncertain status in red):

Municipalities and territories of Plushunia
Flag	Coat of arms	Municipality	Municipality code	Capital city	Sectors	Population (inh.)	Area (est.) (m2)	Mayor
Municipalities of Plushunia
		Plușeni	PL	Plușeni	Industriilor, Unirea, Pluşurilor, Outer Plușeni	181	100	Peter Hop (PDL)
		Ialomița	IL	Ialomița City	N/A	99	1000	Donald Duck (PDL)
		Plușenii Noi	PN	Plușenii Noi	N/A	~125	TBD	Porculete Purcel (PNL)
	TBD	Aureşti	AU	Aureşti	N/A	~30	1000	Sasha Aurescu (PDL)
	TBD	Argeș	AG	Argeș	N/A	57	12500	Albert Cuțu (PND)
Territories of Plushunia
	TBD	Muscel Territory	MC	N/A	N/A	0	5000	N/A
Overseas Territories of Plushunia
Flag	Coat of Arms	Territory	Territory code	Capital city	Subdivisions	Population (inh.)	Area (est.) (m2)	Governor
	N/A	Macmillan	MM	TBD	TBD	5	0.0475	Vilcho
	N/A	Aenopian Plushunia	AP	White (De Facto)	TBD	43	14.35	Simon Reeve
	N/A	Ogel	OG	Ogel Nib	TBD	~500	25	Alex Halbesleben

Economy

The Plushunian economy is a weakly regulated mixed developing economy and is based mostly around agricultural activities, industries and services. It is composed of a state sector and a private sector, with the private sector has become the dominant sector following the partial privatisation of most state-owned companies in late 2019 and the subsequent growth of the private sector. The economy is currently recovering from a recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown in neighboring Romania, the state currently giving significant financial aid to the private companies, which were hard hit by the recession.

In terms of financial obligations, the Plushunian state currently collects a 25% flat income tax from all employees, a 25% value-added tax and a 30% flat profit tax from all companies. The taxes are higher than usual, due to austerity measures taken as the consequence of the recent recession (as in late 2019 the profit taxes were only 20%, the VAT was 15% and the income tax was also 15%), while the minimum wage in the country is 130 Plushunian Bani/month. The state also offers a minimum guaranteed income to all non-working citizens, the guaranteed income being worth 80 PUB/month and not being taxed.

Currency

The official currency of Plushunia is the Plushunian Ban. The said Bani were a non-physical currency only existing on the National Payment System (SNP), a highly elaborated system involving documents named "fiscal notes" used to store all the money of their owners and record all their transactions. However, the SNP involved heavy bureaucracy, and official support for it largely ceased by early 2020, the Romanian Lei thus becoming the de facto sole currency in the country. Recently, the Hop II Cabinet decided to re-instate the Plushunian Bani by authorising the use of several plastic tokens as official money.

Agriculture

In the agricultural sector, Plushunia is quite developed, and is an exporter of agricultural products, especially from the Arges region, which amounts for most of the exports made by the country. The Ialomița Region is another important agricultural producer, however, the products from the Ialomița Region are mostly for domestic use. Currently, almost 100% of the Plushunian land is state-owned, work on an Agricultural Development Plan, which aims to sell most of the agricultural real estate to Plushunian citizens and private enterprises, as well as creating an Agricultural Trade Company to help export agricultural goods, having mostly halted since 2019.

Industry

Industry is also an important sector of the Plushunian economy, with several industrial companies and plants (mostly private-owned) existing in Plușeni, and around 1/6 of the Plushunian citizens work in the industry. The sector, although heavily hit by past economic crises, has mostly recovered, especially after the privatisations of most state-owned industries, and now is a strong economic sector, its main products being industrial products destined for plush citizens.

Services

A strongly developed sector of Plushunian economy, the services sector played a large role in the recovery from the 2019 economic crisis (which was caused by the collapse of the over-developed industry due to the fixed prices and unprofitability of the business), and nowadays, despite a new crisis caused by the pandemic taking place in early 2020, the sector survived owing to a recovery plan, and currently provides many plush citizen-oriented services.

Transport

In terms of human transportation, Plushunia is poorly developed, with no large roads existing in the country due to its rather small size. The longest properly paved road in Plushunia is located in the Aureşti Region and has a length of around 50 meters, its role being to connect Aureşti with the road network of Romania.
However, the Plushunians (toy citizens) enjoy a full-scale public transportation system (especially in the Bucharest Region, where 4 public transport routes exist), with daily schedules for each region and over 10 special vehicles (often acquisitioned from neighbouring Romania) being used for public transport. A Lego-based light railway also operates in the Municipality of Plușeni, connecting the eastern and western parts of the city, while a second railway operates in the eastern part of New Plușeni.

However, because of the distance between the geographically separated municipalities, inter-municipal schedules are much rarer (monthly at best), and an inter-municipal public transport ticket is quite expensive (over 100 Plushunian Bani). This does not apply however to the Ialomița-Aureşti routes, since Aureşti and Ialomița are not geographically separated, the public transport thus operating like with intra-municipal routes.

Public transport is currently a state monopoly in Plushunia, with the Government currently running transport companies for each region. However, this situation might change, since the Government currently considers privatisation of the public transport companies.

Demography

According to the 2019 Plushunian local censuses, mainland Plushunia has a population of around 480 spread over its 4 regions (Bucharest, Ialomița, Arges and Aureşti), the said regions having very varied and diverse population sizes and densities, areas and ethnoreligious compositions.

Population

According to the results of the 2019 local censuses (no national census has been held since 2017, with that census being fairly out of date), Plushunia has a resident population of around 480, distributed on a surface of around 20000 square meters (an average population density of around 2400 residents per square kilometer). However, the population is unevenly distributed among the regions of the country, with the densest populated region being the Bucharest Region, which houses 60% of the nation's population in 5% of the area of the Plushunian territory (an extremely high population density of ~300.000 residents/km ² ), while the least densely populated region is the Argeș Region which houses 10% of the nation's population spread out over 62.5% of the country's area (a population density of ~500 residents/km ² ). The high calculated population densities are however not a result of overpopulation, but rather of the small sizes of the country's majority toy population.

Ethnic groups

Plushunia is a highly ethno-diverse country, with residents of several minority ethnic groups apart from plush toys being recognised as citizens, namely plastic toys (est. 150 Plushunians), Lego Minifigures (est. 50 Plushunians) and Romanians (the smallest ethnic group of the country, with 7 Plushunian citizens being of Romanian ethnicity). However, plush toys still form a majority of the population (est. 55%), and the minority ethnic groups are highly integrated within the Plushunian society (no ethnic minorities' political parties exist in Plushunia, the ethnical minorities mostly voting with the traditional parties of the country).

Culture

Plushunia has a well-developed culture, which derives most of its elements from Romanian/Eastern European culture, due to the country being fully surrounded by Romanian territory. Cuisine combines traditional Romanian dishes, the national dish being a specific recipe of stuffed potatoes, with Western influences and some original dishes too, while in terms of music both international and Romanian music are highly appreciated in the country, while a few Plushunian musicians also being active and Plushunian music being released on a very limited scale.

Art

Art is a very important part of the Plushunian culture, with Cristian Dobrev being a well-known artist across Plushunia, around 100 paintings, drawings and clay sculptures made by him being exposed in art galleries and museums from Plushunia. Some of the President's relatives which are citizens of the nation are also known to be prominent artists.

Sports

Sports are also a prominent part of the Plushunian culture, with chess, cycling, swimming and air hockey being some of the most popular sports in Plushunia. Plushunians are also known to be avid watchers of the Olympic Games and of other important sports events. Currently these sports are only played individually, with no sports clubs having been created.

Religions

Eastern Orthodoxy

Cățeluș I, Patriarch of the Church of Plushunia

The main religion of mainland Plushunia is Eastern Orthodoxy, which is represented by the Orthodox Church of Plushunia. The Church is very similar to the Romanian Orthodox Church, being headed by a Patriarch and observing the Eastern rite. The Plushunian Church is however more liberal than other Orthodox churches, since it agrees to and allows clergymen to hold political offices and does not require that clergymen take new names after joining the clergy. On the latter issue, the Church (and most notably the Patriarch) supports its point of view by arguing that "clergymen may (and should) be involved in politics, so that the values of the Church of Plushunia and the ideology of Christian Democracy be represented on the political stage", between October 2017 and July 2018 the Church even having its own political party, the Christian Democratic Union (which eventually was absorbed by the National Christian Democratic Peasants' Party).

Bobism

In Aenopian Plushunia (overseas territory of Plushunia), Bobism is the state religion, and a Plushunian Bobist Church has been created on the Plushunian Discord server so that the Plushunian followers of Bob (especially from Aenopian Plushunia) can freely exercise their religion. The Plushunian Bobist Church is affiliated with the United Bobist Church, a Bobist church created by several members of the OAM. Bobism is also recognised as one of the three religions in mainland Plushunia, along Eastern Orthodoxy and Atheism.

National symbols and holidays

The national symbols of Plushunia are specified in the Constitution, playing an important role in the nation's culture. The national symbols of Plushunia are:

• The National Flag
• The National Anthem (Te slăvim, Plușunie)
• The flags of the administrative subdivisions
• The National Motto (Unity in Diversity)
• The National Currency (the Plushunian Ban)
• The National Animal (bear)
• The National Dish (stuffed peppers)
• The National Flower (cockscomb)

In the country, there also exist several official holidays, created to celebrate several universal holidays, important events from Plushunian history and culture and events from Romanian history too, with a total of 31 days a year having holiday status, over three times the European average. The national holidays in Plushunia are:

• Romanian Culture Day (15 January)
• Woman's/Mother's day (8 March)
• Easter Holidays (eastern Orthodox Easter Day, the entire week preceding it and the two days after it)
• Workers' Day (1 May)
• Children's Day (1 June)
• Anthem Day (25 July)
• Flag Day (31 July)
• Assumption of Mary (15 August)
• Man's/Father's Day (23 September)
• Foundation Day (20 October)
• Saint Nicholas' Day (6 December)
• Winter Holidays (23 December - 2 January)

Additionally, the Government can decree two-week Official Vacations, during which the population is divided into two halves that work alternatively (one half for one week, the other half for the second week). Official vacations were created in April 2018 by the Hop I cabinet, with the first such vacation taking place in late May of the same year.

Media

The only Plushunian media institution is the Plushunian News Service, an online news service owned by the government. In the country are also available Romanian radio and television, and several government-owned small movie theaters are active in the country.