Eric Perez

Eric Perez (born 12 November 1992) was the sixth Imperial Chancellor of New Europe of New Europe. Perez originally started in New Europe as a simple soldier in the Imperial Army and although he did not rise in ranks after serving in three of New Europe's conflicts he did contibute to the early New European command structure. After New Europe signed a cease fire agreement with Kingdom of Camuria and Althacia in May 2009, Perez left the Army to focus on his studies and his personal passion for filming. He returned to New Europe in June 2011 at the request of Emperor Wilhelm to help form an opposition party to the Nationalist's who ressurected the country. He was appointed Vice-Chancellor in the Huber Cabinet of which he had little influence at first. Upon learning of Chancellor Huber's car accident he remained acting Chancellor for the remainder of the term. He ran for election as the Socialist Party candidate for Chancellor in October 2011 of which he received 55 percent of the popular vote.

Life in Fascist New Europe
When New Europe was founded in January 2009, Eric Perez was recruited into the Imperial Army for his JROTC experience. Perez was for a time the only non-white in all of New Europe while it was dominated by the Fascist Party of Johannus von Ikner, who was Elected-King of Illinois at the time. Although Perez's military activities were limited due to the racial policies of the Imperial Government, he would demonstrate a willingness to cooperate with his immediate superior's who would try and push for Eric's promotions to the higher ranks. Often they would be denied by men like General Field Marshall]] Breen who was a devout supporter of the German Wehrmacht. When Scientopia declared war, the so-called Meissner-Antifan War, in March 2009, Perez's unit was mobilized and ordered to be prepared to advance on Republic of Petorio. Although Perez has not commented on weither or not his unit was actually capable of following through with it, he was certainly given the order to due so and that his superiors were expecting it. However the march to Petorio was cancelled when it became clear that no immediate threat was comming from New Europe's neighbor and the war ended two weeks later. When the army underwent its first reorganization in August 2009, Perez was removed from active duty and placed in the reserve component of the First Moblie Division were he would spend more time on his personal passions as well as observe the politics of the time. Perez was originally an outspoken oppenent of then James Russell who was pressing for a tighter control on citizenship rights for New Europe's non-european population. Under the constitution passed under Russell, one did not have rights but privileges of speech and opinion they were often censored or considered an attack on the regime which the constitution also stated would result in a forfeiture of all privileges. Perez for his outspoken views was demoted and placed on Marshal Vaughn Bullock's staff for service in the Camurian War. It was at this point he became bitter about the situation in New Europe under the Fascist regime and upon the conclusion of New Europe's part in the war in May 2009, he left the army. Eric would spend the next few years commited to his personal life and persuing his passion for film. One month following his discharge from the army, Chancellor Russell was succeeded by Johannus von Ikner who's party would ultimately lead New Europe into civil war and eventual collapse.

Political Career
When New Europe was re-established in June 2011, he received an invitation from the emperor to return to New Europe and to become involved in its politics. This was before it was announced publically that the emperor was returning from Micras Sector. He accepted on the grounds that he be allowed to organize his party as he saw fit which was reluctantly accepted by the Alexander Huber, the chancellor at the time. He brought together factions from the Falian Democratic Party and Falian Socialist Party to form the New European Socialist Party. Five days after the formation of the Socialist Party, Perez was apointed Vice-chancellor in the Huber Cabinet. In that capacity, he was responsable for over seeing the domestic affairs of New Europe. Perez endorsed many of the government reforms and was pushing for the privileges be amended into full inviolable rights for all citizens. His dedication to reforms and his passion for equality in New Europe gave him much popularity at home as well as abroad. Eric would go on to use his popularity to gain public support for the Nationalist Act. He co-wrote the bill with the New European Centrist Party's Chairman Jorge Contreras and proposed it before other delegates of the Reichstag in July 2011. After a ten day debate between the upper and lower houses of legislature, the bill was approved. Originally, Chancellor Huber was furious at Perez's daring to initiate legislature without his consent but recanted his opinions once he saw the positive results comming from the population and international community. With his new found popularity at its peak as well as public support behind his party, Perez made it clear that he was interested in running for a "higher office" when possible. Immediately following the organization of the election scheduled in October 2011, the Socialist Party nominated Perez as their candidate, of which he accepted. While Perez was ready to run against then incumbent Chancellor Huber he would end up playing against a Nationalist bid for New Europe's historical first's. Chancellor Huber was in a serious car accident in July 2011 of which he failed to inform anyone causing community activity to drop for the rest of that summer. When it was finally made public Perez would remain acting chancellor for the durration of Huber's term. As fate would have it the Nationalist's nominated Jessica Brigan then Countess of Aiken as their candidate to combat Perez's historical appeal. Throughout the election Perez would challenge the conservatives to show the people that genuine progress has been made under their watch. Although he has agreed that "New Europe is a much more free nation than it was a year ago it still has a way to go before it can be called a true micronational democracy". The Nationalist campaign was tough as well as it ran deep in New European traditions of which all citizens valued and they were betting on the First Female Chancellor to win the majority. In the end, Perez won the support of the majority on 26 October and was sworn into office three days later.

Chancellor of New Europe
Once in office, Perez appointed what has been called the most liberal cabinet in New European history. He believed that a cabinet should be as fair and unbiased as possible so in keeping with this belief he apointed Megan Leone from the New European Centrist Party as his Minister of Foreign Affairs and Jackie Castillo from the Socialist Party as his Vice-Chancellor. He re-apointed Jorge Contreras and Jessica Brigan as his Ministers of Justice and Defense. His election was met with tremendous expectation of change by the international community. He was constantly at odds with the Nationalist majority which resulted in his New European Socialist Party withdrawing its support of Nationalist policies established by former Chancellor Huber. He made his first major push as Chancellor by drafting the New European Neutrality Act. The act, if it had passed, was designed to make New Europe an officially neutral state and to have it move away from its militarist activities. However the bill failed to pass the Nationalist Diet when the abolition of two of New Europe's military branches was included in the bill. Perez also endorsed the formation of Neues Freiheitsblatt and even gave Jacob Ramirez the resources to establish the newpaper. Not long after that in December 2011, he encouraged Ramirez to restart Soldier First Class Productions as the primary media outlet for New Europe. When the Federal Mandate of Havnesgade-Amager claimed territory in New England, the Nationalist circles of the government took a firm stance against the claim. Perez contacted them to notify them of the official dispute. Eventually the dispute was settled with the Amager government directly, but relations with Gishabrun were strained. Perez ran for re-election in the February 2012 elections but was defeated by the Nationalist candidate Caroline Kalayjian. The comunity was disapointed to see Perez leave office. His tenure is recognized as the most active administration in New European history.

Post Chancellorship
When Kalayjian did not assume office in March 2012 he petitioned the emperor to resume the chancellorship but was denied. Perez then spent majority of his time engaged in his accedemic activities only to participate in the legislative meetings when in session. Since New Europe's declaration of inactivity he has been in contact with the emperor and other citizens, particularly the current Chancellor Markus Berg. Perez has stated he is still interested in running for a second chancellory term but will work within the government before he does so.