A shaky alliance

[Furlanìe]

You must be registered for see links

​

[FONT=&amp]
Villa Gerardi was the main symbol of the little and quiet town of Gaudea, not far from the sandy southern shores of the island of Justiza. It wasn't a very old building nor the best one that the republic had to offer, but was indeed a warm, homely place; the perfect backdrop to relax and have a productive meeting.

The minister of foreign affairs Giancarlo Compagno was waiting for his guest outside the villa, in a cold day, the first cold day of the season.
@

You must be registered for see links

[/FONT]

 

[Merioneth]

The car pulled up and Thomas Eldritch climbed out of the car. He knew the seriousness of the meeting and was prepared for the Justino-Lauenburger alliance but he knew that the challenges ahead were tough. As he walked over to Giancarlo Compagno he bowed. "Hello, my friend. I hope we can reach a solution in this most beautiful of locations" he said smiling slightly awkwardly whilst he shook his Justinian counterparts hand.

 

[Furlanìe]

''yeah, 'friend', the situation is a bit of a mess'' he sighed and looked at him in the eyes with a politely disappointed look before letting go his hand ''come, it's wormer inside'' and tapped amicably the guest's shoulder.

The living-room of the villa was full of paintings and a large rug covering most of the floor, a fireplace crackled at the opposite side from the entrance and a big and heavy wooden table had been placed with two comfortable chairs near it; ''take a seat... and explain me what or who persuaded your government to taking back that territory from us, I'm curious''

 

[Merioneth]

Thomas Sat down on the sofa. "I don't think the question is who but rather what. Our nation has been embarrassed so much on the international stage and now we NEED to fix it. How can we go about looking like a fool with the dangerous Kadiki's as our neighbour. The fact of the matter is we feel played by Justiza and we want to try and change that. Hopefully our new Prometheist government can do that but we can't be dealing nations which can be as anachronistic as yourself. Also do you not realise that colonising Germania is an unacceptable practice which must not be done." he said trying to be polite as he could with these words coming out of his mouth.

 

[Furlanìe]

Compagno was still standing ''why would it be unacceptable? are the people you all colonized and enslaved until now in Himyari less important then a spit of unpopulated land in Germania? well THIS is anachronistic!''

''and what about the justinians who already were preparing for the trip? you know who will have to say to them that they can't go anymore? our government! Marghêri risks to make the DEM lose the next elections, we will be ruled by the fascists" he finally sat down ''the northern colony was one of the key successes of the Democratici party, and a great hope to give some energy back to our stagnating economy, we will need to describe your decision as a treason if we want to survive, this could be the end of our friendly cooperation... 'played by Justiza' it's ridiculous! it was a decision jointly agreed, we are not a big scary empire blackmailing you nor a strange alien race controlling people's minds, thanks god the ERJ doesn't broadcast those dumb films from the continent.'' he stopped talking, realizing he could have exaggerated and looked at his counterpart with a sad but hopeful look, like a teacher wishful of hearing a perfect oral test from a student.

 

[Merioneth]

Thomas looked at him rather surprised by what he had come out with. "The fact is that they can go. They can come and live within our nation without Justizas government having to own a chunk of our sovereign territory. The fact is that Lauenburg has been too weak for too long and now it's time for us to hold up our own weight. And besides we are more than willing to offer a piece of land within our colony but within our metropole is always going to be hard as we all know that in time these colonies will break free but our homeland will always remain a part of a nation. We are thankful for Justiza's loyalty to our nation and will continue to be but perhaps there is another way to deal with this. Lower tariffs , no import taxes and perhaps an easier way to allow Justinians into our nation. All of these are plausible offers and if Justiza still feels this is not enough then we will be willing to depart our military base on it's sovereign territory" he said trying to be calm and give off a positive aura.

 

[Furlanìe]

''a justinian living so far and in foreign territory? unthinkable! is hard enough already finding diplomats to run the embassies, justinians don't want to obey the rules of other nations, we are kind people but we want to live in our communities and be safe under our codes... I can see your point, fellow, and I acknowledge that in recent time our nation has been a bit distant and isolated, we could have done more to help you, that's true; see... we could find a way out of this if we consider a big scale cooperation, the imports of coffee beans from Rashan are increasingly costly, and as coffee is a big part of our exports that's a national problem, what if your colony starts cultivating the beans and sells them all to us? we would still need a place where to load it so a little bridgehead territory in the colony's coastline could be of use to us; we could abandon the idea of that northern colony and get some good profit from there..." he waited, dreamy ''... and profit for you aswell of course! it would bring a lot of jobs for the locals, we would help to establish the plantations if needed, but the monopoly of the exports would be ours... for... the good of both of us. Also such a cooperation would give us a bit of control over the area and we could, as our nation is closer then yours to the colony, help you maintain your sovereignty over it in the future." he looked at Eldritch expecting no answer but YES and already calculating in his mind the political and economical benefits of this possible agreement.

 

[Merioneth]

"Well if they're not willing to live abroad that just seems arrogant of them and I see no reason why it should be Launeburg's job to please them" he said slightly snarky. "As for the importing coffee from Rashan issue we would be willing to export the product to you and offer you the chance to rent some land to be used as a port which you could export the product through however this would still legally be the sovereign territory of Lauenburg just excluded from it's regulations, After all the reason for our base is to help protect Justiza. Anyway the port would be a sort of free trade zone one might say.". He then went on to his final point "Perhaps instead of giving Justiza a complete monopoly we could have it be split 50:50 as it would be unprofitable for us to just lease out land but have no sort of economic gains. I would also like to add once again the chance of us having a free trade deal". He felt rather confident in what he was saying, after all Lauenburg had plenty of advantages over it's ally in the negotiations.

 

[Furlanìe]

Compagno was a bit shocked by his words "its the second time you express your hateful personal opinion over the justinian people, can you abstain yourself from being racist for the duration of this meeting? Let it be clear that this is the first and last time I'll see you, however this will end" he stared at him "getting back in the negotiation; the proposal was not about giving us the fields to be cultivated, my proposal is to favour the development of coffee growing, we would help you plant and grow the beans so to teach your people the first times and then it will be all yours, but I still want the monopoly over the exports of that good, who would you sell coffee otherwise? Kadikistan? Don't make me laugh! You will gain money from exporting and the local economy will benefit for the great number of jobs this will create; a port upon which your laws won't apply but our will would be enough, keep your land. I will talk about your free trade proposal with the other ministers and then make someone contact you, as you no longer are friendly to kadikistan this will probably be accepted"

 

[Merioneth]

"Hmm, this seems like a deal that I can accept. I would also like to discuss the Launeburgian base in Justinian sovereign territory and wish to know if you have any wishes relating to this. If I'm honest with a constituent country of our United Kingdom in the area I see no reason for us to continue its operation unless you wish for it to remain."

 

[Furlanìe]

''Well if you don't find it useful any longer you can withdraw, but the government might be interested in buying some of the technologies installed there so to transform it in a justinian base with less efforts; would it be acceptable?"

 

[Merioneth]

"Well we wouldn't be able to leave technologies behind because this would give away our nations military secrets but the land could be used as a Justinian base since it's your sovereign territory. It was never really of much use to Lauenburg anyway."

 

[Furlanìe]

''I was just talking about calculators, cables, lights, radars and general forniture, the fundamentals to make it quickly operative"

 

[Merioneth]

"Well the Armed Forces are on a tight budget so to give away such things wouldn't be in their interest. You would just have to wait and see what they leave behind because as I said, money is tight for them and they can't afford to waste."

 

[Furlanìe]

''we were going to pay them, but whatever, maybe our defence ministers can have an informal chat about it" Compagno stretched his arm and offered a conclusive handshake

 

[Merioneth]

"Well I suppose that concludes our meeting. but one question remains, are our two nations still allies?" He then shook his counterparts hand.

 

[Furlanìe]

''Unless you become king, we definitely are!" he laughed and pointed to the exit ''Horrid to meet you''

 

[Merioneth]

Eldritch laughed before heading for the door. Once he was outside he let out a relieved sigh and went to the car which would drive him to the airport where he could then fly home. The first diplomatic meeting of Prometheist Lauenburg was over but there would be more to come.