Mézières Talks (ATT: Franken)

[Serenierre]

OOC: While I am making the thread for the talks now, these talks are being held between January 5th and January 6th of 2010, after the new government has been appointed.

Chateau de Mézières,
Champagne countryside​

Newly appointed and hosting his first talks, Foreign Minister Chauvelin smiled as he welcomed his counterpart into the Chateau's library. The private library was the perfect place for the two senior statesmen to discuss the future course of bilateral ties between their two countries. Chauvelin sat first and looked at his counterpart briefly and then looked down at the dossier in front of him. The man started speaking, "First let me welcome you to Belmont, I hope the flight was pleasant." With the pleasantries out of the way, he proceeded to matters at the heart of the meeting, "Mr. Foreign Minister, as you must know, the issues we are to discuss include various topics, from economic cooperation to Belmontien induction in the EDF as an Associate Member, all of which have been delivered to the Franken Foreign Office in advance."

"So, Mr. Foreign Minister," he said with a smile, "From where should we start?"​

 

[Großlausitz]

Chateau de Mézières,
Champagne countryside​

"Merci beaucoup, mon collègue. My flight to Belmont was pleasant, indeed. You have a beautiful country, Minister, without any doubt. It was quite a picturesque sight when my plane began its touchdown this morning", Robert Beaumont was as used to diplomatic foreplay, negotiations et cetera, as his newly appointed Belmontien counterpart. Although he was more or less fluent in French, not only because it made life easier as a foreign policy-maker but also thanks to his family's Lorrainese descent. For his family's children it was a time-honoured tradition to learn basic French, at least.

Nevertheless, the Foreign Minister had brought an interpreter, since he considered using a translator as a means to reduce the pace of talks. Furthermore, while his colleague would speak, Beaumont could focus on the mimic and gesture. "Monsieur Chauvelin, I suggest we start with the easiest item first, cultural and educational cooperation. Subsequently we'll be free to address economic issues. For both our countries it will be a huge benefit if secondary and tertiary level students are able to visit each other's country. As of now, the number of exchange students is sadly very low according to our national statistics. I believe it will have image benefits and it may support spill-over effects in science and commerce. Today we could negotiate the basic for a framework agreement. 'Daily business' will be handled by the regional education secretaries, because the regions or Herzogtümer are in charge of overseeing and administrating educational affairs in Franken."

 

[Serenierre]

Chateau de Mézières,
Champagne countryside​

Chauvelin looked at Beaumont, as the foreigner spoke. He agreed with the man and nodded his head in approval, he smiled before he began speaking and cleared his throat. "I agree, Mr. Beaumont. This lack of interaction amongst the future generations is harmful... yes... we could do something similar with our provincial education ministry's... but I would like to hear more."​

 

[Großlausitz]

Chateau de Mézières,
Champagne countryside​

Beaumont nodded affirmatively. "Monsieur le Ministre, my, or rather, my government's, ideas revolve around a three-steps-plan. First we will encourage the cities of our realms to forge more twin city agreements, which will lay the very fundament, as the pupils of secondary schools will get used to the idea of a connection abroad with their home town hosting twin city events. Subsequently the first candidate secondary schools and tertiary schools will be picked according to the regions' submissions. In the third phase - about two years in the future - we will be able to tell what universities cooperate especially well and may be suitable for governmentally kicked-off joint research projects."

 

[Serenierre]

Chateau de Mézières,
Champagne countryside

"Well," Chauvelin began, "since this is not my field of expertise, all I can say is that our government is open to developing this but, further talks are needed between representatives of the Education Ministries of our two nations. Although, I believe that Paris is already partnered with Nurnberg... but I do agree the cities need to be partnered up and I look forward to the day when we can progress together in the field of science." he said triumphantly. "We will also try to get some sort of exchange program set-up for Frankenese students to study in Belmont for a year and we could also get Frankenese students' admission prices lowered by 50%... is this something to your liking?"

 

[Großlausitz]

Chateau de Mézières,
Champagne countryside​

That was all what Foreign Minister Robert Beaumont wanted to hear on this particular item. Anything else would be dealt with by the duchies' educational departments and so on. Upon his return he would help trigger a framework accord on cultural exchange. "This will be fine with us, Monsieur Chauvelin. Now let's move on to a spicier issue. Economic cooperation. My government maintains free international trade under the regime of a carefully plotted legal framework is something we need to promote to help foster European stability."

Beaumont was sure that Chauvelin knew what he was alluding to: Franken was ruled by a market economy, but one that wasn't spelled without social. Social Market, state capitalism, those were the basically similar systems of the Franco-German block in Central Europe. Free marketeers weren't quite fond of it, but the systems worked ok for the states of the European heartland. "See, Ministre, we'll be open to closer economic relations, e.g. lowering tariffs for certain goods, facilitating the operation of foreign businesses in our countries et cetera, provided we put down some strict rules."​

 

[Serenierre]

Chateau de Mézières,
Champagne countryside

"Mr. Beaumont, I completely understand... after all, even our economy is quite... social in its nature. I, myself, was going lay down the ground rules, as you say. This might have been a problem before but now, there's a new government... the coalition includes the Parti Democratie Socialiste Belmont... our Social Democrats. Our finance minister is from the PDSB... so it shouldn't be a problem. So, Mr. Beaumont tell me more." Chauvelin said.

 

[Großlausitz]

Chateau de Mézières,
Champagne countryside​

"Well, my dear colleague, if you require some expertise on how to introduce and maintain certain rules, i.e. putting the social before the market, we'd able to provide you with a team of advisors. Frankly, I don't think the Germanic Social Market can be implemented as a carbon copy in Belmont, yet it's always useful to get external input, isn't it?", Foreign Minister Beaumont suggested non-committal, while browsing the small dossier in front of him.

"As I already said, a good and easy start will be to negotiate adjusting tariff levels for certain goods to create a first incentive to increase exports to Belmont from Franken and vice-versa. This could be accompanied by relaxing requirements for Belmontien and Franconian companies to be granted public subsidies, e.g. lower corporate taxes for a few years if a company decided to start operations here and there. Ah, and not to forget easier access to visa for tourists and business people. If this first step works well, we may proceed to the next step: Allowing each other's companies to compete for public contracts and admitting them for public listing at the national and regional stock exchanges." Robert Beaumon smiled, as he was pleased with his explanations.​

 

[Serenierre]

"Mr. Beaumont, the economic proposals that you have laid before me... similar items were being discussed by the Finance Minister and myself... and from our end, these measures have full support and i hope that by the end of these talks we can come to some formal agreement in regards to economic cooperation." Chauvelin shifted in his seat and continued "Mr. Foreign Minister, since we are on the economic front, it might be known to you that, the south of Belmont has one of the largest coal deposits in the world... but due to lack of investment and lack of government support, that sector has only grown modestly and only a fraction of Belmont's coal reserves are utilized. It is our hope that we can get Franken companies to aid us. Is that possible?"

 

[Großlausitz]

Chateau de Mézières,
Champagne countryside​

Beaumont curiously raised an eyebrow. "There are such large supplies of coal? Well, I think we will be able to help you with this particular problem, Monsieur Chauvelin. It may prove useful to make our energy companies to modernise their old coal plants. I will forward this proposal to the respective companies and the economy ministries upon my return." Beaumont made some quick notes, which he handed over to one of his aides.

"Apart from this item, I'd like to hear from you how you imagined the future relations between your country and the EDF? This will help me to better explain you what's possible on the short run and what'll be feasible on the longer run. Take your time, my friend."​

 

[Serenierre]

"Well, its no secret, we would like to become Associate Members in the EDF, much like our ally Wiese, and our motivation in our actions and interactions are to bring Belmont and the EDF bloc closer together. But one thing, you can't expect from Belmont, is to become a full member of the EDF. We are proud of our independence and the more right-wing elements of our society will never permit any government from making Belmont a full member. That will take a lot of time and a lot of convincing. But regardless, Belmont, even now, stands in support of the EDF. Just look at our initiatives to aid Marquette in these troubling times for that country.

I foresee that in the future, I would like the EDF to feel that they can always rely on Belmont, militarily, financially and in any other way possible.

Now let me turn the conversation of this talk to the crisis in Marquette. How is it that the EDF plans on dealing with that issue?"

 

[Großlausitz]

Chateau de Mézières,
Champagne countryside​

Alas, they want to go like a bull at a gate, Robert Beaumont pondered. Albeit it was the usual negotiation strategy to name your maximum demand first and then talk about a way in the middle of the literal road, the Foreign Minister was somewhat taken aback. This was a gut instinct, not his common sense's idea, thus he dismissed it for the time being. "Monsieur Chauvelin, thank you for being so open about your nation's intentions pertaining the EDF forum. I will forward your request to the Council, but please remember there are four tiers of membership with our alliance. If the Council's majority decision is to offer you the third our fourth level - the fourth level is the Partnership for Stability, it doesn't mean you will be stuck at this level. A promotion at a later time is always an option. The four tiers structure helps the Council to establish connections to EDF-friendly states without having to enforce all alliance obligations upon them." And vice-versa, Beaumont added to his sentence without saying it aloud. In some cases it was more promising for the alliance to maintain a loose connection, i.e. having some buffer states. Yet these considerations weren't something to be produced during talks with a prospective associate.

When Robert Beaumont heard the question about the Marquette financial crisis, he involuntarily smirked. "Don't forget, cher ministre, the EDF is basically an armed alliance. No one is forced to cooperate economically. Nevertheless, your question is well-founded. To decrease and reduce harmful spill-over effects the Council is discussing counter-measures. For this purpose the EDF currently hosts rarely seen representatives of our countries, the EDF finance and economy ministers. Well, what kind of measures will we take? As we're no economy wizards, we follow the classical rules. Investors willing to take risks are being bundled in a couple of non-governmentally organised investment funds in some member-states, such as Montelimar, Franken or Wiese. However, the 'ordinary' investment activities by large financial institutions, industrial investors as well as governmental agencies will focus on taking over companies with substantial non-current assets and good chances to survive. Last but not least, promising real estate will be acquired. Politically we want to encourage the government of Marquette to make its central bank system independent from governmental meddling in daily business."​

​

 

[Serenierre]

"Mr. Beaumont, you must know that Belmont is on the frontline, with Marquette's economic crisis, and we have the most at stake. Seeing that, we have, already, managed to get millions of Francs worth of investment to Marquette and we are doing our best to bring back international confidence in Marquette. But there is only so much one nation can do, so we were hoping that Belmont and Franken could work together to assist Marquette more."

 

[Großlausitz]

Chateau de Mézières,
Champagne countryside​

The Foreign Minister nonchalantly crossed his legs. What he didn't want was to be pushed into one direction, even if Belmont's intentions were really the best, most benign and most noble ones. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, Beaumont grimly recalled the old saying.

Nevertheless, he wanted to ensure Belmont knew that Franken would neither try to nobble them nor would freely give away the most noble promises. "Monsieur Chauvelin, we know about your situation and we appreciate your efforts. With all due respect, we are glad you engage in Marquette. Nevertheless, keep in mind that politics is business. Rushed business agreements never end up well. My report to the EDF Council will be as detailed and fair as possible towards your country. Anyway, do you want to continue discussing Marquette or are there further urgent issues you want to address?"​

​

 

[Serenierre]

"Very well." Chauvelin said, "Yes, I was hoping that we could, now, talk about the situation in the west... Meribia, I mean. What is the official position of the EDF? How are the western EDF members reacting?"

 

[Großlausitz]

Chateau de Mézières,
Champagne countryside​

Beaumont playfully tented his fingers. "Alas, Meribia, we prepare measures any reasonable alliance of states would prepare to take, my dear colleague. We don't have magical formula to do away with the rogue regime at once, I'm afraid. Just -", the Foreign Minister chuckled heartily, "- just ask yourself what you would do. Then you essentially have the answer to your question."​

​

 

[Serenierre]

"Well, Belmont has a history of being... uh, militant with its enemies. Need I say more" he laughed. "Ofcourse I'm joking. Mr. Foreign Minister, I feel these meetings have been very fruitful and I hope that our ties are on the path of getting even better."

 

[Großlausitz]

Chateau de Mézières,
Champagne countryside​

Robert Beaumont smiled. "This impression is mutual, Monsieur Chauvelin. Forgive my straightforwardness, but I'm now very curious to learn about Belmontien cuisine. Carefully negotiating always makes me hungry, especially when the talks have so prominent results."​

​

 

[Serenierre]

Chauvelin smiled, it, indeed, was time for lunch. The foreign minister started speaking warmly, "Of-course, Belmontien cuisine is rather unique... as is the nation. While majority of us are ethnically French, Belmont has a vast Muslim community and then much smaller English, Oikawan and Wieser expat communities. So, their presence is also felt in our cuisine." He stood up and started walking to the dining room.

As the two Ministers walked, "Minister Beaumont, I do hope that meetings, such as this, take place more often in the coming years. Its my prediction that, things, internationally, will get worse in the year. Batavie, Meribia, Volga and the tensions between Miedmorze and Kyiv and its just the beginning of the year."

Chauvelin opened the door and said "So, Mr. Beaumont, help yourself."