Dear colleagues, I am afraid the Kingdom of Spain is and will remain opposed to this act, no matter how many amendments are passed. During the previous days, the Spanish Government and myself have been thinking about what the best stance was when it came to this act. While I do not doubt the good faith of the Inelandic Councillor, it comes to our attention that some nations will just support it because of geostrategic and political reasons against a country, the Kingdom of Spain, that is not doing anything illegal. Coincidentally, those nations are all members of the European Coalition of Nations.
The concerns arisen by my colleagues from the Empire of Inimicus and the Union of Duxburian Dominions have to be taken into account, but before I get to each Councillor’s statements, some of them are “amazing”; I would like to comment on the bill, warning beforehand the chamber twice: if this act passes, you can take for granted that the European Union’s relationship with Spain will be worsened, and second, if it passes, you will not only be attacking our sovereignty, but as the Duxburian Councillor said, supporting a war declaration on Spain.
This act does not only attempt to “quietly” get rid of the Spanish Straits taxing, which will never disappear, but also to solve an open conflict clearly benefiting one side over the other. Thankfully, I am not the only one to realise about this and you will not be able to say I am crazy, mostly thanks to Cllr. Yahontov, who warned us about the real purpose of this act: sabotaging Spanish interests through the Union while getting ECON several advantages. Colleagues, the fact that Reitzmag and their close friends are using a nation which aims to join their alliance to propose an act which would destroy their reputation is alarming, but it gets worse when you realise that they are also trying to use the European Union they are against of, to get their wishes to become true. This act is charged with political reasonings, and the EU as a whole should not allow this to happen.
The bill creates more issues than it solves: it allows ships of any nature to freely navigate wherever, even in our territorial waters; it limits states sovereignty on their waters unless the country which ships are intended to be kicked from our waters is breaking the European law. Waters are not “international”, they are not a domain of everyone, they are just domains of nations until a certain point, and it is on our Governments to choose where their limit is, with responsibility and good behaviour. What the European Council cannot pretend to do, and nor should anyone in Europe, is to attempt to regulate something nobody has complained about for a lot of years until some countries got bothered. And those countries, Councillors, are the ones that today are using this chamber for mere political reasons, trying to get Spain or any country to adopt a certain policy just because someone does not like our policy. Pretty simple: cope with it and negotiate.
I was also forgetting about the many, many violations the act hides: the mentioned UDoHR article 20 violation, suspending voting rights on the European Council and establishing new crimes all around the European Union. If this all the act has to offer, believe me, we are more than ready to not comply with it, as taking it to the European Court of Justice would be enough to scrap it. The act needs heavy amending, but at this point it would be better if it is withdrawn and it never comes back around here. In just a few days, it has managed to get the Duxburian Union and Spain to feel this is a declaration of war, it is trying to impose a solution on a conflict without the agreement from both parties and meanwhile, others reveal the real reasoning of this act. I have a question for the Inelandic Councillor: did we really need this proposal? Or was it a prerequisite from (Tusk goes silent and points to Yahontov, intending it to mean Reitzmag) to enter an alliance that has been previously mentioned? Now I understand why not many join it.
Moving on, I hope the honourable Speaker allows me to go intervention by intervention, or at least, through those that I have found pretty interesting. Let me start with the Duchian Councillor, who would like to make everyone happy and submits quite a few amendments without even consulting the nations he is trying to please: Nofoaga or the Duxburian Union are two perfect examples of his pleasing policies. Mr. Roscoe, you are the Duchain Councillor, not the Nofoagan Councillor, that is Ms. Muzhare! Let other countries submit their own amendments, it is not that difficult. The Sertian councillor already raised awareness, let the CCCC councillors, for the love of God, submit their amendments as they will. I am pretty sure that, if they needed someone, they would call someone. Also, you target Spain with your amendments, because geopolitics first, then the Union. That is the principle you have, and that you actually share with Cllr. Yahontov.
Speaking of whom, her turn arrived! To make things way easier and try to turn Europe into a peaceful place, the Reitzmic Councillor, who recently became some sort of puppet or grey blob due to her inability to do something without the AEC authorisation, goes full “beast mode” and tries to help their friends on the other side of the Adventuranza Strait (at least she got something right!) calling Spain and Inimicus aggressive, bully nations. Ms. Yahontov, when on earth did you think that was a great idea? Your amendments are awful, and they just show what Reitzmag wants: if this act already might be made in Reitzmag, now you want to do it more Reitzmic. The whole bill just needs a passport, and that’s it, you have got a new citizen: The Freedom of Navigation Bill Grey Blob citizen. I would sign a request to make that happen if someone ever proposed it on the Internet.
I have taken some hours of my time to write up some amendments, just in case the Council decided to shoot itself in its feet and passed this madness. Nevertheless, even if it was amended, count Spain to be on the list of nations against it. This is my amendment:
Amendment I
SECTION II - REGULATIONS
II. Ships of any nature are entitled to transit through straits or any analogous natural waterway connecting two or more masses of international water under the right of transit passage unless the straits they are transiting through are compiled in Section III.
III. No state shall unilaterally grant itself the right to deny or limit the passage of any ship through international waters. or through territorial waters under the right of transit passage.
IV. Transit passage of a ship through territorial waters may be denied only in the event of a clear violation of European Union law and with the consent of the appropriate national court.
IV. An Observatory of European Navigation shall be established, in order to oversee the proper implementation of this Act.
SECTION III: EXEMPTIONS
I. The Strait of Adventuranza, which boundaries are defined in Addendum I, is exempted from complying with Section I and Section II, Article II of this text.
II. The Strait of Gibraltar, whose boundaries are defined in Addendum I, is exempted from complying with Section I and Section II, Article II, of this text.
III. The Strait of Varia, whose boundaries are defined in Addendum I, is exempted from complying with Section I and Section II, Article II, of this text.
IV. These exemptions do not impact civilian transit from states bordering these areas that may not be subject to any taxation or restriction on their civilian transit.
[Sections III & IV renamed to Sections IV and V]
ADDENDUM I
I. The Strait of Gibraltar has the following boundaries:

II. The Strait of Adventuranza has the following boundaries:

III. The Strait of Varia has the following boundaries:

Donald Tusk
Councillor for Spain