European Federation

Population: 503,880,000 (approx)

GDP: €8,668B ($14,105B)

President of the European Commission:
Marie Lefèvre (France)

President of the European Parliament:
Josef Krupke (Slovenia, S&D)

Parliament: S&D (49%) and Greens (9%), EPP (27%), ALDE (10%), Others (5%)

The European Federation (also known internally as the Fédération Européenne) was unified only two years ago under the Treaty of Munich, where articles of federation were drawn up in order to solidify the region's growing unification. Comprised of most of the former EU, including Turkey but not Britain (who had left the EU some four years previously), the federated countries finally united under a common foreign policy, common law, and a shared military. The economic power of the Federation is considerable and is starting to outstrip that of the USA, and its diplomatic might is considerable, given its large economic power, growing military strength, and control over the United Nations essentially by fiat.

The current President of the European Commission Marie Lefèvre is serving the Federation's first term since unification. In the political shake-up of unification the Parliament was given much less influence than it previously had, and many of its powers were devolved to the Commission; Josef Krupke holds the post of President but has little political power - however, the Parliament itself still has enough bite to keep the Commission in line.
Lefèvre was a strong contender for the leadership after fighting her way through local politics onto the French national stage; her meteoric rise has been attributed as much to her charismatic enthusiasm as to her political cunning. The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (abbreviated S&D) won the first elections on a platform of internal focus, raising living standards in Eastern Europe to match that of the West, and cohesive foreign policy that attempts to present the new Federation as a united power bloc. Now half-way through her term, she has accomplished a surprisingly large amount of her election promises, though it is clear that the newly Federated countries had further to adjust than was initially estimated.

Much of the alterations to common law in the various member countries have been peaceful, though widespread demonstrations broke out over implementations of much higher levels of government surveillance and policing in order to ensure an effective transition. These powers have yet to be rescinded and it is possible that they may never be. Still, the streets are safe, and increasing arrests of separatists and terrorists demonstrate the capability of EUROPOL to root out and neutralise those who work against the state.

The growing military is constantly on exercise when it is not on deployment to various warzones across the world. The Federation has inherited a large number of wars and considerable military commitment from its member states but for the moment it is mostly managing to meet those commitments with its aggressive increases in military spending.

Despite this growth in military and police control, the Federation still enjoys the highest life expectancies and standards of living in the world in a number of its member countries, and the East is catching up fast. Immigration is high and given the negative population growth rate in the majority of member countries it is the fast-growing immigrant population which is starting to fill spots in the economy to the outrage of the right wing. Agitation against immigrant populations came to a head in Italy last year where rioting broke out, growing resentment over the poor economic recovery the region was making being directed at the immigrant population. The Italian Right is starting to see its agenda echoed across the Federation and the President is under pressure to increase restrictions on foreign travel and immigration.

The future of the Federation is uncertain. The fledgling state could go any number of ways from its current position depending on the political winds. It is certainly a make-or-break time for Lefèvre and the S&D as despite their achievements their agenda comes under fire.

Europe's rich history, dating back for thousands of years of civilisation, means that the Federation has no shortage of ancient religious cults, secret historical societies, underground royalist plotters, shady businesses rooted deep into the structure of government, terrorist cells of national separatists, and all manner of other weird and wonderful associations that are attractive hooks upon which conspiracy theories can be hung, and many of #CLASSIFIED#'s members have spent years trying to see some pattern or method in the mess of it all. Exactly how many of these conspirator groups really exist, have any real power, or are anything more than a bunch of bored office workers trying to make their lives more exciting remains to be seen.