Götköping's Northern Council Meeting

[Batavië]

Van Vliet slid a sheet of paper across the table containing possible membership of the NC.

Batavië
Suionia
Arendaal
Éireann

'I believe that this list would make a stable group of founding members. There are, of course, other countries that my government would like to invite to join later on.'

 

[Batavië]

Arjan van Vliet took the draft charter from his aide as they were passed around the table. 'Ladies and gentlemen, I present the first draft and open it for comments, amendments and questions.'

The Treaty of Götköping

CHARTER OF THE NORTHERN COUNCIL

Signed this day _ June 2010​

The governments of the undersigned countries agree to form an organisation dedicated to the gradual integration and cooperation of their region on the economic, social, cultural, educational and governmental levels. They understand that the key to a prosperous future for their citizens and subjects is better serviced and preserved when high levels of cooperation between their international neighbours is vigorously sought after. The governments of: De Republiek van Batavië, Tyskreich, The Kingdom of Arendaal and Éireann are the founding members of this organisation.


Article I: Membership

i. Membership includes the four founding members and any country that is either invited to join the Northern Council (hereby known as 'NC') or applies and is accepted.

ii. Full membership grants full voting rights in NC affairs and full access to agreements passed by the council. In order to be considered for full membership, prospective members must have significant tracts of sovereign territory north of the Belmontien city of Paris, west of the Wieser city of Augsburg and east of the maritime boundary between the Great and Green Seas.

iii. Partial Membership, which withholds decision and voting rights but includes benefits from acts passed by the council, may be granted to any government that the council sees fit. Observer membership follows the same rules, but no benefits are received by an observing member.

iv. Membership is deliberated by the Great Council.


Article II: Structure

i. The Great Council acts as the chief non-legislative decision making body of the NC. Member countries choose their own methods to appoint a member of the Great Council. Each permanent member country is afforded one (1) permanent representative to the Great Council, officially referred to as a High Representative. The Great Council's primary actions are deliberations of membership applications and invitations and running the daily administrative business of the NC in an orderly and internationally cooperative manner. The Great Council also meets during times of emergency to discuss collective actions concerning the NC, if any at all are to be taken.

ii. The chief legislative body of the NC is the Northern Parliament. The Northern Parliament is composed of elected officials that represent constituents from their home countries and branches of their local political parties. These officials are referred to officially as Members of Northern Parliament or MNPs. Each permanent member country is afforded a certain number of MNPs based on their population size, but the total number of MNPs shall not exceed two hundred and twenty five (225).

iii. Acts of the Council are documents (bills) drafted and passed by the Northern Parliament. Once passed by Northern Parliament they are sent to the Great Council for assent. In order for the Great Council to bar passage of an Act of the Council, a unanimous decision must be made. Acts are primarily drafted to bring forth the principle goals of the Northern Council.

iv. Acts of the Council, once passed by the Northern Parliament and after receiving assent from the Great Council, must be ratified by the legislatures of permanent members in order to take affect.


Article III: Headquarters

i. The headquarters of the Northern Council will be located in the city of Hilversum, Batavië.

ii. The primary building is located on the outskirts of the city and within walking distance of city bus and tram lines. As part of its commitment to hosting the Northern Council, the federal government of Batavië will invest in constructing a state of the art high-speed rail link to the international airport outside Vlaanderen to service diplomats and bureaucrats. Similar investments will also be made to provide city services in the form of housing, groceries etcetera.

iii. Other buildings and offices of the Northern Council may be located elsewhere in other permanent member countries. The Great Council primarily sits at headquarters in Hilversum but may convene elsewhere in times of emergency. The Northern Parliament must always meet in its chambers in Hilversum in order to conduct official parliamentary business and pass Acts of the Council.

iv. An independent security force, funded through the annual Northern Council budget, will consist of an internationally composed group of highly trained security officials whose primary goal is to protect the facilities of the Northern Council globally and the employees and guests of said facilities. The working language of this Northern Council Guard will be German as a neutral, non-member language.


Article IV: Official Languages

i. In order to control costs of interpreting and translations the Northern Council will have a set number of official languages. All documents must be reproduced in all of these official languages and all committees, sessions of the Northern Parliament and the Great Council and video and webcasts must have live interpretation services for all of these official languages.

ii. The official languages are listed henceforth: Dutch, Gaelic, Arnen Norsk, German and French (for legalistic and neutrality purposes).

iii. To control costs of interpretations and translations further additions to the list of official languages is strongly discouraged even with further expansion of permanent member states.


Article V: Finances

i. The Northern Council is funded by an annual budget drafted and passed by the Northern Parliament every fiscal year.

ii. The annual budget approved by the Northern Parliament is funded from the governments of the permanent and partial member countries.

iii. A tax drafted by the Northern Parliament to help fund all or part of the annual budget may be introduced if so desired but cannot appear in the form of an income based tax, but rather a sales or other type of tax.


Article VI: Amendments

i. Any amendments made to this charter must be approved by a two thirds majority of the Northern Parliament and the Great Council.

 

[Saxe-Friesken and Polaben]

Looking over the paper she did have a few questions and a few suggestions. She wanted to build the process up and then leave her final hand on the table. She smiled and began to speak after a short silent break as delegations read the draft. "Colleagues, to begin, I'd like to state that I'll be addressing a few points from the top. I'd also like to stress that the points I raise firsthand, are not the only opinions I wish to express for my nation. I do not see a point in partial membership. Not that I have it to be a bad thing, but rather something I'd never foresee any nation entering. What nation would join the various institutions without a vote? Not that I ask for it to be stricken, but it is a question I will leave up for debate. Next I do not see the point in two separate chambers. The Great Council, so to speak, seems merely ceremonial. I do not see it's functionality. The Great Council must unanimously agree to reject Parliamentary procedure, and I do not see any Great Council member overruling their Parliamentary countrymen's previous accepting vote, much less all members of the Great Council. Relations between the Parliament and the Great Council must be tweaked otherwise the establishment of the Great Council is a waste of funding.

Additionally, I feel that the usage of German as a noble idea. It has proven to be one of the foremost greatest languages in the world alongside Slavonian dialects and of course Swedish. With there being a prominent German minority in Northern Council nations, this makes sense. Official translations should be even made available in this language. However, I see no reason at all why French should be included in any procedure. While perhaps considered elegant by some, there are no French nations in this body and the French language itself is no more than a top ten language of importance in this world. Proximity would be the only possible reason and for the culture of Scandinavia, my country believes it should be stricken.

Lastly, we believe that a proper term for Scandinavia should be codified in this charter. Much of the world ranges between Scandinavia, Nordia or even Scania to refer to our region. Our charter, should perhaps make a proper name clear. That is all I wish to say for the time being, yet after everyone has spoken, we'd like to raise a few suggestions, or rather additions that Suionia would require to fully sign onto this charter. Tack så mycket."

 

[Batavië]

'The Great Council,' began Van Vliet, 'is there to ensure that there is always a second process. Yes, it would be very difficult for them to bar passage of an Act, but at least the possibility is there. Second, they act as ambassadors, not elected officials. This means that they directly represent the permanent member governments. Ulike the MNPs who are elected and may not always agree with their home governments. I think it is a necessary structure to ensure accountability. They are also there for emergency events and quick, executive decision making. I would be open to tweaks, perhaps unanimity is not needed to bar Acts from being passed, but I think they are needed none the less.'

'Now, as for the French. I see your point. The only reason I added it is because alongside German it is the chief diplomatic language in Europe and has a plethora of legal termininology embedded within its vocabulary. The fact that no member is of French origin further raises it to the top as a good, sound neutral language. To change the last official language to German instead of French I would like to see a hand vote around the table, if you all don't mind.'

'As for partial members, it was just an idea. I am open to removing it.'

 

[Éireann]

O'Donell reads through the proposed charter for the Northern Council.

"There are three things I wish to comment on. First, the Great Council acting as a type of excutive committee would be something Éireann would support though it should have more of an ability to be a check and balance to the Northern Parliament such as a supermajority to veto legislation."

"Second, the use of French as one of the official languages, I say that in the sort run it may not be necessary, but due to the boundries stated in the proposed charter, there is the is the distict possibility that at least three french speaking nations could join the Council making those that speak the language one of, if not thee, largest precentage of those represented. So I would not discount the language out of hand."

'And third, the partial membership is not, in my opinion, something that would be beneficial to the Council."

 

[Jydsken-Østveg]

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to see as little bureaucracy as possible. As a result let's keep the different councils and so forth to a minimum. Additionally, I'd hope for some updates to the language sections of the Charter. If so needed, I can have a team update this charter in no later than 24 hours."

OOC {
Ran into a time issue tonight, so you'll have to wait for tomorrow afternoon. :3
}

 

[Batavië]

'Ladies and Gentlemen, I present the latest version of the charter. Languages have been edited, although the charter remains mostly as what it was. Final amendment suggestions can be made, although I do believe that is is ready to be sent out for signing and ratification. Finally, however, I do request that each delegation hear present the formal name of their country in their country's official language or languages to be edited into the text of the charter.'

The Treaty of Götköping

CHARTER OF THE NORTHERN COUNCIL

Signed this day _ June 2010​

The governments of the undersigned countries agree to form an organisation dedicated to the gradual integration and cooperation of their region on the economic, social, cultural, educational and governmental levels. They understand that the key to a prosperous future for their citizens and subjects is better serviced and preserved when high levels of cooperation between their international neighbours is vigorously sought after. The governments of: De Republiek van Batavië, Tyskreich, The Kingdom of Arendaal and Éireann are the founding members of this organisation.


Article I: Membership

i. Membership includes the four founding members and any country that is either invited to join the Northern Council (hereby known as 'NC') or applies and is accepted.

ii. Full membership grants full voting rights in NC affairs and full access to agreements passed by the council. In order to be considered for full membership, prospective members must have significant tracts of sovereign territory north of the Belmontien city of Paris, west of the Wieser city of Augsburg and east of the maritime boundary between the Great and Green Seas.

iii. Partial Membership, which withholds decision and voting rights but includes benefits from acts passed by the council, may be granted to any government that the council sees fit. Observer membership follows the same rules, but no benefits are received by an observing member.

iv. Membership is deliberated by the Great Council.


Article II: Structure

i. The Great Council acts as the chief non-legislative decision making body of the NC. Member countries choose their own methods to appoint a member of the Great Council. Each permanent member country is afforded one (1) permanent representative to the Great Council, officially referred to as a High Representative. The Great Council's primary actions are deliberations of membership applications and invitations and running the daily administrative business of the NC in an orderly and internationally cooperative manner. The Great Council also meets during times of emergency to discuss collective actions concerning the NC, if any at all are to be taken.

ii. The chief legislative body of the NC is the Northern Parliament. The Northern Parliament is composed of elected officials that represent constituents from their home countries and branches of their local political parties. These officials are referred to officially as Members of Northern Parliament or MNPs. Each permanent member country is afforded a certain number of MNPs based on their population size, but the total number of MNPs shall not exceed two hundred and twenty five (225).

iii. Acts of the Council are documents (bills) drafted and passed by the Northern Parliament. Once passed by Northern Parliament they are sent to the Great Council for assent. In order for the Great Council to bar passage of an Act of the Council, a unanimous decision must be made. Acts are primarily drafted to bring forth the principle goals of the Northern Council.

iv. Acts of the Council, once passed by the Northern Parliament and after receiving assent from the Great Council, must be ratified by the legislatures of permanent members in order to take affect.


Article III: Headquarters

i. The headquarters of the Northern Council will be located in the city of Hilversum, Batavië.

ii. The primary building is located on the outskirts of the city and within walking distance of city bus and tram lines. As part of its commitment to hosting the Northern Council, the federal government of Batavië will invest in constructing a state of the art high-speed rail link to the international airport outside Vlaanderen to service diplomats and bureaucrats. Similar investments will also be made to provide city services in the form of housing, groceries etcetera.

iii. Other buildings and offices of the Northern Council may be located elsewhere in other permanent member countries. The Great Council primarily sits at headquarters in Hilversum but may convene elsewhere in times of emergency. The Northern Parliament must always meet in its chambers in Hilversum in order to conduct official parliamentary business and pass Acts of the Council.

iv. An independent security force, funded through the annual Northern Council budget, will consist of an internationally composed group of highly trained security officials whose primary goal is to protect the facilities of the Northern Council globally and the employees and guests of said facilities. The working language of this Northern Council Guard will be German as a neutral, non-member language.


Article IV: Official Languages

i. In order to control costs of interpreting and translations the Northern Council will have a set number of official languages. All documents must be reproduced in all of these official languages and all committees, sessions of the Northern Parliament and the Great Council and video and webcasts must have live interpretation services for all of these official languages.

ii. The official languages are listed henceforth: Dutch, Gaelic, Arnen Norsk, German and French (for legalistic and neutrality purposes).

iii. To control costs of interpretations and translations further additions to the list of official languages is strongly discouraged even with further expansion of permanent member states.


Article V: Finances

i. The Northern Council is funded by an annual budget drafted and passed by the Northern Parliament every fiscal year.

ii. The annual budget approved by the Northern Parliament is funded from the governments of the permanent and partial member countries.

iii. A tax drafted by the Northern Parliament to help fund all or part of the annual budget may be introduced if so desired but cannot appear in the form of an income based tax, but rather a sales or other type of tax.


Article VI: Amendments

i. Any amendments made to this charter must be approved by a two thirds majority of the Northern Parliament and the Great Council.

 

[Jydsken-Østveg]

With all due respect I must make some changes to this Charter which will be dependent upon our signing as we bring this conference to a close.

iv. An independent security force, funded through the annual Northern Council budget, will consist of an internationally composed group of highly trained security officials whose primary goal is to protect the facilities of the Northern Council globally and the employees and guests of said facilities. The working language of this Northern Council Guard will be German as a widely spoken and influential language.

"This only makes sense to us as largely any future security episode will likely be handled by a majority of Tysk men and women."

ii. The official languages are listed henceforth: Dutch, English, Gaelic, German, Norsk (Aren & Tysk), and Swedish (Skånsk)

"Again there is no point in incorporating French into a body which has no French nations and will unlikely incorporate French speaking nations. We should encourage work done in English and Swedish to help potentially expand to these nearby nations. Failure to do so would be a colossal mistake, especially since we make it clear we do not seek to expand this listing.

Lastly we would like it to be known that in the future, any more buildings should be constructed in Tyskreich as part of a verbal commitment rather than one written down."

 

[Batavië]

'I think that these amendments are worthy. However, I question the addition of English. It is such a minor language in Europe, hardly used at all. French, on the other hand, along with German, has always been a common language for law, business and travel. Now, I understand your reasoning so I would like to promote a compromise: remove French but also keep out English. Let's not bother replacing the French. The point of discouraging expansions of official languages is to keep costs down. Translation and reproduction can get grossly expensive.'

Van Vliet looked at a note passed to him by an aide before continuing.

'On second thought, having just bringing up a mental map of Europe in my head, Breotonia and Cornavia, two English-speaking countries, are indeed well within the sphere of the NC. They could be potential future members. I will therefore concede. My government will happily agree to these amendments and sign the charter as is. Do we have an accord?'

 

[Jydsken-Østveg]

"Good sir, I believe we have an understanding."

 

[Batavië]

'Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the final draft of the Treaty of Götköping. Please simply provide the official names of your countries in their official languages and we can send the copies to the respective head of states and the on for ratification.'

The Treaty of Götköping

CHARTER OF THE NORTHERN COUNCIL

Signed this day _ June 2010​

The governments of the undersigned countries agree to form an organisation dedicated to the gradual integration and cooperation of their region on the economic, social, cultural, educational and governmental levels. They understand that the key to a prosperous future for their citizens and subjects is better serviced and preserved when high levels of cooperation between their international neighbours is vigorously sought after. The governments of: De Republiek van Batavië, Tyskreich, The Kingdom of Arendaal and Éireann are the founding members of this organisation.


Article I: Membership

i. Membership includes the four founding members and any country that is either invited to join the Northern Council (hereby known as 'NC') or applies and is accepted.

ii. Membership grants full voting rights in NC affairs and full access to agreements passed by the council. In order to be considered for full membership, prospective members must have significant tracts of sovereign territory north of the Belmontien city of Paris, west of the Wieser city of Augsburg and east of the maritime boundary between the Great and Green Seas.

iii. Membership is deliberated by the Great Council.


Article II: Structure

i. The Great Council acts as the chief non-legislative decision making body of the NC. Member countries choose their own methods to appoint a member of the Great Council. Each permanent member country is afforded one (1) permanent representative to the Great Council, officially referred to as a High Representative. The Great Council's primary actions are deliberations of membership applications and invitations and running the daily administrative business of the NC in an orderly and internationally cooperative manner. The Great Council also meets during times of emergency to discuss collective actions concerning the NC, if any at all are to be taken.

ii. The chief legislative body of the NC is the Northern Parliament. The Northern Parliament is composed of elected officials that represent constituents from their home countries and branches of their local political parties. These officials are referred to officially as Members of Northern Parliament or MNPs. Each permanent member country is afforded a certain number of MNPs based on their population size, but the total number of MNPs shall not exceed two hundred and twenty five (225).

iii. Acts of the Council are documents (bills) drafted and passed by the Northern Parliament. Once passed by Northern Parliament they are sent to the Great Council for assent. In order for the Great Council to bar passage of an Act of the Council, a unanimous decision must be made. Acts are primarily drafted to bring forth the principle goals of the Northern Council.

iv. Acts of the Council, once passed by the Northern Parliament and after receiving assent from the Great Council, must be ratified by the legislatures of permanent members in order to take affect.

v. The guiding leader of the NC is the Secretary-General, who is nominated by the parties of the Northern Parliament and elected by the MNPs in a simple majority vote. The Secretary-General does not represent any government or country, only the interests of the Northern Council. The Secretary-General's term is three (3) months with no term limitations.


Article III: Headquarters

i. The headquarters of the Northern Council will be located in the city of Hilversum, Batavië.

ii. The primary building is located on the outskirts of the city and within walking distance of city bus and tram lines. As part of its commitment to hosting the Northern Council, the federal government of Batavië will invest in constructing a state of the art high-speed rail link to the international airport outside Vlaanderen to service diplomats and bureaucrats. Similar investments will also be made to provide city services in the form of housing, groceries etcetera.

iii. Other buildings and offices of the Northern Council may be located elsewhere in other permanent member countries. The Great Council primarily sits at headquarters in Hilversum but may convene elsewhere in times of emergency. The Northern Parliament must always meet in its chambers in Hilversum in order to conduct official parliamentary business and pass Acts of the Council.

iv. An independent security force, funded through the annual Northern Council budget, will consist of an internationally composed group of highly trained security officials whose primary goal is to protect the facilities of the Northern Council globally and the employees and guests of said facilities. The working language of this Northern Council Guard will be German as a widely spoken and influential language.


Article IV: Official Languages

i. In order to control costs of interpreting and translations the Northern Council will have a set number of official languages. All documents must be reproduced in all of these official languages and all committees, sessions of the Northern Parliament and the Great Council and video and webcasts must have live interpretation services for all of these official languages.

ii. The official languages are listed henceforth: Dutch (Vlaams), English, Gaelic, German, Norsk (Aren & Tysk), and Swedish (Skånsk).

iii. To control costs of interpretations and translations further additions to the list of official languages is strongly discouraged even with further expansion of permanent member states.


Article V: Finances

i. The Northern Council is funded by an annual budget drafted and passed by the Northern Parliament every fiscal year.

ii. The annual budget approved by the Northern Parliament is funded from the governments of the permanent and partial member countries.

iii. A tax drafted by the Northern Parliament to help fund all or part of the annual budget may be introduced if so desired but cannot appear in the form of an income based tax, but rather a sales or other type of tax.


Article VI: Amendments

i. Any amendments made to this charter must be approved by a two thirds majority of the Northern Parliament and the Great Council.

 

[Jydsken-Østveg]

The official stylization for Tyskreich would be "Republik Tyskreich".

 

[Éireann]

"Though I agree that since French is not a major language amoung the nations those present represent, this could also be said of English. The region that the Charter will encompass does contain nations that are primarily French speaking and by purposely leaving French out as an official language and at the same time stating that additions to the list of official languages will strongly be discouraged even with further expansion of permanent member states, we are projecting a very anti-French image here. A French state may or may not wish to join the council, but to start out specifically showing bias against the French is in my opinion a very poor start for this Council."

"Therefore, since the Kingdom of Éireann does not share the low opinion of the French that the Tyskreich Prime Minister has, I will sign on behalf His Majesty's government if Article 4, paragraph iii is rewriten to state; To control costs of interpretations and translations, additions to the list of official languages will only be made to reflect the expansion of permanent member states."

 

[Jydsken-Østveg]

"French is not a language of the North, this is a fact. While hypothetically it could be added to this council, it is unlikely. Francophones are firmly in the EDF camp, which ties together it's own codes and economies. I doubt that the expansion of Francophone nations will occur, and should it eventually happen we just then might be even able to consider them. Additionally, nations which speak English and Swedish are nearby and may actively seek admission. We should foresee this likely event and accommodate them to finally gain their approval and admission.

"That said, if we really wanted to control costs we could always remove Gaelic, which your own nation is the lone speaker of in the entirety of Europe. English at least has two nearby nations with populations that dwarf your own, while at the same time, several million speakers outside of the Northern Council's limits. I do suggest you either take or leave the proposal currently drafted... friend."

An aide whispered something into the Chancellor's ear about being polite and he nodded and began to speak again...

"Though if you do insist, Our Republic would be willing to have Article 4, Paragraph iii be rewritten to state; To control costs of interpretations and translations further additions to the list of official languages is strongly discouraged even with further expansion of permanent member states. Expansion nation states are allowed to maintain their own privately financed translation services that are accepted as legitimate bodies housed in the Northern Council. Translations produced will not be officially approved translations for the Northern Council until they achieve official status with the stamp of approval of the Great Council."

The Chancellor was impressed with the piece of legislation he made on the spot. Only he could create such a great compromise in the span of 30 seconds... or so he believed. He kissed the cross hanging from his neck and and waited for another man to say something in response.

 

[Éireann]

"Is this the taste of what the future of this Council will be? Is it to be the Tyskreich way or the highway? The Kingdom of Éirenn demands that all permanent members, no matter what nationality or language they speak, should be awarded equal courtesies, under this charter, Tyskreich prejudices notwithstanding!"

 

[Batavië]

'Gentlemen, gentlemen! Please, restrain yourselves. We can be civilised, can we not?'

Van Vliet had switched to Dutch now, seeing the tensions caused by the language issue.

'Now listen here. Just because a country becomes a member does not mean it has the right to add its official languages to the list. It was never the drafter's intention to make it like that. This list will in all likelihood never be expanded even though it is possible. Official languages are special only in the fact that they are the only ones documents and translations are made in. It is not a cultural imperialism issue but one of efficiency and cost. If we have upwards of ten official languages it becomes far too costly and time consuming to keep up with legislation and issuances of data.'

'Now, I hope this final compromise can be agreed upon. The paragraph will read as follows:

ii. The official languages are listed henceforth: Dutch (Vlaams), English, Gaelic, German, Norsk (Aren & Tysk), Swedish (Skånsk) and French (Français).

'We simply add French and keep the other languages. This all but ensures that every major language in the region is included. Smaller languages, if ever present in a future member state, will not be considered official, but naturally those delegations can provide their owns record translation services if they so choose to. Are we in agreement? I encourage debate, so long as it is civil and respectful. This institution is about economic and cultural cooperation, not confrontations. I am fully aware of Tyskreich's position on the EDF and I am also aware that Éireann is a member of the EDF. That should not come in the way of this truly unprecedented organisation that we have being born before us.'

 

[Éireann]

"First of all, though we maintain very friendly relations with the EDF, and I will point out that Batavië seems to be also being that there are EDF peacekeeper there, the Kingdom of Éireann is not a member, in any capacity, of the Alliance. With that being said, if we are excluding those that are members of a military alliance, may I point out that there is only one here that actually falls into that category, but, being that there is no such restrictions, the arguement that the French should be excluded because they belong to the EDF would not be valid."

"As for the proposal of Mr. Van Vliet that all the major languages in the region be included is acceptable."

 

[Batavië]

'I apologise for my mistake.' he nodded politely to his (Irish?) counterpart.

'There is nothing in the charter that says NC members cannot be members of military alliances. The NC is not a military alliance. I expect members to cooperate with each other and attempt to reach similar policies on a wide variety of issues, but differences are natural.'

'Anyway, I think this compromise is acceptable. What say you from Tyskreich?'

 

[Jydsken-Østveg]

Chancellor nodded. "If this is insisted upon our Republic considers it a waste of our people's taxed Schillings. We'll refuse to pay any expenses of this body. Article V., and all sections under it, we'd either demand to be exempted from or we'd refuse to finance in protest. If this venture is nothing but a way to throw money into a hole, Tyskreich is surely not interested in cooperating with this part of this treaty. My people have no interest in spending thousands of more Schillings in the name of being polite to the French. We believe our compromise rightfully handles this situation until this conversation should ever see the light of day again, that being the possible admission of a French speaking nation.

"That said, I believe I've been far too generous to our delegate from Eireann. If this issue is pressed further I will demand the removal of Gaelic. Since when was Eireann the champion of the French language? Additionally any more slanderous insults to my nation from this Celtic diplomatic aggression, deeming my nation anti-Francophone or prejudice, will surely see the failure of this meeting with my call to silence it. There are plenty of other great friends to Tyskreich with which we can create a council for the north. We came here to peacefully discuss terms and now we are calling names. Our supposed hatred of French is surely a funny one as it is a cute minority language in our dear allied nation of Frescania. Merci beaucoup."

He kissed his cross again and whispered into his colleagues' ear about a news report and coupled it with a joke to which the two of them laughed. Ludwig was not pleased with his possible new associate which felt it had the place to make demands about a language it didn't even speak of all things. Best keep a stiff upper lip now else those Irish Eyes would start to think they can get away with highway robbery in any diplomatic meeting. Yet these difficult proceedings would not ruin his high spirits. Something great was to be signed today if Eireann would ever put pen to paper on what was a perfectly proper charter.

 

[Skånskige Statsunionen]

The Special Representative for the State Minister looked over the Treaty and was content with what it spelt out. Sure, many within the Government would have liked to seen something strong but he thought to himself of an expression in Scania, "something is better than nothing. One can always build a new house on something but not on nothing."

With this, he asked for permission to join the Northern Council.