Meeting for Business Representatives from Brickston, Inquista and Yosai in Prague
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Prague Castle, May 17
"Alright, brief me, what is the situation outside?" Albína Reiserová asked while looking at herself in the mirror, before applying lip stick to her lips. In order to save a little time she had called a short meeting with some of her Ministers to her personal office, instead of the usual meeting room. She wanted to say goodbye to her kids, while they went off to live with their father for a while.
"*Stable, comrade President," Minister Mejzlík responded first, "there still appears to be some uncertainty and doubt, especially since the temporary increase of taxes, but overall, people seem to think that foreign statesmen are afraid of Czech Slavia thanks to your leadership. Why just on my way here I have seen the slogan, "Duchains can not do a thing about us", or alterations of this slogan, the Inimicans, Reitzmen, the Spanish, multiple times written on the walls."
Reiserová smiled to herself in the mirror filled with pride, while Mejzlík continued, "But, there is also some dissatisfaction with how the increase of their wages slowed, as the entire economy slowed down. he gulped after he finished these words and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. The President for Life was not used to hearing any negative news.
But to Mejzlík's and all the other Ministers' surprise Reiserová continued facing the mirror and applying her lip stick, after she was done she smacked her lips a few times, and began speaking while still observing her own reflection, "Well František?" she simply asked the Minister of Education František Weisser.
The old Minister stood out from the others by the wide smile on his face. He was the one pushing for swift re-nationalization, he was delighted by how little issues it has caused for the Democratic Republic on the international scale. Much less then he had anticipated, and despite the cabinet being filled mostly by people to his right, he was able to push through with his goals. "Comrade President, the temporary slowing down of the economy is of course unfortunate, but hardly surprising. When we changed our economic system to allow private enterprises back in 2020, our economy also slowed down. All the issues will soon blow over and we will be in a better position than ever before!" he assured her, and all the others, with his laud voice.
Reiserová didn't turn around, "But I have not read anything about the economy slowing down in the books you have supplied me with, I have not read of any proposed solutions."
The Minister's smile weakened as he threw his hands in front of himself, "But comrade President," before he could continued Reiserová interrupted him.
"Are you suggesting that, you know, I did not read the texts carefully enough? That I might have missed something?" The room got completely silent, as only Reiserová and Weisser were speaking.
"N... no comrade President." still a very faint smile remained on his face.
"Good! Then you must have given me books that did not contain such important information." after finishing this sentence she had finally turned around, but instead of Weisser she looked at Šín and Saková, "Does this look good?" she asked them, and they both confirmed that her make up looks good on her.
Now Weisser's smile was completely done as he too begun sweating profusely, "I... pl..... yes comrade President. The fault is solely mine. I was too comfortable to make sure that the texts are suitable."
Reiserová finally turned to the old Minister "Then I suppose you will accept your responsibility?" she asked with a smile.
For a whle there was complete silence, before Weisser with shaking voice finally responded, "Yes comrade President, I shall submit my resignation letter to you until the end of the year." If he argued, he knew he would be fired from his position instead and treated as a traitor, this way, he could at least ensure that his retirement will be mostly calm. These news delighted both Saková and Dohnal who fought hard to not start smiling. They both thought about how to best limit Weisser's influence, and now, out of no where, Weisser has been taken out of the picture, without them needing to do anything. The other Ministers were less happy, seeing just how unpredictable the President has become.
"Does the dress also, you know, suit me well? You know how important these negotiations are going to be for our economy." the President for Life has moved immediately back to her appearance. She insisted to be the one to speak to the Business Representatives from Brickston, Inquista and Yosai, in part because she believed they will have more confidence from the Democratic Republic that way, in part because she was convinced nobody else could handle the negotiations the way she would, but mostly because she wanted to see Silas Kligenberg again and wanted to look good in front of him. Yet again Šín and Saková confirmed to her, that the dress was good as well.
"Oh, I saw the polls for the elections in Inquista, you know it is no wonder that Mikaela is doing so well, but can any of you explain why is Karinn running for an Archbishop? That woman is completely splitting the progressive camp! Of course she then loses votes for this in the Councillor election!" the President complained.
"Should I get in contact with her and advise her to not split the progressive camp comrade President?" asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jasmína Dlouhá.
"Well tell her to step down from Archbishop elections and focus solely on the Council, or she will not get support from, you know, online accounts allied to our cause!" the President referred to troll and bot accounts, portraying Czech Slavia in the best possible light, and on the other hand spreading hateful and aggressive messages towards those criticizing the country. Such as the current: "I am I Christian, but I wish for a Church to get demolished, while Michael Cunard is still inside." which began to spread after the candidate called Albína Reiserová a "tyrant".
"And although I have no doubts Mikaela will win, we should, you know, support her a little." Reiserová said, before turning back to the mirror.
After several more minutes all the Ministers have left Reiserová's office, as the meeting has concluded, and alongside it the President's preparations for her guest. The invite was open for any representative of business from the three countries, with an aim to listen to their concerns and reach a deal on how re-nationalization will proceed in relation to the businesses based in these states.
The President for Life looked out of the window, before sitting down at her chair, while she waited for her guests to arrive.
-
"How are the polling numbers?" Silas questioned, gazing out of the car window with his back turned to one of his assistants.
"Better than ever. You have a very commanding lead among all demographics, with the sole exception of women aged 18 to 29. You're trailing there," the assistant quipped while rummaging through his notes. "By all accounts, you'll win easily."
"Those girls are just upset 'cause I won't bang 'em," Silas quickly replied without skipping a beat. "The ones that I do encounter, though, would say some very good things in our polls."
"Yes, I'm sure," the assistant diplomatically responded.
"And the attack ads? How are those going?"
"Oh, yes, great, we've included those really unflattering images of your opponent in the ads. We've doctored them as you suggested to make them look even worse. Take a look at the images yourself," the assistant suggested as he tapped Silas' shoulder with a folder containing still images of the advertsements.
"Jesus, she really does look goofy as hell in these pictures. I guess there isn't a flattering way to eat a banana anyway. I'm glad we hired that private investigator to take these pictures," Silas commented while grimacing over the secretly taken candid pictures. "Did the investigator end up finding any dirt on her anyway, besides these shots?"
"No, nothing on her really. Although, the investigator did find out she resigned from her previous position on the school board to spend more time with her daughter, who apparently has an eating disorder. Her daughter has been in and out of treatment for the past two years and it's taken up a lot of her time."
"That's perfect, actually. Can we use that? How can people expect to have a hardworking and attentive representative if she's too busy chasing after her daughter that's deathly afraid of hamburgers? She'd have to resign the next time her daughter is in treatment for eating a grain of rice."
"Errr, I don't think that's a good idea. For one, a lot of people might be sympathetic to her, and two, I don't think we should be airing out her teenage daughter's eating disorder to the public," the assistant expressed with hesitation.
"So? Don't teenagers love bragging about their terrible mental health online? Young girls just want attention. Definitely leak this information that to the media. If nobody picks up the story then hire some 'opinion columnist' to do a hit piece on how this woman can't manage her own child's eating, let alone the whole diocese."
"You got it," the assistant nodded while scribbling down his instructions on a piece of paper.
After a few moments, the Bishop Secretary's vehicle pulled up near Prague Castle and he stepped outside. While admiring the castle, Silas deliberated if it was possible to buy a castle somewhere in Czech Slavia for himself. Naturally, Silas' mind then drifted to the President for Life, who had been thinking a lot about since their rendez-vu on his yacht. Silas was eager to see her again.
Silas was also interested to get reacquainted with Mr. Šín, who had now been set up with secret mutual funds in Inquista for his children. Silas was excited to let Mr. Šín know that those accounts were already making great dividends, and gently remind him how important Inquistan business interests are.
Silas made his way into the castle, ready to represent the interests of Inquista, Inquistan business owners, and Kligenberg Industries.
The Most Blessed State of Inquista
Archbishop Mikaela Kligenberg
Chief Bishop Secretary Edward Firoux
Councillor Karinn Lallana -
Kyomi Ishijo, Secretary of Trade and Industry along with her Deputy Ayumi Takai. They were staying at the Yosainese embassy in Prague and have been for a few days now. They were in the courtyard of the building drinking Sencha tea. “So this nationalisation, what about it?” Asked Kyomi.
Ayumi replied “Well we are in a Socialist country we have to be prepared for some form of industrial nationalisations.”
“Ok but, this seems rather reactionary and unessasary. I mean if our businesses can’t build or invest here wouldn’t it just be easier to just export our finished products here then? I mean I understand the shipping costs that might be involved, but still.”
Ayumi raised nodded, “I suppose we can make the case for building and renewing contracts for FDI and building products here so that we can lower the costs of the finished goods in the domestic market here, then our businesses can make profit on the volume.”
Kyomi then replied “Yes but you will still run into the problem of cost of shipping materials from overseas or home. We don’t know whether or not we the profit would off set the costs of logistics or production within this country. It could be more than just dealing with the export and shipping of the final products.”
Ayumi gently chuckled “So technocratic.”
Kyomi smiled “That’s why I am the Secretary of Trade and Indusry. Ideals are something which I cannot afford.”
“Well either way. I met with the head of the Chamber of Commerce yesterday, god, that man over reacts to everything.”
“Who Toji? That fetus? what was he shitting his diaper about this?” Kyomi said as she sighed and rolled her eyes.
“Pretty much, I mean he is portraying this as the end of our trade with Czech Slavia and saying that it is becoming full blown authoritarian communist state.” Ayumi said as she chuckled.
“God…What a joke that guy is. He wants all the benefits and none of the costs. Then when everything gets too real we have to come in a clean up the mess. As much as I would love to send him to negotiate on our behalf with President Reiserová and watch him literally crumble under the weight of his own urine. I’m afraid I need to be the actual professional.”
Ayumi replied “Speaking of which. It’s time.” Ayumi said while looking at her phone.They both made their way to Prague Castle.
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Reiserová for one last quick time glanced at herself with a hand held mirror, putting it in her purse just before the firs guest, Silas Kligenberg was let into the room by the President's secretary. She quickly stood up and with a warm smile went to shake the Bishop Secretary's hand.
"Silas, so good to see you again! Please take a seat, make yourself comfortable!" The President for Life directed her first guest to one of the chairs, before she herself sat on the table so she could face him, in violation of any etiquette. She reached for his glass and poured him water from one of the bottles prepared for the guests.
"Sorry, there is no way anybody could get any alcohol in this place." she excused the lack of drinking options while looking at the glass, then she shifted her gaze to Silas himself, "But maybe after we are done here, we could, you know, go outside and you could get us some wine?" she smiled.
"But please, tell me what is new in Inquista? Outside the, you know, elections. We didn't even get proper time to say goodbye to each other the last time." the President for Life wanted to continue questioning the Bishop Secretary, but she was once again let known that other guests have arrived. "Wait for me, after the meeting is over, will you?" she asked Silas and stood up to welcome the new guests.
Likewise she shook hands with both Kyomi Ishijo and Ayumi Takai, "I am very pleased to meet you, please take a seat, pour yourselves some water and we will start the meeting. We will see if a, you know, delegation from Bricston will join us later. Please." she directed the two women to sit at the table facing Kligenberg. After that Reiserová finally made her way to her own chair, and sat down, looking at the papers in front of her.
"All right, let us start this informal meeting. First and foremost it is my pleasure to welcome you to Prague and I hope that you will find your stay, you know, enjoyable. I can understand that some of our market reforms may have been a little abrupt, so I would just like to ensure you, that there own't be any more abrupt changes. Please understand those changes were necessary to prevent the unfair actors from continuing to steal from our nation. However, the nationalization of, you know, enterprises from Bricston, Inquista and Yosai, which, you know, will come too, shall be based on common understanding and a treaty, hopefully. So first of all, I would like to know what timeframe you would consider fitting." Reiserová read from a paper she had prepared for herself before leaning back in her chair and exhaling before grabbing her own glass of water and sipping it from a paper straw.
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"The pleasure is all mine, Albína. It's great to see you again!" Silas warmly beamed as he entered the room and shook the Czechslavonic President's hand. Silas eyed the President up and down, doing so just obviously enough that the President would understand that he was checking her out and admiring her.
Silas took his seat opposite from President Reiserová and was happy to engage her in some very important small talk before the other guests arrived. "No drinks? Ah well, I guess that leaves us with no choice but to have some later. We definitely should have some wine. I'm sure you'll need a glass after dealing with the Yosainese today - they're so dry and boring. You'll need to excuse me if I doze off while they're speaking," Silas replied playfully.
"Besides the elections? Not too much else. I'm also trying to manage a business at the same time, as you know, and that's always a lot of work. By the way, have heard about this EU Uncompetitive Market Prevention Act they're proposing in the European Council? It's pretty much a big scheme the Roscoes have cooked up to ensure that no firm has a large stake in any country, which would make it easier for Roscoes to enter any market in any country and take up more space for themselves. If you could have Councillor Čikarová vote against it, that would be appreciated," Silas began, before the President for Life had to get up and greet the other arriving guests.
After President Reiserová opened up the discussion, Silas was naturally the first to speak.
"A treaty would be great, and thank you for kindly inviting us to work cooperatively around this table today. I'm sure this will be a very productive meeting.
In terms of timeframe, Inquistans are very much happy to follow the President's direction. As you know, Inquista and the Inquistan people fully support the vision of Socialist Republicanism. Inquistan companies have been working alongside Czechslavonic workers to achieve Socialist Republicanism and to build a better future for the Czech people. We realize and acknowledge this eventually means that Inquistan assets will need to be nationalized for the Czechslavonic workers themselves. With that said, because most Inquistan assets are in the mining and other resource extraction sectors, which are sectors that are very quickly growing and were only relatively recently invested in, there is still plenty of room for much larger future growth and future investments. So, overall there is still room to acquire even more capital and investments in these areas. As such, I think it would be reasonable to allow until at least the end of the year before Inquistan assets become nationalized to allow such growth to happen. That, and because Inquista wholeheartedly supports your leadership, you should consider Inquistan assets to be low-risk dangers to Czechslavonic economic sovereignty.
Inquistan businesses are more concerned about the compensation of their assets. As I just mentioned, most Inquistan assets are wrapped up in the mining and the physical resource sectors. These sectors have experienced very high growth in recent times and make up most of the trade between our countries, as well as make up a great deal of Czechslavonic exports in general. Every Inquisto and Crown that has been invested into mining capital and assets has returned far greater worth. If you look at the data, the return on investment has been huge! Because of this, Inquistan assets will become worth far more than their current market value with each passing day. For this reason, Inquistan businesses are expecting, at a minimum, full market value compensation for their assets. This request is very reasonable given the future exponential worth of these assets, and because a cooperative trade relationship in mining is critical to Czechslavonic exports.
Now, as a businessman, I'm looking at the Yosainese assets. A lot of it is just tech stuff. These are the kinds of goods and services that every nerd and loser is inventing these days. Kids too! Kids are so good with technology, I'm sure you find this is the case with your boys, Albína. They can figure stuff out. It's mostly overpriced stuff that anybody can make. I wouldn't pay for than 80% for the market value of this crap. Don't forget how all of these services and pieces of technology are spying on everybody. I'd have nationalized them yesterday just on the basis of the security risk they present. I know it's not my place, but those are my two cents there."
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Both women rolled their eyes "Well it can be tech, it can also be banking and other financial services of the prudential nature. Now if we want to actually talk as professionals then please inform me when we can start. If its now then fine lets talk. If you are nationalising our assets, then lets figure out what that means. It might be a little too hard for our Inquestian friend to follow with the details but the occasion here fits." said Ayumi
Kyomi then gave her opinion. "As for the Anti competative Act its not our nations business to try and influence. Yosainese companies take pride in adapting their trade practices no matter what political climate. Adapt or die basically so we really don't care what happens with the legislative side. But beyond that there is banking and finance, education particularly in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics, fields which literally build nations. Now with assets in this area if you are nationalising we can composite a treaty, or we can pack up shop and just sell you the products directly when they are done, and ship them too you, choice is yours we don't mind which. we can always open up manufacturing plants in the UK and ship the lap tops, PC's Phones, Consumer electronics, micro chips, satellite components, communications equipment for wifi and internet connections for 7-8 g networks. and other such products."
Ayumi also replied "I mean if you do nationalise, that's fine, we can just sell you the finished product as we said, its not that big of a deal to us. We'll just shift the manufacturing side of it. I mean the choice is yours"
-
Reiserová started to write in her papers as soon as Silas started speaking but as soon as he mentioned nationalization could happen by the end of the year she quickly raised her eyes to look at him, she put her pen down and just listened. "Oh I would like to see you try." Reiserová smirked and interrupted Silas once he mentioned that he would have nationalized Yosainese assets already.
"But you are so right, you know, sometimes I just have to spend so much time, you know, trying to figure something out on my computer and I have to Google it to get any answers, but my kids, they seem to know how to solve any issue on the computer instantly. Like last time when I had to connect to a video conference with the representatives of Farmers' and Fishers' Trade Union, but my webcam refused to work. Instead of the webcam showing my face, the stupid webcam showing the entire office kept turning on, and I had to battle with it for at least fifteen minutes before I found a, you know, a video tutorial on how to switch them. Yet when I talked to my boys about my day and this experience, they knew instantly how you would switch the cameras. I mean, I think I understand the technology well enough, but do you also find yourself struggling with some of the features? Maybe you could sit down with me and show me how to do those more niche things." Reiserová started rambling, with a wide smile on her face, before turning her eyes to the faces of the Yosainese business representatives and the smile disappeared. She quickly cleared her throat, "After the meeting I mean." as she once again grabbed her pen and gave the Yosainese guests time to speak. Soon however she laid her pen down again and raised her eyebrows, after the Yosainese delegation put forward no relevant suggestions. "I.. alright." she simply commented.
She straightened herself and continued, "Now of course I was just joking earlier. All businesses in all your three nations will be justly compensated for 100% of the worth of their property at the date of the nationalization, provided, you know, they oblige with the laws. Both mining sector and IT sector are incredibly important to the Democratic Republic. And of course if you see January First 2024 as a suitable date for nationalization we, in the spirit of, you know, good cooperation and compromise agree to that date. The compensation would be in form of bonds, if that is agreeable to both of your delegations."
Reiserová felt really important saying those things, but it started to get overwhelming and slightly tiring. Afraid she might doze off if she let the delegates speak, she looked around herself, "Well I'll let you think about it. I say it is time for coffee break!" as the catering service of the Prague Castle, presented the parties of the negotiations with cups of black coffee, milk, and few sweet desserts and strawberries.
At first Reiserová went towards the Yosainese delegation, although she occasionally looked Silas! direction to make sure he is not paying too much attention to any of the female members of the catering service before the left. Both Ayumi and Kyomi seemed to want to appear very professional, but the President for Life still hoped to get to their more personal, friendly side as she sat next to them. "I hope everything is alright with the catering. I mean, you keep in such a good shape, I am not sure you eat sweets, you know, if it doesn't conflict with your diets." she smiled at them as she complimented them.
"And what made you choose this line of work? You really seem enthusiastic about it, which is, you know, nice. And how do you manage to balance your personal and work life? It is something I struggled with for a long time personally.... well I guess I still sort of do.... Or are you more the types that, you know live for their work? You know, I know a very interesting, young, important and handsome man from Istkalen who is just like that, living for his work. But, you know. there was always this sadness in his eyes, like he needed a warm hug." the President for Life said as she secretly scanned fingers of both of the women for any wedding rings, to determine whether she should give them the number of the former Head of State of Iskalen Rikkalek. But soon she decided she might need a hug later that day herself and that she should head to her other guest for that reason "But I am not really sure how you could combine that with family life. But you know, I have a contact on him, so think about it and let me know, ok?" she said before leaving Ayumi and Kyomi to themselves.
She went over to the Bishop Secretary, sat next to him and leant close to his ear, "It's Czechoslavonic, not Czechslavonic. With an "O" like in "Obtainable"" she corrected Silas before straightening herself out in the chair, and touching Silas' leg with her own.
"We could have had little wieners for the coffee break too, but you know, comrade Šín called in 28 meetings in the Castle in the last three days with important actresses and actors and he depleted the stock of wiener. And just two of these meetings he held with men, can you believe it? But don't worry I banned him from holding any further meetings in the castle for the nest four months." Reiserová explained with some frustration in her voice.
The President took a bite of one of the strawberries on Silas' plate, naturaly without asking, and then looked at it for few seconds, "Can I tell you a secret Silas? My Minister of Agriculture Dohnal is the Director of the Friendship Strawberry Collective Farm the most successful strawberry farm in the Democratic Republic. You know, in the past I always wondered how he managed to stay on top, even after we partially liberalized the market." she showed the half eaten strawberry to Silas, "This strawberry is from Friendship, every strawberry that gets into the Castle is from Friendship, any Strawberry that gets into any government building in Prague, the Central Bohemian Region, the South Bohemian Region, Plzeň Region, Vysočina Region and Karlovy Vary Region comes from Friendship. Friendship has exclusive rights in this regard. And then we portray the direction Friendship is taking as genius, innovative and worthy of following., when in fact, no other collective or private farm could follow it" Reiserová finished talking and returned the half eaten strawberry on Silas' plate before looking him in the eyes.
"But please tell me more about you and your travels, I mean I saw your on Emperor Artabanos' yacht, so are you on friendly terms with him? And do you often spend your time on such important meetings?"
After Reiserová finished speaking to both delegations, she returned to her seat, "Very well, we shall resume now. Can we all agree on January First 2024 as the date of the nationalization of private assets of companies based in your countries, for 100% property value compensation as of the date of nationalization, paid in bonds? Is there any other issue you would like to raise?" she resumed the negotiations.
-
"That damned Labour Party. Always winning the Czebrik regions. This might change the status quo", President Lavoie thought to himself, while the Minister for Industrial Development, Haufer, was sitting next to him in the special edition presidential edition automobile, a true Briekish quality Mercedes Venedig 1986, modified for the President himself.
"Sad. Czechs are nationalising everything", remarked Haufer, "I always liked Czech beer".
"That's the first thing you thought of when you entered the car?" questioned Lavoie, who was laughing at the idea of Haufer having thought of that first.
"Well, in all seriousness, no. It just seems a bit hastily done. Just when I thought we could get them to liberalise like us, they did the polar opposite."
"I'm sure we can think of a reasonable deal," Lavoie said, now staring out of the window.
"I sure hope so," Haufer wished. "Won't this just hurt their FDI?"
"We run Brickston, not Czech Slavia. So we should try to ensure that we get a good deal which allows us to tap into the Czech markets."
"I don't think that's going to happen. When they say they're nationalising, they'll nationalise everything."
"You needn't worry. We've had talks over the phone. I'm quite sure we can let existing businesses stay in Czech Slavia at the very least."
"Just make sure they aren't commies."
To this, President Lavoie gave a very loud sigh.
They then approached the Prague Castle along with the fleet of security surrounding them.
