Jydsken-Østveg
Established Nation
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Parlement, or Parliament depending upon ones inclination, was an old institution in Guienny that was also the symbol of its democracy. The location in the heart of Le Vieux-Bourg, it was a building that was never meant to house Guyenasque democracy, but instead royal galas and balls. The burning of the old Palace of Winchester moved Parlement to this place and the result was that it never left even after old Winchester was rebuilt as new Winchester. While it was called the Moon Palace, many preferred to call it the Gatineau Palace for this reason finding the name Moon Palace is a bit silly. Gatineau coming from Pierre Gatineau who the architect.Today Parlement gathered to discuss the international crisis that was rapidly developing. It could not be considered a single crisis either. There appeared to be a swath of grand imperial gestures. The mandate system was under assault in the European Forum. Pelasgia was moving into the Holy Land. Justosia was moving into La Frontera. The former-Pannonia was appearing to move forward towards war. The creation of the Fonda Treaty, and the attached problem being the Holy Frankish Empire now invading Bourdignie. This was all too many crises at once and it would be impossible to stop everything. There was not a single nation in the world that could. Prime Minister Gordon Howe gathered everyone to discuss the Fonda Treaty, but no doubt every other issue was some what attached to the happenings at Fonda.
First to speak was the Foreign Minister, Amélia Dubois. She was there to negotiate at Fonda and needed to supply her opinion. “Ladies and Gentlemen, Speaker, Ministers, and His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition… we are gathered here today to approve Treaty of Fonda. Having negotiated this Treaty, I have to speak for its approval, but I cannot understate the events that have transpired. Fonda is not officially written down. It is a verbal agreement of sorts in which we have agreed in the mutual defence of the democracies that gathered at Fonda as a first tier. In this first tier we are able to station military assets if requested, but ultimately not aggressive posturing. There is a second tier which is not represented in the Treaty directly, but we in the first tier are to caretake. The second tier are the democracies that have risen from former-Pannonia…”
She was interrupted by an unknown voice, “YOUSE NEGOTIATED US INTO A WAR IS WHAT YOUSE DONE!” The Speaker, Robert de Rune banged his gavel. “ORDER! We will have order while the Foreign Minister begins our discussion for today. You will have plenty of time for your dissent later.”
Amélia began again, “…thank you, for your commentary over there on the other side of the aisle, you no doubt have raised a valid point as childishly as might have tried. But yes, we must provide the defence according to the Treaty of Fonda for the second tier nations which include the recently invaded Bourdignian Confederation. I tell with you in no bad faith that this new Treaty of Fonda would put us directly into a state of war with the Holy Frankish Empire. I yield to His Right and Honourable Prime Minister for the opinion of the Government.”
Standing up before parliament Gordon Howe was presumedly a genius. Never mind that he came from old money, the best university in the nation and LeGoog or legoog.com was a premier internet search. He gave up running the company in the late aughts to his brother Charles in order to pursue a life in politics, much like their father the notable Andrew Howe, who once served as Justice Minister in the early 80s. Gordon did not make his own fortune through the tech industry however. He invested a trust fund like the good natured old money man he was and became his own kind of billionaire. Gordon was quite free to live well and he was able to rise quickly to the top of the Conservative Alliance thanks to his business connections rather than celebrity as the Brothers Howe kept a low profile.
“Members of Parliament, I am introducing to you all today the Treaty of Fonda, barely written and entirely verbally agreed upon. While this is not generally seen as acceptable, the Holy Frankish Empire has invaded one of the obligations of this treaty and so it comes to pass that I introduce this to you all on an entirely emergency basis. I do not mistake this as entirely in the prerogative of this Government to declare this a special treaty as it is not written out and thus a very special obligation in which we could be at war in an instant!” His voice growing louder as a chorus of boos were rained upon him. “No! no! I agree with you all, I have brought us all here today this to get this Treaty of Fonda spoken about openly so that as the civilised nation that we, debate among the people’s house how we move forward in this troubling time. It is no secret to me that this treaty is not popular. Not because of the content of this treaty bit instead it is because of the demand to go immediately to war! That is not something this Government desired but nonetheless it is where we find ourselves today because of the sudden unexpected attack made by the Holy Frankish Empire. I have instructed Foreign Minister Dubois to open discussions with the Holy Frankish Empire in order to resolve this problem. We are in the 21st century, and sudden outbursts of conflict without any warning to any neighboring country is just not friendly. In essence, we may be witnessing a the spark of a world war due to the nature of these alliances. Already this calls into question whether or not Eiffelland and the Holy Frankish Empire will go to war. This Treaty of Fonda not withstanding, and thus opening the door to the oft maligned Empire of Tarusa to invade the new Ostmarker democracy without any hinderance! If you look carefully across this world we now see threats leveled between every nation and as such this Kingdom will be force into a war one way or another by either its choice, its obligations, or the demands of civility between powers on this continent. We must not ignore our right as Guiennais! It is important that we respond and react to every autocrat that does not adhere to one simple tenet: there will be a balance of powers in Europe!” Prime Minister Howe sat down to some mixed cheers largely from his side of the aisle.
Robert de Rune nodded, slapped his gavel a couple of times and continued, “The House recognises the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Maxime Blanchard!”
Maxime Blanchard was from a more Franco-Gallic constituency and was all to happy to speak in his own tongue, “Mr. Speaker, clearly this is an attempt at subterfuge! The goal here is not a balance of powers, but a desire to drag this Kingdom into a war with a neighbor at which we have been at peace with for over one-hundred years! I will not agree to this House approving this so-called Treaty with a lack of written word until it is written! Then, I will not approve of a war that is started before a Treaty is even agreed to! This House cannot drag itself so low as to approve non-documents without any idea what exactly we are getting ourselves into. This is not a game on the playground where we draw up the rules as we go. What do we do after the war? Is this mystery alliance of no-words, but only feelings going to invade another country because it spit across the border into the former-Pannonia? This is a world of laws, Mr. Speaker, and the House should demand dialogue with the Holy Frankish Empire and should work to find a proper footing with the powers of Europe so that we can maintain a balance of powers through artful diplomacy, that of which our proud Kingdom is known for!”
There was considerably louder cheering for this short speech and it was quite clear in the mind of the Prime Minister what needed to happen next for the Treaty of Fonda to be able to pass Parlement. Parlement could not reject the Treaty of Fonda, but it could delay it indefinitely, and perhaps it was better that it did. Debate would continue, but at the end of the first night it was clear that the Treaty of Fonda would be delayed.