Nessun Dorma- Chagny Conference, 2021 (AD)

[Josepania]

"I have to thank you as well, Mr. President, for turning this meeting into a success," Dr. Schmelzer said in almost perfect Spanish (only a slight German accent was heard), while heartily accepting the President's handshake. "You have averted a second Great War. Something all Gallo-Germanians will thank you for." And honour who deserves honour, he would give the Josefino President the credits. "By the way, despite the war threat, the Oktoberfest in Würzwald continued. This weekend will be the last weekend. I invite you and Minister Morales to a table in one of the Bierzelte."

Eiffellandians were no teetotalers, and they did like alcohol. But there was a social rule: No alcohol during work, except you are a bartender or a person producing alcoholic beverages. And there was also another reason why Dr. Schmelzer's aides were still sober: they preferred to keep their heads clean for the case that the meeting would end badly. And also now that war had been averted, the Eiffellandians kept their alcohol intake limited.

Dr. Schmelzer heartily accepted the cigars from the Frankish Emperor, but also there he had a problem. Thanks to intensive anti-smoking campaigns, high sin taxes, prohibitions on marketing campaigns for tobacco and the obligation to sell tobacco products in repulsively ugly packages with scary pictures and large warnings on them, less than 20% of the Eiffellandians smoked, and Dr. Schmelzer belonged to the other 80%. He began to ask himself whether the Eiffellandians' preoccupation with their health was one of the reasons why they were so impopular among the Frankish and the Tarusans.

OOC: How is our IC-variant of Spanish called?

Imperial Palace, Chagny

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El Presidente's smile, already brilliantly shining in response to the praise being heaped upon him by Dr. Schmelzer, rivaled the radiance of a Josefino sun in response to his invitation to Eiffelland's world famous Oktoberfest in Würzwald. He had been planning to go and sample in unhealthy (or by Eiffellander standards perfectly satisfactory) quantities of their beer, but now with an official government invitation, the prestige of his tourism would skyrocket and his Twatter followers would continue to exponentially grow.

"You are far too kind, Dr. Schmelzer! I was ready to go as a humble tourist anyway, but now I absolutely must accept your invitation and drink to peace with you and your people! I've no doubt Ministro Morales would be happy to accept as well!"

Unseen by Presidente Constanza, Minister Morales smiled warmly and nodded in agreement. He was far more restrained in his outlook on both showing emotion and drinking large quantities of alcohol, and would make only the most minor of showings in the latter at Würzwald, letting El Presidente hog the literal and figurative spotlight, just as both men wanted it.

Eventually, both men made it back to their aides and, with anticipation of excellent cigars and further drink (and a very happy Presidente Constanza reacquiring possession of his beloved phone, which he wasted no time Twatting on), they set to work assisting in drawing up an actual written peace treaty and plan for the upcoming referendums in Bourdignie. Their work was not over, but at least the worst was behind them, hopefully. On that last point, El Presidente couldn't help but keep an eye on the wily Tsar, wary of any further surprises and last-minute derailing of peace in Gallo-Germania.

OOC: I believe that, because Solléga is our current main Spanish player, Spanish should be referred to as Sollégan. The dialect in San José, the RL equivalent of Cuba, is Josefino.

 

[Holy Frankish Empire]

The room was full of discussion and the clinking of plates and glasses, as well as the creak of the old wooden flooring. It had been a long and difficult afternoon. Moods seemed still rather strained but there was some semblance of relaxation. With 2 hours, an army of Frankish staff entered the room and began to clear tables. Imperial staffers entered minutes later with thick packets. The copies of the treaty were of course in 4 languages and were laid out along a long table. Each packet included the proposed terms and conditions, a map of the possible post-referendum border, and restrictions. All of those representatives in attendance had been listed as authors. Slowly, staff were being shuffled to the other side of the room.

"Gentlemen, please take time to review the proposal in front of you. These are the terms proposed by us as a solution to peace" said the Emperor in a loud voice. "The primary author, El Presidente, should be acknowledged as a wise broker of peace" he went on. Slowly he sat, inviting the others to do the same. "As you can see this has been kept simple but clear. If you wish to review it with your staff, I have no reservations. We may add or clarify what must be done. However, I feel this is still comprehensive"

 

[Josepania]

Imperial Palace, Chagny

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El Presidente smiled and bowed his head in response to the Emperor's acknowledgement of the Josefino Head of State being awarded the honor of primary authorship behind the peace proposal within the Treaty of Chagny. Inwardly he was thrilled by being handed such a golden opportunity of propaganda to take with him back home to San José, which would only further cement his popularity there, not to mention is international and Twatter popularity.

With Foreign Minister Gabriel Morales at his side, he proceeded to read over the bullet-points of the final draft of the Treaty of Chagny:

Treaty of Chagny​

• All referendums in the Bourdignie Confederation would be scheduled for November 15th, 2021, in both the Patois-majority and Germanian-majority regions.
  • The regions are designated as such per the attached map drawn up by the Emperor that followed the border between Patois-majority cantons in the west and Germanian-majority cantons to the east within the Bourdignie Confederation
  • All men and women 18 years of age or older who reside in each canton as denoted by the proposed border and can prove their citizenship to the Bourdignie Confederation may vote in these referendums.
  • No interference - i.e. political violence at polling stations, will be tolerated.
  • Organizers and observers dedicate themselves to ensuring fair and free referendums.
• In the Patois-majority cantons of the Bourdignie Confederation, a referendum would be organized and overseen by representatives from the Holy Frankish Empire for each canton asking the following question:
  • "Should this canton join the Holy Frankish Empire as an independent state with special status?"
    • A yes vote would result in the canton joining the Holy Frankish Empire as an independent state with special status.
    • A no vote would result in canton remaining a part of the Bourdignie Confederation.
• In the Germanian-majority cantons of the Bourdignie Confederation, a referendum would be organized and overseen by representatives from Guienny and San Jose for the region as a whole asking the following questions:
  • "Should the Kingdom of Eiffelland continue to station military forces in the Bourdignie Confederation?"
    • A yes vote would result in the Kingdom of Eiffelland being allowed to continue stationing military forces within the borders of the Bourdignie Confederation.
    • A no vote would result in the Kingdom of Eiffelland being mandated to, in a reasonable timeframe, withdraw all military forces from the Bourdignie Confederation and be restricted from future stationing of military forces.
  • "Should the Holy Frankish Empire station an equal number of military forces to Eiffelland in the Bourdignie Confederation?"
    • A yes vote would result in the Holy Frankish Empire stationing an equal number of military forces to Eiffelland within the Bourdignie Confederation.
      • The geographical stationing of these forces would be coordinated between commanding officers of Frankish Imperial and Eiffellander forces.
    • A no vote would result in the Holy Frankish Empire being restricted from current or future stationing of any military forces within the borders of the Bourdignie Confederation.
• A 2km demilitarized zone along western border of Bourdignie would be established for all Eiffellander military forces.
  • The western border is dependent on the results of the referendum within the Patois-majority cantons.
  • This point is also dependent on the results of the referendum within the Germanian-majority region.
• A ban on the building or stationing of Eiffellander naval forces in Lake Serault would be enforced by the Holy Frankish Empire.
  • The Bourdignie Confederation will not be restricted from the purchase of naval assets for their own use.
• The Holy Frankish Empire and the Kingdom of Eiffelland, observed and confirmed by the Kingdom of Guienny, the Grand Archipelagic Republic of San José, and the Tsardom of Tarusa, hereby guarantee the political, territorial, and economic integrity of the Bourdignie Confederation against any unilateral aggression by all outside powers regardless of origin, with any unilateral aggression opposed by the Bourdignie Confederation to be regarded as an aggression directly against both the Holy Frankish Empire and the Kingdom of Eiffelland.
  • Incursion against political integrity is to be defined as orchestrating a coup or revolution against the current government of the Bourdignie Confederation, or overt interference in democratic elections to the current government of the Bourdignie Confederation.
  • Incursion against territorial integrity is to be defined as a military invasion that is opposed by military forces of the Bourdignie Confederation.
  • Incursion against economic integrity is to be defined as piracy against trading vessels or vehicles of the Bourdignie Confederation or cyber attacks against electronic financial assets of the Bourdignie Confederation.

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He was, overall, satisfied with the treaty as it had been written. In reply to the Emperor, El Presidente announced, "I agree with His Imperial Majesty: as the treaty stands this is a comprehensive and genuine expression of our intentions to establish peace within the Bourdignie Confederation. If there are no objections from my counterparts, I and Foreign Minister Morales are willing to sign on behalf of San José, and I would be honored to be regarded as the primary author."

 

[Holy Frankish Empire]

The Emperor nodded, his eyes darting over the pages. He focused and re-read various parts. Taking his time to ensure there were no snares hidden within. All in all it was a comprehensive document. Surely, they had missed something. That always happened. But all the bases seemed to be covered. He leaned back and eyed the others examining the document. His gaze purposefully aloof and cold, yet still sporting a small smirk. It was a victory in a sense. But also a loss. There were a lot of remaining questions and who knew how the referendum would turn out. There was a ton of problems ahead for the empire. Of course, Eiffelland would do all it could to meddle in affairs that were not hers. It was in her nature. The Germanics were a meddlesome people indeed. The Emperor took a deep breath and picked up his Mont Rouge pen and signed in a flurry. He gazed at his own signature for a few moments in silence. Slowly, he set down his pen. It was done.

 

[Rheinbund]

Minister Dr. Schmelzer, Jean-Marc Vissart and Françoise Rabane-Sochaux checked the document. They also checked the translations. That took quite some time. Then Dr. Schmelzer started to talk.

"We have checked the treaty text. As you can see, we also checked the translations. Of course we have all the confidence in your team of translators, Your Imperial Majesty, but even with our system of independent double-translation from the source language into the target language, reconciling the differences, and then independent double-translation back into the source language of both documents in the target language and another round of reconciling the differences, which you certainly also have in place, it is possible that a translation mistake slips through. Therefore, I suggest to add two sentences: 'The French text of this treaty is the source text. In the case of differences in meaning between the French text and any of the translated texts, the meaning of the French text is leading.' In this way, we cover differences in interpretation resulting from translation mistakes. What is your thought?"

Dr. Schmelzer had the feeling that two things could happen. Either he and his team would get compliments for their eye for detail, or some of the people in the room would get another reason to hate the Eiffellandians (this time for being overprecise and fussy).

 

[Josepania]

Imperial Palace, Chagny

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Foreign Minister Gabriel Morales nodded with approval to the suggestion from Dr. Schmelzer, while El Presidente barely managed to suppress a rolling of his eyes. The latter was no seasoned diplomat, only a politician and a populist one at that, and he tended to rely on his Foreign Minister to ensure the i's were dotted and the t's were crossed. The big picture concepts were far more fun and provided greater flexibility for his purposes. The former, meanwhile, understood the need for precision, and didn't fully trust the intentions of the Franks despite their willingness to accept the compromise put forth by Presidente Constanza. Misunderstandings were the bane of any diplomat, and any opportunity to keep them as far away from matters such as these were vital.

Therefore, after a nonchalant shrug from the Josefino Head of State indicating his non-objection, Minister Morales chimed in, "We in San José have no objections to the amendment proposed by Dr. Schmelzer. It will establish the Frankish version of the treaty as the official, primary document, which is fitting given the location it was signed, and provides further legal stability to ensure that this peace agreement is adhered to by all parties."

 

[Holy Frankish Empire]

The Emperor's eyes landed on Schmelzer. "No bother, Herr Schmelzer" he said, mustering a grin. He motioned to a member of his staff who bent down to speak. The doors flung open and footmen wheeled in a cart of cake and ice cream for those poor staffers so stuck in the stuffy room all afternoon. The Emperor gesticulated briefly and the staffer walked quickly away. "I fully understand. Just a few moments" he said, his smile spreading. "Please help yourself to some ice cream" he said as a footman put a bowl in front of the Emperor. "It was made by the school children at the high school down the street". Some time passed before the staffer returned with a document placing it in front of the Emperor. He pushed aside his very empty bowl of ice cream and began to scan the text. Stopping to check each section thoroughly. He nodded and signed it. "Herr Schmelzer. Here is a direct translation of the primary text. I trust it is free of any errors. Marlene Meyer handled it herself" he said, pushing it into the hand of the staffer who delivered it to Schmelzer. "Oh, she is the Cultural Attache for the Duchy of Pillau".

 

[Rheinbund]

Dr. Schmelzer sighed. Then he said, in perfect Frankish: "Your Imperial Majesty, I just wanted to cover the event that the four translations of the agreement differed in meaning and make sure that such a difference in meaning would not lead to additional discussions. Therefore, I wanted to declare one of the translations leading. But now you provide me a corrected translation from Frankish into German. Basically, this does not solve the issue I flagged. However, let's stop the discussion on this and sign the documents as they are."

He took a pen out of the inner pocket of his jacket and signed all four versions of the agreement.

"By the way, Your Imperial Majesty, I would like to notify you of the fact that I obtained a Ph.D. It is not Herr Schmelzer, but Herr Doktor Schmelzer," he said after having signed.