The Transition

[Leidenburg]

Executive Conference Room
Social Democratic Party Headquarters
Kopenick, Hosagovinia

Walter Ebert was sitting at the head of a long conference table on the top floor of the headquarters of the Social Democratic Party. Large floor to ceiling windows ran the length of the room and offered a picture-esqe view of one of the many squares in downtown Kopenick, the historical district. The building was in a perfect position, just mere blocks from both the National Assembly and the Office of the Prime Minister, not to mention most of the government departments.

Around the table sat a small group of Ebert’s closest advisers, as well as several high ranking officials within the Social Democratic Party. Ebert was the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Hosagovinia, and just a week ago had won a majority in the National Assembly. The victory had come at the expense of the incumbent Conservative Party in a election that will go down as one of the biggest political upsets in Hosagovinia history. Now, he sat in his party’s headquarters as the next prime minister of Hosagovinia.

Everybody was silent as they watched one of the many television monitors that adorned the walls of the conference room. For what seemed liked weeks, but in reality had only been a few days, rumors had swirled around Kopenick that President Scheel – a Conservative – would use his legal authority as president to delay the new session of the National Assembly the full month allowed by the law, in order to allow current Prime Minister Hans Donitz to pass an aggressive agenda before turning over power to the Social Democrats. These rumors had Ebert and his Social Democratic colleagues extremely nervous.

Now, they were watching on live television Prime Minister Donitz announced that he would be resigning tomorrow, giving up his position as Prime Minister of Hosagovinia and as Leader of the Conservative Party. This was a complete rebuff of the suggestion that President Scheel would delay transferring power to the Social Democrats. Every Social Democrat – both those in the leadership there in their downtown headquarters and across the entire country – could breathe a sigh of relief. Ebert would take over soon, and with a fairly clean slate.

As Prime Minister Donitz continued his press conference and the political pundits prepared their talking points, the phone rang in the conference. It startled most of those sitting around the table. After a few awkward moments, one of the aides lifted the receiver.

“Hello?”

“…”

“Okay.

“…”

“Okay.
“…”

“Okay. Thank you very much,” the aide said, hanging up the phone. Everyone around the table fixed their eyes on him, eager to see who was on the other end of the line and what they had wanted.

“That was President Scheel’s chief of staff,” he continued. “After the Prime Minister’s announcement today, President Scheel has decided that he is going to sit the new National Assembly on Friday. Sir, you are going to be prime minister in two days!”

Cheers went up from the people in the room. After some hurried and excited chatter, a few left the conference room to begin making sure that those elected to the National Assembly made their way to Kopenick by Friday. On Friday, the President would preside over the new session of the National Assembly in which every member would be sworn in. Then, largely down party and coalition lines, the members of the body would elect a new prime minister of Hosagovinia. It was essential that at least 301 members of the Social Democrat/Labour/Green coalition had to be present to ensure Walter Ebert would be elected prime minister. The short term notice provided some challenges.

“Well, looks like we have some work to do,” Walter Ebert said to the gathered group, before opening a folder in front of him. He was referring to the strategic planning decisions they still had yet to make, as well as the work on other policies he would implement in government.

“Also,” he said, briefly looking up from the folder. “I want to meet with Prime Minister Donitz as soon as he can.”

 

[Leidenburg]

Cabinet Room
One State Square
Kopenick, Hosagovinia

Gathered in the Cabinet Room of One State Square, the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of Hosagovinia, were many important figures in the military and intelligence communities. Included were Chairman of the National Security Council Gustav Schiller, Director of Military Intelligence Egon Apel, and Chief of Defense Adolf Wust. Also in the room were various defense staff and aides, each in their sharply creased military dress uniforms.

As the doors opened, they all stood and remained stiff at attention. Entering the room was the newly inaugurated Prime Minister Walter Ebert. This was going to be his first intelligence and military briefing was prime minister. Following him into the room were various aides of his own, included a couple of his own military office.

“Hello, gentlemen. Good afternoon,” he said, motioning for everyone to sit down. He himself took a chair in the middle of the table, closest to the doors. The military staff and aides spread out around the table, with the key figures – such as the Chairman of the Security Council, the Chief of Defense and the Director of Military Intelligence – took seats at the table. Their aides and staff stood around the room, ready with their portfolios to provide whatever was needed to the principles.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Prime Minister,” the Chief of Defense Adolf Wust. “Congratulations on your election. We all are happy to serve you and are looking forward o working with you in the coming weeks and months to protect this country.”

“Well, thank you, General. I certainly appreciate it,” Prime Minister Ebert responded. “Now, let’s begin. Shall we?”

“Certainly, sir. First, on the readiness of our armed forces: over the past decade, we have been working stringently to increase the capabilities and competence of our military. Suffice to say, it has gone pretty well, but there is still more work to be done. Currently, we can deploy a force of at least 10,000 soldiers on a moment’s notice as far away as Vangala in the east and The American Union in the west. We are continuously working to increase this capability. We are also looking into a new procurement program, and this will be something else we need to meet on again soon. I don’t think there is much else on this topic. Perhaps Mr. Apel could fill you in a bit on our intelligence capabilities?”

“Why yes, sure,” Egon Apel, the Director of Military Intelligence began. “Just as the military, we have been working to expand our intel capabilities as well. We too have been successful, and I believe this will begin to show over the next few weeks as you begin to get intelligence. We have also developed a capable of deploying on a significant number of covert operations missions, and you should remember this as you consider various foreign policy options in the future.”

“Thank you. I certainly will,” the prime minister responded.

“Now, there is a key area of unrest that we would like to point out to you, and we think you should consider getting involved,” General Wust started up again. “There have been separatist activities ongoing in Batavie. Currently Batavie is under fascist rule, but dissent has been growing among its citizens. For example, our intelligence leads us to believe that a bomb that exploded in a grocery store in Vlaanderen last week was the work of the separatist group. My counterparts in the various AGE militaries say other countries are beginning to get involved, and that it might be on the agenda at the upcoming summit. You should consider your options.

“Any questions?”

“No, General. Thank you. But we should meet again soon on Batavie. Other than that, it looks like we are good. Thank you gentlemen, I am sure we will see each other again soon,” the prime minister said, rising from his seat and leaving the room. It was a good first meeting.

 

[Leidenburg]

Prime Minister’s Office
One State Square
Kopenick, Hosagovinia

Prime Minister Walter Ebert leaned back nonchalantly in his large leather arm chair, and let out a sigh. He had been on the job for a mere two days and was already having to face a foreign policy challenge of magnificent proportions. Tomorrow, he would head to Scania for the heads of state and government summit of the Alliance for a Greater Europe. He knew he had to use this opportunity o assert Hosagovinian influence within the alliance, and therefore in Europe. As he leaned back, he waited patiently for a phone call.

After a couple of private moments to himself, which he used to strategize for the meeting, there was a soft knock at the door of his large office. The wooden door opened with a sharp click, and into the room stepped one of the prime minister’s three secretaries – whose offices were just outside his door. Prime Minister Ebert leaned forward in his chair and gave his secretary an inquisitive look.

“Sir, former Prime Minister Hans Donitz is on line 2.”

“Excellent, thank you,” the prime minister responded with a nod and a smile.

As his secretary left, pulling the door closed with a thud behind him, Walter Ebert rubbed his hand over his face and took a deep breath. After pausing for a moment, he picked up the receiver of the large black phone on his desk and pushed in the “Line 2” button, which was flashing red.

“Hello, Hans. It is so great to talk to you,” the prime minister said in an upbeat tone. “Thank you for taking a moment to speak with me today.”

“You are welcome, Mr. Prime Minister. How is the job treating you?”

They might have been electoral enemies in the recent election, and Walter might have kicked Hans out of a job, but the two men were decent friends away from politics. They had cooperated on many projects in the National Assembly during their days as backbenchers, despite being from different parties. That cooperation had developed a friendship. They didn’t have each other over for the holidays, but they did enjoy the others company every now and then. Perhaps now that Hans Donitz was out of politics, their relationship would become closer. Secretly, both men probably hoped it would.

“Crazy. It’s a whirlwind adventure. I feel every five minutes there is someone in my office seeking a decision or a policy prescription. It never seems to end. Being the Leader of the Opposition doesn’t even come close to what you have to do as premier. I only have more respect for you now, Hans – seeing what you had to put up with.” Walter was incredibly sincere in his tone.

“Yes, it is, it was, quite an adventure. I am sure you are doing fine, though.”

“Well, thank you. But I actually need to talk about something important with you.”

“Oh?”

“As you know, I go to Nystra for the Alliance summit tomorrow. And we haven’t had much time to prepare, I honestly didn’t expect to be making the trip, but we are looking to pursue a policy that asserts more influence within the alliance. As you know, Secretary General Rafael of Levantine is stepping down, and a new one is going to be selected at the summit. Levantine is not going to present a candidate, and as far as I know, the only other delegation that is prepared to nominate a candidate is Scania. This leaves the door wide open for us to submit a candidate, and potentially grab the Secretariat. This would be huge for us. And, without dancing around it any further, I want you to be our candidate for Secretary General.”

There was silence for a few moments from the other end of the line. It must have been tough for the man that was just ejected from the post of prime minister to be asked to serve against by the rival that beat him out, Ebert thought. After allowing the silence to sit for a moment, he decided to continue:

“Hans, you would be the perfect candidate. You were always committed to the Alliance during your tenure as prime minister, and I think you would be a perfect advocate for the direction that we all believe it should go. You could push for increasing its role politically and militarily, while continuing to foster economic ties. And you could be the symbol of freedom, liberty and democracy in Europe. Not to mention you could do it all without leaving the country. I hear the residence they give the Secretary-General in Bremen is quite nice, and overlooks the bay. I think this is the next job for you, and I think you would do great.”

There was a silence for a bit more, before Hans began: “Well… This is quite the offer. I was not expecting this to be the subject of our phone call today. I need some time to think about it, of course.”

“We don’t have much time.”

“Of course. Can I have until tomorrow?”

“Sure. Why don’t you just plan on being here at 10 in the morning, tomorrow? We’ll have breakfast and you can inform me of your decision.”

“Sounds good. It was nice talking to you, Mr. Prime Minister.”

“Please, Walter will do. It was nice talking to you, too. I can’t wait for breakfast tomorrow. Talk to you soon.”

The line went dead, and Walter replaced the receiver on the phone. He was nervous. He had expected an emphatic yes. What if Hans said no? Who else could they get on such short notice? This could be a disaster. If they got the wrong guy, he would look like a fool in his first act of foreign policy – not to mention what the other heads of state would think. Oh man, what was he going to do, the prime minister thought.

After five minutes of frantic thought by Ebert, there was another knock on the door. It was the same secretary as before.

“Sir, former Prime Minister Donitz is on line 2 again. He needs to speak with you again.”

Frantically, Prime Minister Walter Ebert picked up the phone. Before he could say anything, Hans said two words: “I’m in.” Ebert smiled with satisfaction – he had his man. Maybe this wouldn't turn out so bad after all.