What's new

EDF Winter Summit

Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
2,646
Location
Free State of Bavaria
Capital
Zittau
Nick
ErAn, Franken, ArEn
Konferenzzentrum der Europäischen Verteidigungsföderation – EDF
Neunhof, Nürnberg
Königreich Franken


Motorcade by motorcade, the leaders of the European Defence Federation were brought to the EDF Conference centre at the heart of the EDF compound. Actually the inhabitants of Nuremberg's northern ward of Neunhof were long used to the presence of dignitaries, military leaders and other high ranking persons. They even fondly dub the alliance's section of their ward „EDF Ville“. When the founders of the alliance agreed on Franken as the host of the senior alliance structure, His Majesty's Government picked Neunhof as location, as there was the large government-owned Palais Tucher, which is now on permanent lease to the alliance as well as the large compound of civil and military offices itself. The headquarters – in its centre the Palais – was protected as carefully as a military base, i.e. without a valid identification card you would not gain entrance. Security was handled by a joint EDF military police detail.

At the EDF conference centre – Palais Tucher did not have sufficiently large facilities to host every leader with their entourage – the guests were received by Ministerpresident Graf Peter Solms, Crown Prince Jakob and outgoing Secretary General Valerian von Goswein. As Franken was formally a constitutional monarchy with certain „reserve“ rights of the monarchy it was up to the monarch or his designated representative to assume formal presidency of any international conference hosted in Franken. However, the Sovereigns did and were expected to show restraint and let their head of government do the actual business. Anyway, if there were any serious disputes, the Monarch would address it before the conference in order not to compromise his own government. This month it was also Franken's turn to hold the council presidency, so the Crown Prince would assume the role of Council President or Ratspräsident today, too.

After all delegations had finally arrived, the heads of government and state took their seats in the conference hall. Behind each delegation there were large flags of their countries of origin to help identification on tv. Subsequent to the departure of the tv teams from the room, Crown Prince Jakob rose to open the conference. „Your highnesses, your excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the Kingdom of Franken, on behalf of the Crown and People of Franken. We look forward to an interesting summit, judging from the agenda there are few important tasks to be handled. As always, I'm confident you will work towards the best of our eminent alliance of states. Greetings from His Majesty himself, who asked me to stand in for him. He will join us at the state banquet again. Without further ado, I'd like to handover to Secretary General Valerian von Goswein, who will moderate for one more time.“

A slender tall man with hints of grey in his blonde curls turned to the chiefs of government. „Thank you, your royal highness. Indeed, I will moderate this conference with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I'm glad that the EDF states prosper in security and relative peace. On the other hand, I'm a bit sad that this will be my last meeting as the Secretary General. Anyway, on to business, dear colleagues.“ As Goswein ended, the large screen behind the presidency's table was turned on to show the agenda.

  1. Introduction of the new membership tiers and implementation into the charter
  2. Formal welcome of Wiese as a new associated member
  3. Election of the new secretary general
  4. Prospect and chance of success of an armament alliance between EDF companies
  5. Various issues

„Any further questions, Ladies and Gentlemen? Otherwise I would like to ask the Prime Minister of Guiana to introduce us to the proposal to add different tiers of membership to the charter, as it was originally elaborated and submitted by their permanent mission to the EDF.“
 
Joined
Jun 10, 2008
Messages
1,607
Location
California
Being introduced, Harcourt Fenton Mudd, Prime Minister of Guiana, begins to address those gathered.

"Your Royal Highness, your Excelencies, Ladies and Gentlemen! As it was Guiana's delegation to the EDF, headed by the most esteemed Stella Mudd, who just happens to be my wife, that had introduced this measure in council, it seems to have became my duty to to introduce to you, the new membership tiers to be implimented into the charter of the European Defence Federation. Though the system is not a new concept, the EDF, since its founding, has operated on a single tier structure, one in which only the memberstates were represented. This structure has worked well, but due the the nature of present times, it was decided that a restructuring by expanding the number of tiers to four. This expansion would allow those nations that are effected varying degrees by the success of failure of the EDF to be able to have some influence in the policies of the alliance. These four tiers I will now explain."

"The First Tier will of course be the current memberstates of the EDF, which at this time is Eiffelland, Franken, Guiana, Lorraine, Marquette, Mayaland and Montelimar. It is these seven nations that are the voting members of the EDF Council and have all the privileges and responsibilities that pertains to such membership."

"The Second Tier will be for Associate Members. Associate Memberstates will be non-voting members of the council, nations that have established close relations with the EDF as a whole. It will be the second tier that nations that have developed strong diplomatic and economic ties with the EDF will have a voice on the council, though they will have no vote, they will have the ability to influence directly EDF policy process."

"The Third Tier are those nations that are friendly towards the EDF and in fact have close ties to one or more First Tier members of the alliance. Though the nations that enjoy a Third Tier status will not have a seat on the Council such as those of the Second Tier, their concerns will be recognized and addressed and they can submit motions to the council through a First Tier member who endorses the motion and acts as a advocate or they may submit such motion in writing to the General Secretary who then will introduce it to the Council without endorsement."

"The Fourth Tier are those nations that are involved in what has been termed the Partnership for Peace. It is with nations of the Fourth Tier, though they may not necessarily be pro-EDF, that the allaince will work to maintain a peaceful coexisitance. Thosough these nations may or may not be aligned with the EDF, they will have a desire to maintain a peaceful relations with the EDF as well as with their neighbors."

We are confident that through this four tier structure, the EDF will be better able to respond, not only to the needs of its members, but also to those nations outside the alliance who participation will benefit both them and the EDF."
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
2,646
Location
Free State of Bavaria
Capital
Zittau
Nick
ErAn, Franken, ArEn
Konferenzzentrum der Europäischen Verteidigungsföderation – EDF
Neunhof, Nürnberg
Königreich Franken


The Secretary General nodded approvingly. "Thank you, Mr Prime Minister. Ladies and Gentlemen, the floor is now open for the final vote on the charter amendment." Technically it would have been appropriate to discuss the proposal itself, but any disputes were dealt with on the permanent envoy level before any high-level summits. This prevented any diplomatic headaches. While Ministerpresident Graf Solms made the formal roll-call and received the delegations' votes in his capacity as the Council Vice-President - the Crown Prince observed the procedure silently, Valerian von Goswein took a sip from his glass of water. He contemplated whether it was a good idea to accept the Foreign Minister's nomination for another important job instead of a lazy sinecure Franken's chief delegate to the Council of Nations.

About half an hour later the voting was finished. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Council hereby officially enacted the motion to amend article two of the EDF charter. Secretary General, it is your turn again.", Graf Solms stated. "Thank you, Herr Ministerpräsident. As the Council agreed to introduce the Empire of Wiese as a Tier 2 associated member into our alliance's fold, I'd like you to offer a formal welcome to the Wieser delegation.“ Thus the leader of the Wieser delegation, a state secretary of foreign affairs rose to offer some words of gratitude to the assembly on behalf of his government. Although the low rank of the delegation leader could be considered an offensive sign by the Wieser administration, everyone in the EDF knew Wiese was in a precarious situation diplomatically. On the one hand it flaunted its neutrality internationally, but on the other hand it had a natural urge towards associating itself with its culturally and politically related neighbours. Especially the Scanians would try to exploit the situation for their own ends.

Whereas the delegates were engaged in a discussion on Wiese, the Secretary General had an aide inform the Mayalandian delegation to prepare themselves for the secretary general election. Because there was no competitor, this point on the agenda would be restricted to the Mayalander candidate introducing himself and the members casting their vote. Once again, Goswein demanded the convention's attention. „Ladies and Gentlemen, the next item on our schedule will be the election of my successor. Since Mayaland's candidate is the only person running for the secretariat, I'd like to hand over to Mayland now.“
 
Joined
Jan 13, 2008
Messages
2,175
Location
Athens, Greece
Standing up, the WieserDeputy Foreign Minister, Count Hohenwalds, nodded towards the Franken and then the other EDF delegates. He was dressed in a black suit, with gold and white as the dominant secondary colours, in that priority. His beard and moustache were neatly trimmed, and be bore a variety of medals on his left chest.

"Your Royal Highness, your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen" he said with a loud, firm voice. "I would like to thank the member states of the European Defence Federation for this invitation for the Empire of Wiese to take part in this Council as an observer. The trust you seek to show us has not gone unnoticed. I would like to express His Imperial Majesties' personal gratitude for this motion" Hohenwalds spoke.

With those words, Hohenwalds sat down and sought to quietly observe the procedure of the new Secretary-General election, as well as prepare some input on more interesting, and financially pressing matters: possible expansion of Wiese's defence market into the EDF.
 

Rheinbund

Established Nation
Joined
Oct 30, 2006
Messages
11,806
Location
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Capital
Fehrbellin
Eiffelland's Chancellor, Horst Jörgens, was also present at the summit. His role would be limited. Indeed, everything had been discussed out between the governments earlier. Those discussions had been carried out in perfect harmony, and also this summit would go in perfect harmony.
Jörgens was glad about that. And he was also glad that the discussions on these topics had been carried out very smoothly in the Eiffellandian government. Both Jörgens's Sociodemocrats and the junior partner in the coalition, the Christiandemocrats, were very unanimous when it came to alliance politics: Loyalty to the EDF.
Jörgens voted in favour of the new tier system, listened with interest to the representant from Wiese, and awaited the speech by the new secretary general of the EDF.
 
Joined
Nov 11, 2006
Messages
1,168
Location
Chatsworth, California
Sir Edwin Wolfe, the Mayaland ambassador to the EDF, steps up to the microphone. For the past four years, the fifty-five year old former Royal Navy officer, Sir Edwin has represented Mayaland on the EDF Council.

"Your Royal Highness, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. For those who do not know me, I am Sir Edwin Wolfe, and for nearly my entire adult life, I have served King and Country with the past decade of that service right here in Nürnberg with the Mayaland mission to the EDF, first as naval attaché, then upon my retirement from active duty in the Royal Navy, as Ambassador to the EDF Council. It has been on that council that I have had the privilege of working with those I have developed a great deal of respect for and who have now given me the great honour by nominating me to be Secretary General of the Council of this great alliance and to those who have supported my nomination, I say thank you and if confirmed, I will try to live up to the confidence you have placed in me to the utmost of my ability."
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
2,646
Location
Free State of Bavaria
Capital
Zittau
Nick
ErAn, Franken, ArEn
Konferenzzentrum der Europäischen Verteidigungsföderation – EDF
Neunhof, Nürnberg
Königreich Franken


Crown Prince Jakob was quite satisfied with the course of the conference. From his „pillion seat“, the somewhat ceremonial presidency, the seasoned royal could see how the alliance reaped what it sowed during prior mid-level negotiations. His father had sent Jakob as his deputy to give him the opportunity to further train the conduct of a monarch, Franken-style, on international level. Although the heir apparent had been representing his realm at summits or other occasions in the past, he agreed to his father's credo „practise makes perfect.“ Here he hoped to pick up a bit more experience.

While listening to the designated secretary general, Crown Prince Jakob tried to appraise Edwin Wolfe. To his own embarrassment Jakob hadn't been very careful when reading up on the EDF permanent council delegations dossiers. On the Crown Prince's first glance Wolfe was an entrepreneurial person with the joyful spirit so typical for his home country. „Ladies and Gentlemen, please proceed to cast your vote. Unless someone has grave concerns, we will use vote by hand, as before.“, Ministerpresident Graf Solms interrupted Jakob's train of thoughts. Half an hour later, the EDF had a new secretary general, who would be officially inaugurated at the EDF headquarters in the next week. Outgoing incumbent Valerian von Goswein dearly congratulated his successor.

„On to our penultimate item on the agenda, dear colleagues. It won't be too long till dinner.“, Goswein joked, „What are the prospects and chances of success of an alliance of EDF armament producers? Remember, we relegated this topic from council deliberations to the highest level, as we believed some framework decisions are required before we can move on to discuss the specifics. What chances do you think an alliance would have? Is it resourceful to create one in terms of economic policies? To give you a general picture of the armament producers in the realms of the EDF countries, we invited a senior civil servant of Franken's military office of procurement. In the next forty-five minutes she will give us a brief synopsis of the status quo.“
 
Joined
Nov 11, 2006
Messages
1,168
Location
Chatsworth, California
Sir Edwin Wolfe once again stands to address the assembled delegates. He had dealt with such a concept before, in fact, it was his work with Mayaland defence companies while in the navy that brought about the Mayaland Defence Industries Association. It has been the MDIA which brought production costs down as well controlled the waste, both in time and materiel in procuring weapons systems for the Mayaland military.

"The establishment of an alliance of EDF armament producers would, in my opinion, be of great benefit to all members of the EDF as well as for those members of tiers two and three. Such an alliance would allow each member easy access to equipment produced by other members and in turn bring about a less bureaucratic procurment process. A member will need only place orders through the alliance rather than through individual companies, cutting down on costs and red tape. This process would be extended to Tier 2 members at possibly the same degree as Tier 1, with Tier 3s being given a more limited access unless decided otherwise by the Council "

"Such an alliance of defence industries would also lessen the impact of R&D costs and even production cost especially when it comes to the high tech systems of today. Such new systems, adopted alliance wide, would in the long run bring production costs down, and with manufacturing plants spread throughout the alliance, suppling members with such equipment would become faster and cheaper as transportation costs would be less, and in some cases nearly eliminated."

"Though a name for this alliance of defence contractors has not been decided upon, though European Defence Consortium or the Alliance of European Defence Industries, have been suggested, the alliance itself is necessary for the EDF to maintain its technological advantage in this high tech world we live in."
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
2,646
Location
Free State of Bavaria
Capital
Zittau
Nick
ErAn, Franken, ArEn
Konferenzzentrum der Europäischen Verteidigungsföderation – EDF
Neunhof, Nürnberg
Königreich Franken


"Thank you, ambassador.", the Secretary General replied, "the model you proposed appears to be a feasible basis for more in-depth talks on Council level. In Council it will be necessary to discuss how the alliance will be governed legally and how we will organise senior management. Anyway, do you have anything to add to Ambassador Wolfe's explanations, Ladies and Gentlemen?" As this was a preliminary deliberation, no formal vote was required. Instead, Goswein waited for reactions for a minute. As there was no objection, he moved to the last item on the agenda.

Only two minor, formal issues were presented and dealt with very quickly. Somewhat wistfully Valerian von Goswein asked Crown Prince Jakob to conclude the meeting in his capacity as president.
 
Joined
Jan 13, 2008
Messages
2,175
Location
Athens, Greece
Count Hohenwalds smiled at the mention of a defence industry for the EDF. This was a terrifying prospect, from a market point of view: the research and development, and the power of such a contractor could be enough to cost Wiese a large portion of its traditional arms market, which included Franken and Eiffelland on the EDF's side.

Raising his hand, Hohenwalds spoke. "I hear Mr. Wolfe speaking of very interesting ideas" the Count commented. "In fact, I can express my government's interest in this venture. Our country's defence industry is among the largest arms providers for EDF forces, so we feel it would be brutal to leave us out of such a venture.

"However, I also need to express concerns over Wiese's research and development independence. As such, we are prepared to promote cooperation between an EDF consortium and our defence industries as another consortium, similar to how VRL is a provider for the EDF space programme.

"From VRL's experience, I can highlight some problems however. When VRL was formed among Frankish, Eiffellandic and Wieser investors, the issue of actually coordinating three different aerospace consortiums to shift into one schedule as one corporation was costly and the company was initially beset by severe inefficiency which our governments and VRL's board had to actively combat.

"Today VRL is one of the world's largest aerospace and defence consortiums, and produces famous pieces of equipment such as the Typhoon fighters and Tiger attack helicopters. Our land systems defence industry produces the widely proliferated Leopard 2, the Puma, and other armoured vehicles in service with numerous countries.

"As associate members to the EDF we are, as such, eager to pursue further cooperation, but we won't surrender the independence of our defence industry to foreign coalitions."
 

Rheinbund

Established Nation
Joined
Oct 30, 2006
Messages
11,806
Location
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Capital
Fehrbellin
Chancellor Jörgens turned his microphone on.

"His Highness Hohenwalde is right in this matter. We will have to discuss about a way in which Wiese's defence industries can cooperate with those of EDF-members other than Franken and Eiffelland while keeping their independence."
 
Top