For Matthew François, head of the Elthic Green Party (better known as The Greens) it was quite the journey from Forecoaster to Saint Romain. His country had stopped all connections between the two nations since the communists kicked out the previous government in 2020, and the country, especially the Grimwald administration, did not recognize the UNSR at all. While the establishment of the Federal Republic was good news for those hoping for a restoration of relations between the two nations, it is unclear whether Elthize wishes to do so, as the country still only recognizes the United Dominions of Icholasen, the pre-2020 government.

Although his party's members advised against him going to Saint Romain on the fears of being vilified by the pro-Grimwald media, as the fourth largest party in the Elthic parliament, he simply had to be there. So he evaluated the most environmentally friendly method of transportation from Elthize to Icholasen: obviously, automobiles were out. He considered sailing, but that would take too long, as would any marine transit. As a result, the only alternative left was to fly from Forecoaster to Saint Dominico in Inquista, then to Saint Romain. These two flights would be François' first in almost twenty years, which, while he would want to go even further and not fly for the rest of his life, was nevertheless an impressive achievement.

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After finding his way to the conference room, François did not hesitate to speak:

"Ladies, gentlemen, and those who wish to not identify as either, I am honoured to be here today and forever thankful to the most excellent President Anne-Marie David for this incredibly important conference. My name is Matthew François, and I am the leader of the Elthic Green Party, and I have held this position for two decades so far, starting my job in July 2001. I highly value this meeting to the point where I had my first flight since around 2002, and I would like to begin by stating the obvious: The current climate crisis we are facing at moment is one of the worst things we need to overcome as the European Union and as humanity."

"I would like to then talk about our story as The Greens in Elthize... Unfortunately, The State of Elthize has been one of the worst offenders when it comes to ignorance on this very important topic, particularly after 2002, when Former President Archibald Franklin was elected. Around that time, we were making good noise: Our protests and strikes on this crisis, back then we called it global warming, were attended by thousands, and it seemed like the Elthic people were being aware of what they were being led to by our corrupt administration."

"And our efforts were for basically nothing, as the liberals, the right, and so-called "progressives" ignored us, and acted like we were a bunch of crazy people that are just overreacting, they thought we were being nonsensical. Archie Franklin led the anti-green crusade. That corrupt crook directly called me a parasite, saying that I sabotaged the economical progress of Elthize, and at the time we were protesting against fracking. He went as far as directly targeting one of my MPs! That resulted in slander and harassing against them so intense that they had to retire from politics completely, and I wish not to speak of their name to respect their privacy, in case the mob goes out of its way to attack them again."

"We do not have the same energy as we used to have in the early 2000s. The Greens are still getting consistent votes and seats in the Elthic parliament, but our voices are consistently ignored, particularly by Grimwald's administration, which has no issue slandering the opposition as it wants, calling us "troublemakers", saying that all we want to do is cause chaos, whenever we do our job, aka opposing them! Grimwald has no concern for the environment. He, just like his predecessor, keeps relaxing and repealing what's left of our already weak environmental protection laws. At a time when we need to progress and achieve what seems impossible, we are regressing in the name of a couple of florins. And this is why I value this meeting. Elthize is a small country, its story is not one that's told often, so we're ignored. I know this is a long speech, and I apologize for that, but I am forever grateful to have this chance, and I could not waste it with a bad introduction. I wish us all a good meeting, hope we can agree more than we disagree."

It seemed no one had come to the casting call.

"Well this is unfortunate." Anne-Marie David said.

"While we're here..." said Elvira Lovescome. "Why don't you just name me Councillor ? I could do a great job."

"Go on then. If that is all, Your Holiness, I shall be on my way back to Saint Romain to keep the New Republic going. God Bless." She saluted.

"Well, yes, it's in the works. Our fellow councillor Liam Zachary is working on it endlessly," Crofton replied. Shortly after, Grimwald got up with the intent to finally finish the summit:

"Well... Thanks for hosting us on this busy morning. I am glad we could end this summit without dispute."

"We would love to visit around a little, but we are also busy and need to return to Forecoaster. We also wish good luck with the Telum summit, Crofton continued. The duo then proceeded to shake hands with their Spanish colleagues, waiting to leave a little message before they left.

@Spain
With a smile on his face the president laughed:
"Hahaha I'm sorry President Aguilar, the excitement of visiting a new country distracted me from my duties, I was excited to think about taking a tour, but as my partner rodrigo told me."
"President we need to meet with President Aguilar, then we can have a tour around madrid!"
"A little silly of me wanting to explore the city I must admit, but about the train I must admit that in Aether it is a little different but even so it was an amazing tour and when you visit Aether you will have an unforgettable tour. But back to business Defense Minister Rodrigo, can you start the presentation?"
"Yes sir, after a long analysis of military bases and possible construction sites we have concluded 19 sites across the country but first we need to know the size of the fleet and if the fleet will have submarines or not we can confirm the costs of allocating the fleet and the location of the new naval base."
"Also president aguilar i would like to offer you three alternatives so that in case of the allocation cost get high we will cover it if the Spanish government support us in other areas, one of them is the Aetherian Nuclear Program a program focused on transforming the country's on a 100% Nuclear powered nation until 2025.
The second alternative is a program known as the S system or SENI(Sistema de Educação Nacional Industrial) a program focused on education to help more people enter the industries such as Arms, Cars and many others to help develop industrial areas of the country.
And the last alternative is a arms research agreement, after our civil war many of our military equipment got behind in the arms race so receiving some support on development of new military equipment would be of great help."
President João waited anxiously for President Aguilar response .

Artabanos sipped His water during the speeches by the other leaders, wishing for something stronger. Talk of Straits, fending off Reitzmic and Duchian silliness, and other people using His canal, always made Him thirsty. Nevertheless, a prolonged silence seemed to indicate it was time for Him to respond, and a traditionally curt nod from the Inquistan Archbishop certainly did. He spoke: "Yes, of course, My friends, the Canal was constructed for all of us. The press have left the room, haven't they? Just making sure I don't need to go on with that nonsense about it benefitting the Diessenar Peoples. With all due apologies to Nesto-- I mean, President Karaman, of course. From now on, My friends, military and civilian vessels flying under the colours of any of our nations shall enjoy free and prioritised passage through the Canal, and shall further enjoy maintenance and resupplying opportunities in the many military shipyards that have been build along the canalside.

"If that isn't benefitting the Diessenar Peoples, I wouldn't know what will." The Emperor looked at Nestor Karaman, who confirmed with a short smirk his willingness to throw his entire nation, his entire existence, at Artabanos's feet. "On to the Straits. I understand, Jesús, your intentions to seize as many shorelines as you can, and Inimicus will fully support you in so doing. But, well, last time this happened, and I got involved, I was forced to sack My Defence minister and appoint him to some other post to keep him in My circle. You will understand that the Imperial Navy is reluctant to assist you in the near future. However, all is not lost, and indeed we have My sacked Defence Minister to thank for that.

"You may have noticed...", Artabanos continued, taking another sip of His lukewarm and far too weak water, "...the Empire's recent investments in, and development of, new generations of war kit. I'm talking drones, electronic warfare capacities on small ships, things that could jam Simon Bridges's erotica stash from 1000 miles away, that sort of stuff. We have also -- the press is really gone, right? Good -- we have also managed to develop a tactical nuke we can drop from our most advanced type of drone. So we can assist you, Jesús, without putting any boots on the ground - or on the seashore. Isn't that fancy?

"And this brings Me to the excellent point the Archbishop raised. Indeed, it may be desirable for the Empire to lodge a request with the ENAA for an expansion of its nuclear weapons license. You can never have too many nukes, am I right, Erik? I thought so. But, and this is where the problem lies, I have never won the Inquistan X-factor. Inimicus has never won EuroVoice - which is why it hasn't participated, on My insistence - so applying for an expanded licence, and having it refused, would be worse than not applying for one at all. This is the conundrum we face.

"Finally, I thank Erik for the offers of taking part in various Duxburian-led schemes. It's good to finally see the DU on our side - I still remember when the High Steward wouldn't let My yacht through the Persian a few years back. And then what would have happened at the Canal opening party? In all seriousness, the Empire is all for development of new tech, as I said just a moment ago. We've been actively working on modernising every inch of our armed forces - and I certainly have the receipts to prove it; My poor Chancellor is having to balance so many wonky books these days. We're ready to commit; at any time."

You will recognise yourself

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Anne-Marie David, interim President of the Federal Republic of Icholasen

The negotiations seemed simple to Anne-Marie David. She was happy to just become independent. The only point of contention was to be the status of Cesae Vauvra / Saint Regina. As a neutral zone, neither party controlled it.

"Firstly, I'd like to thank you for coming to the table." Cécile said.

"It is my pleasure, Cécile."

Cécile presented a map, detailing modest concessions from the Continuity UNSR to the Federal Republic. This was very satisfactory to Anne-Marie, it was beyond her wildest dreams to just be here.

"This is an acceptable initial border for us. But, what about the status of Saint Regina."

Cécile raised her eyebrow of the use of the old word for the city, since renamed Cesae Vauvra. "We think it should be under our control."

"Well, I obviously do not agree with that. There must be some kind of compromise. Would you accept it being a neutral city ?"

"No. But what I would accept is it being divided."

"Are you nuts ?!"

"It is the only deal my colleagues and I are willing to accept, other than it being under our control."

"Well..." Anne-Marie said, looking again at the territory of her new Republic. "What demarcation line have you chosen ?"

"Like this. We control the East, and you would control the West."

"We are prepared to provisionally accept that. What about the nuclear weapons ?"

"We would keep them, but would not throw a fuss if you were to accept those decadent capitalists' nukes on your territory.

Anne-Marie David was a passionate environmentalist. She hated everything nuclear, and was happy to let them have their dirty bombs. She also knew that her fledgling republic's security was not under threat from the continuity UNSR. She believed she would have the support of almost all of the European powers.

"We are prepared to agree to that."

"Is that all the housekeeping ?" Cécile said, nonchalantly, as if she hadn't just divided an entire country.

"Yes, I believe so."

The two women signed the treaty, dividing Icholasen in two.

Large disturbances during the Territorial Guard protests

The worst fears of the authorities were confirmed and the ultra group called Territorial Guard caused chaos in the main streets of Emerita Augusta yesterday.

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Militants of the criminal group arrived from all over the country, and the Vigiles were out late into the night trying to contain the protests. During the demonstrations there were assaults on bank branches and shops, barricades were erected and containers were set on fire.

The tensest moments came when the Vigiles had to fire into the air to prevent an attempted assault on the General Diet.

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The entire political class condemned the incident. The Guterres government has announced that it will declare the Territorial Guard a terrorist group, due to the security threats posed by their protests. At this hour, the Vigils and other police forces have arrested 732 members of the group, accused of crimes of vandalism and attacks on the police.

Emerita Augusta wakes up from the nightmare.

Anthony was in deep gratitude for Mr. Key's kind words.

AA: Yes, with us being friends, we should have a good relationship.

He immediately dove into the food prepared for him. He forgot to eat before leaving, so he was ravenous.

John Peter Key responded " Thank you I am glad you agree on a cargo rail link. In fact I think it would be a good idea to have a segregated line so it can operate most efficiently with a link to Baltia Port too. I am also glad you like the idea of the bloc for a free movement zone and others have expressed interest providing all agree. Moving on we at the moment have tariffs and trade is still strong between us but I think we could benefit both our countries by eliminating tariffs entirely and encouraging trade and investment. I 'd also like to have scheme for businesses in both countries to collaborate between them and the universities in our countries on research and help universities commercialise their scientific discoveries and research. "

MacPheadair responded "We can certainlty agree to this
Section II Border
1.We the parties of this agreement agree to a joint Czech-Strathae border protection agency and to fund efficient but quick border processing points and manage the joint Strathae-Czech borderlands. "

She listened to see if its what the Czechs wanted.

"That is a fair deal. There is no way I would oppose that. Furthermore, I am looking forward to extending that in the future." said the princess with a smile on her face. It was a good start, she thought. It is always good to start off negotiations with the good ones first. But well... she did know that talks about the trait and taxations aren't inevitable.

"On the economical side, we have been developing and investing in a working bank system with maximum privacy. We'd love to have you as our guest and partner as it will be truly beneficial for all the parties involved."

John Peter Key replied of "Of course , we know its a big issue so we understand if you consult parliament on such a big issue. On trade still in regards to tourism we propose up to 60 day tourist visa for each of of citizens in order to increase travel between our countries , after all you have so much to see and offer to our tourists and us to yours. Especially if we have sleeper trains and high speed Eurorail reach you from us in the future through the tunnel in the Mediterranean. through negotiation with Hellas. We could also cooperate on joint research projects between our universities and each others businesses to boost our economies potential as well as have education exchanges for our nations students to give each the option to study in our respective countries. What do you think?"

"It has indeed", said Jesús, shaking hands with Anthony. "And same, if you ever need anything, just give me a call and I will find a gap for you. Not everyone has that priviledge!", said the Spanish President, laughing.

Aguilar then left to San Diego's Airport, where his Falcon Dassault plane was waiting for him. The President's plane took off on time and headed back to Madrid, leaving an awesome country and a great friend behind, but with hopes of having a friend for his entire life. Another summit to put on his diary.

Aguilar laughed too, and smiled. His adviser brought a document, which was a joint declaration that would be published later on alongside some others that the Spanish Government had pending to publish. "Well, I think this leads to the end of the summit! Thank you very much for this welcoming and for the nice atmosphere we have had during this meeting. And I hope to see you soon.", said the Spanish President, shaking hands with both Lusitanian leaders.

Aguilar then left the Palace and went back to the airport, where the Airbus A321neo was waiting for him. The President climbed the stairs that led to the plane's door, and had a final look at the airport and the visible landscapes. He said goodbye to Africa, his photographer entered behind him and the plane took off without any inconvenients, making its way back to Madrid. "It has been a very productive meeting", Aguilar told his wife, to whom he was speaking on the phone.

The summit was over, and Spain had a new friend in Africa.

"Of course Emperor, if there was anything you could do I would tell you about it. But right now, my father is old and wants to live life... I still remember the day we went to visit him and we were told he was not there. My mother inquired the guard and then came back with a disillusioned gesture to our car. I guess he got caught by her...", Felipe said, in a normal tone. The King had got used to his father adventures and romances, but he hoped that one day, both could reconcile and his father excused himself to the Spanish society for his behaviour.

"The Telum summit will definitely be one of the events of the year in Madrid, that is for sure. I have not been kidnapped, but it is not an adventure that I would like to experience. You made many of us worry about you, those Rimrothian could have been smarter and not blowing up whatever they wanted to get with such a silly move", Felipe said before being politely interrupted by Leticia, who wanted to know more about the Emperor's kidnap: "may I ask what was the funniest part of it, Emperor?", the Queen asked.

Felipe was happy to hear that Artabanos and the Spanish President had a good friendship, and he could not hide his smile when he got to know. "There was indeed a time when the Royal Family, mostly the King, had the power to appoint and dismiss some representatives, but that was before the French invaded us. Carlos IV and Fernando VII, father and son, were not very good at carrying along well, just like my father with me! They got easily busted by Napoleon, and jailed in France for some time until the Spanish raised in arms against the French and we managed to kick them out. While that happpened, some liberals in Cádiz made a constitution and tried to impose it on Fernando, but he did not accept it and in 1920 a Coronel raised against him and he had to sign the Constitution. However, three years later a huge army made of 500,000 French soldiers entered the country and ended with the liberal regime, so Fernando kept absolute power until 1833. When he died, the lack of a son and the repeal of a law that did not allow women to become queens, made Spain go into a civil war and Isabel, his daughter and the following sovereign, had to get the liberals support to win it. And that is the history of how we lost mostly all of our powers. But, I will be honest with you: I prefer it this way, Spanish politics are messy."

(The discussion between panelists is longer than expected, as the recount seemed to have picked a fast pace. Suddenly, the RTVE Election theme starts playing, and the camera shows Ana and Carlos standing together)

CF: Ladies and gentlemen, we have some Breaking news. The rest of the regions have just proclaimed their results, and we are now able to tell you who the winner is. But first, let's go through the last round of regional results.

AB: The Partido Popular has won in mostly every single region except two of them: in Portugalia Centro, where the Partido Socialista has won by just a handful of votes and in El Rif, where the nationalist, pro-independence party Futuro para el Rif has won. In the newly created Ultramar constituency, the Partido Popular blasts the PSOE on a 3-1 seat distribution. And that take us to the final results...

CF: Ladies and gentlemen, the Kingdom of Spain has a new President, which happens to be the one we have had for six years. Jesús Aguilar and the Partido Popular win the Spanish General Election with 264 seats, with a majority of 3 seats! In second we have the Partido Socialista Obrero Español, with 121 seats; VOX on 3rd with 40; Sumar and the SNP on 4th and 5th with 18 seats each; Esquerra Republicana with 13; Unidas Podemos with 12; the Partido Nacionalista Vasco and Junts per Catalunya with 6 each; EHBildu with 5; Navarra Suma with 3, Ciudadanos with 2...

AB: And with one seat each, Coalición Canaria, Nueva Canarias, the Bloque Nacionalista Galego, the Candidatura d'Unitat Popular, Foro Asturias, the Partido Regionalista de Cantabria, Teruel Existe, Soria Ya!, Por Puerto Rico, Plaid Cymru, Futuro para el Rif y Huriyah Unida.

And now, we move to the Senado de España results...

AB: The Senado de España results have also been announced and, just like in the Congreso de los Diputados, the Partido Popular gets a majority with 140 seats. Then we find the Partido Socialista Obrero Español with 80; VOX with 7; the SNP with 6; Navarra Suma with 5; Esquerra Republicana with 4; the Partido Nacionalista Vasco, Sumar and the Partido Regionalista de Cantabria with 3, Junts per Catalunya with 2...

CF: Unidas Podemos, Ciudadanos and EHBildu with 2 seats each; and finally with a single seat on the chamber we have Coalición Canaria, Geroa Bai, the Bloque Nacionalista Galego, Huriyah Unida, Más Madrid and the Partido Aragonés.

AB: And this has been our special coverage of the Spanish General Election. Thank you very much for following this very important day with us...

CF: And good night from Spain!