Meeting of Three

[The Federation]

It seemed at this point that though the framework would be created, that neither Østveg or Ivernia would feel the need to place naval forces in either of their countries, however they were willing and expected Sylvania to do so. Autumn realized that this was a pro, but also a potential con. On one hand Sylvania's sphere of influence and control extended even deeper into Scania and now into Northern Germania, but on the other hand the region was capable of being a pain in the neck with its stability issues. Kristin's views upon the whole affair remained very pragmatic and she was glad to see that she was not afraid to voice those views, unlike Samuel Norton who, while experienced with the sea, was not experienced in the realm of civilian politics. This could be said of most military men, it did not matter to them that the taxpayer pays for all that they do, all it mattered was that the money was there to be spent when they needed it for their latest tactical scheme.

As the folder was passed along to Admiral Norton, she took the time to echo Kristin's words, "I would also like to remind everyone here that everything spoken of in these hallways must also make it through the fickle wills of the Continental Congress, there will be much arguing in those halls when I return home with my notes, that I can assure you. Though I would not fear too much, President Rygaard has his ways of making the Continental Congress to see it his way. With that being said, while we have discussed where and on what basis our navies will work together and where we can launch counter-offensives from, Sylvania will not be opening anymore bases for the use of land forces. We fully intend the Rygaard-Vestfos military base in Ulriken to be the point where any potential land based offensives will be launched either using elements of the Continental Marines or the Army in conjunction with the Naval forces placed within this region as we must also be cautious in how much money is spent making this project of ours work. I am very confident that upon the end of the trial basis and even during the trial basis, that the framework that we are currently building and also negotiating here will be enough to deter or drive back any enemy attack. As for the trials themselves, I propose a six month operation with the possibility of expanding it to year if need be where we can find out what forces are needed and where they will be placed in conjunction with integrating them into the current existing framework."

Autumn took a moment to organize her thoughts, "As discussed, during this trial, it shall be up to our individual nations to decide what is committed and what cities are used for this trial in question. As Kristin has mentioned the sheer expense of retooling all of our ports for joint use is too much to be done in a short period of time and I believe that such a discussion should be made later by men and women more knowledgeable than simple civil servants such as us. What we are simply here to do is to lay the foundation of military cooperation between our three nations, not to hammer out the specifics of whether a naval artillery shell from a Sylvanian battlecruiser is interchangeable and useable in the main gun of a similarly classed Austwegian ship. Such things will surely be thought over by the minds involved in the trials.

 

[Ivernia]

''As Autumn said the details shall be worked out by minds more knowlegable to naval logistics and organissation. But from what I can see we are all in some level of agreement here - albeit with trial operations for Østveg, and potential trials for several of Ivernia's ports. Ms. Viklund you take that back to the Continental Congress and allow them to hammer it out. I will do the same for Ivernia by handing it for the High Senate and I'm sure Ms. Haavi you will hand these agreements through the proper Austwegian channels also. We will all then see what our next step is with regards to this project. Renegotiation or installation. If I could speak freely there might indeed be a chance the Senate would reject this. While many would be a mind with us in this project some would see it a ''drum-beating towards Kyiv.'' Those people in Senate would see us be a weak and non-threatening and neutral as possible and hope the communist threat would pass over us. I apologise but for a long time Ivernia was very much a dove and now it must act like a hawk. Do not get me wrong though. I am not here on my own and I suspect neither are you two. Our governments wouldn't have arranged this meeting if there was little chance of these rulings passing. I am indeed optimistic that we will be able to return to this project in finer detail in the near future''

David cleared his throat and took a drank of water. As he laid it down again, he heard the soft jingle of ice break the quiet of the two diplomats waiting for David to find the right note. It was the middle of the day at this point and the heat was quite noticeable. He turned to one of aides waiting by the walls.

''Conor please open the clerestory windows give us a bit of a breeze, not the windows level with us though - no need for a breeze to blow these notes any more out of order.'' The aide named 'Conor' left and soon returned with a long pole for catching the lock and went about introducing some fresh into the room. David pulled out the pertinent note,

''Ah-ha here it is. Unless either of you too have more to discuss on the matter - I believe it closed for the time being as our governments work out their position. Perhaps we should move on to another topic? I believe the next issue we had for discussion was the opening of a free trade agreement between our three nations. Now personally I must remind you that this was indeed attempted before by another nation - the Kingdom of Danmark. However the organisation did not take flight as I believe they started too big and too ostentatiously. I recommend for this agreement intelligent business plans for the removal of our tariffs. Our economies are not for making grandstanding gestures like the crowns of southern Germania like to do. We must have clear signs of potential economic growth if this treaty were to come in place.

I can only speak for the High Kingdom in this regard and frankly we are in support of this legislation. We believe even that a Common Gothic Zone might be one day established in better times. However, and I must stress this, the Senate really would need the Continental Republic of Sylvania to join also to see the expected growth. We need a nation unhindered by the economic stalling effects of centuries-old trading partners falling into ''Glorious Revolution'' at the drop of a hat.''

David's case file on ''Gothic Fascism'' grew bigger every month. The Prince-Elector believed Gothic Fascism to be really very different to ''Mezhism.'' He found it much more brutal, less agreeable. Perhaps though that was only because his proximity gave him a clearer view of the goings-on. He waited for the response from the diplomats allowing them to voice. He was starting to feel the cool air from the upper windows now.

 

[Hanseatic Republics]

Kirstin spoke up quickly, "Gothic Fascism is the biggest threat to our nations in my mind. They are rapidly growing and unpredictable. At least the communists have a track history and seem to follow patterns of international discourse. I think we know where we stand on the issue and so, I don't believe we need debate on it. Saying that, in returning to the topic of economics, Common Gothic Zone or what I might suggest as the Gothic Economic Community sounds a brilliant idea. If anything I could imagine this to at least allow for what we could call the GEC+1, of course the plus one being Sylvania. It should be our goal to incorporate this community slowly I'd figure. I'm not sure what you had in mind David..."

She paused, as if giving him the chance to respond but quickly speaking again before he could even interject. "...but I believe that a good and slow start might begin with a reduction in tariffs, a Common Defense Pact and the creation of a Gothic Assembly. A Gothic Assembly could be utilized for a common body to gather to discuss issues of trade and defense. This way we shouldn't require such grand meetings like this, but instead a permanent body with our appointed diplomats always ready to convene."

 

[The Federation]

Kristin spoke what Autumn was thinking, she was a smart woman and rather than attempt to wrestle control of the conversation from her or David, Autumn let her continue. Her ideas on a an assembly piqued her interest and she decided to voice her support for such a move even though she knew it would be difficult to get past the Continental Congress.

"I would support an assembly of sorts, though it must always be subservient to its member nations and never be able to impose its will upon its members, this is the only way I can get this through to the Sylvanian government. Even though that might make the assembly weaker, I believe that our three nations have similar views and infighting in such an assembly would be minimal. A common defense pact is also something I can support, as from what we should have all gathered from this meeting is that defense is the foundation with which our cooperative efforts will be built upon and a strong foundation is what will be needed to make trade between us work properly and without interruption. Østveg and Sylvania already have a mutual defense pact between each other and it has only served to strengthen our ties to each other, adding Ivernia into such an arrangement can easily be done and I believe that with our Naval cooperation would tie it all together."

She had gone on a bit of a tangent when it came to trade, but she quickly brought herself back to the topic, "For trade two work, it believe it essential that we break down the barriers to free trade as soon as possible, but if a gradual approach is preferred than we shall accommodate, also when it comes to looking to trade a certain commodity, we should establish a culture of attempting to find that commodity within this trade triangle before looking to other nations outside of our Economic Community."

 

[Ivernia]

''I suppose the time for beating around the bush is over. Yes Autumn, the High Kingdom would indeed be open to the idea of a defence pact. The naval co-operation will be the foundation stone for this agreement. Whether Ivernia shall be added to the Sylvanian - Østveg agreement or we draw up a fresh treaty we will leave to our lawmakers and military advisors yes? But I am pleased that we are all once again in agreement over this issue.''

''I also agree that preference should be for within the Economic Zone than outside. Perhaps we should make membership available eventually? But only if the nation governs in a way that is agreeable - for example democratic. Just a thought for the future of the Economic Zone, which I hope will surpass these times and help make our peacetime very affluent.''

David was pleased with the fluidity of this discussion so far. It seemed there was indeed grounds for successful co-operation here. He turned to Kristin Haavi,

''I agree with your suggestions for the name of Gothic Economic Zone, it's seems more direct and to the point. On what you said about Gothic Fascism..''

David rested his hand on his case file -

''Kristin you raise a good point. Communism, while seeming to the Ivernish as a major threat are indeed predictable. Gothic Fascism is most unpredictable and untested. It also seems to be sprouting up very rapidly in our region. There is much to discuss on this issue and we Ivernish have built up a lot of info on this phenomenon. However while I'm sure the Austwegians have far surpassed our intelligence on the Fennian Union - which I must admit has become a dark corner of Skandia in terms of information for the High Kingdom - I might be inclined to say the Ivernish intel on Saaremaa - with which we have had relations with since the inception of their oldest Kingdoms - might surpass your intel on them. Which I think naturally brings up another point we agreed to discuss: An intelligence sharing network for information pertinent to Skandian security.
I think information we feel is pertinent could and should be freely dispersed throughout our individual networks. Perhaps even an amount of co-operative intelligence gathering - for the benefit of all of our nations. Activity in Eastern Ivernia and Western and South-Western Østveg for example could be made more accessible. These are just suggestions of course.

We Ivernish would not call ourselves the world leaders in these matters.''

 

[Hanseatic Republics]

Kristian nodded, "Yes, of course. Collaborative intelligence gathering will greatly advance our abilities abroad. Especially as a cohesive entity." She didn't have much else to say on the topic, and hoped that would allow for that aspect to drop for now. She felt that the issue will be tackled in-kind when the time was needed, likely as soon as the larger details were finished.

"Autumn, you are absolutely correct. Our assembly will always play second to our governments. I do not seek an assembly that does anything more than serve as a means for constant dialogue between our nations, be they matters concerning trade, war, or crisis. Otherwise I see no conflict in Austwegian policy to the suggestions made. I might say that the only left is to write everything down into a founding document of sorts. Unless anyone has further points on the issues of trade and military defense?" She'd have her assistants begin work immediately on a document. One of her assistants immediately began to hand-write something, as a typewriter seemed a bit noisy.

 

[The Federation]

Everything had gone smoothly till this point and it seemed that there would not be much opposition to the ideas that were being thrown about here. Autumn felt that now would be a good time to summarize what they had gone over and then continue on with the mutual defense portion, though a bloc of nations had not been her goal here, it seemed as if that was what would be accomplished, but their three nations would only be the core, more would need to be added later.

"I think now would be a good time to go over what we have spoken of. So far we have discussed laying the framework for multual cooperation on the naval scale, with a trial run between three cities in our three nations ranging from six months to a year, we have gone over multinational war games and training on the high seas as well as cooperating with each other to make the seas safer. We have dicussed what it would take to have our three nations naval forces brought up to par as well as preliminary talks on purchase orders between our three nations. Trade has been discussed with the Austwegians and the Ivernians putting forth the creation of the Gothic Economic Community plus one as well as an assembly of sorts to govern it that is subservient to our governments. And last but not least we are now on the topic of a mutual defense treaty; ladies, gentlemen, what we have on our hands is the start of a powerful bloc of nations that will be committed to the values of capitalism, liberty and security.

What I propose is the creation of two separate councils, both shall answer to our leaders, whether they be president or monarch; two separate councils, one military, one civilian that will create and submit all cooperative policies between our nations two be voted upon by our respective legislatures, policies of conducting warfare, trading, culture exchanges, diplomacy between us and all other cooperative ventures that I have not mentioned here today. The military council will be staffed by a corps of officers from our nations, while the civilian one will be staffed by appointed and/or elected officials, both will have equal representation from all three nations. This bloc or alliance, whatever you wish to call it will at its core be made up by our three nations, while other nations may someday wish to join, we shall maintain supremacy over this entity."


What she had proposed was ambitious, but not far from what was already being discussed, she hoped that this could be the end all, be all of this meeting.

 

[Ivernia]

Felix read over the transcribed notes taken by his assistant. He looked up to Autumn and Kristin very pleased with the outcome.

''I myself am in agreement with this proposed plan. Of course it shall have to pass through the Ivernish Senate - and then the House of Prince-Electors - and then be signed into place by our High King. But apart from the Senate this proposition can pass through quick and simply enough. I think we might have the beginnings of a great alliance here. And possibly the last hope for democracy in Europe.''

Felix sorted his notes and was handed the last transcripts by his aide. He stamped them and put them in a folder. Notes for the High King and Prime Senator later.

''Just a thought - I think perhaps we should conclude the meeting for now and bring this proposition to the attention of the three states involved. The three heads of state at least. I believe we have done much here.''