Eurorail Summit - Saint Dominico, Inquista
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Archbishop Mikaela Kligenberg and Bishop Secretary Jonah Bradot, Inquista's Bishop Secretary of Transport and Infrastructure, met with Commissioner Juncker at Ludovico II International Airport after a brief delay in the Commissioner's deplaning. Unfortunately, the weather in Inquista was rather dreary during this special occasion, which left the Commissioner stranded on his plane for some time as the rain came tumbling down from the sky. Luckily, as always, Commissioner Juncker, as well as Archbishop Kligenberg, were in very good spirits. The Archbishop and the Bishop Secretary provided the Commissioner with a warm reception, and they greeted him publicly before a small team of journalists and news reporters who came to witness to the Commissioner's arrival. After shaking hands, making some small talk, and answering a few questions from the press, the trio then left the airport and departed to their destination.
The three were escorted by the city guard into a limousine, which then made its way into a convoy of armoured cars which guided their journey to the site of the summit. The Eurorail summit was to take place at the City Gates Grand Casino (also known as the Grand Ludovico), one of Inquista's most prestigious hotels and casinos. The Grand Ludovico was commissioned by Dodge Ludovico II, Inquista's longest reigning and second last doge (who ruled from 1861-1927), who commissioned many of Saint Dominico's most iconic landmarks (including the City Gates Opera House) and many notable infrastructure projects, which most notably including the widening of the Grand Canal and and an extension of the Twin Canals. In the spirit of Doge Ludovico II's vast contributions to Inquistan infrastructure, the Archbishop decided that the Grand Ludovico would serve as great location to host a summit on European rail networks.
During the limousine ride to the Grand Ludovico, the Archbishop was delighted to catch up with the Commissioner and chit-chat about recent events. The Archbishop complimented him on his latest European Leaders' Summit, and she filled him in on her recent trip to Mennrimiak, where she went hunting and witnessed Prime Minsiter Sauli Niinistö smash a bear unconscious.
They eventually arrived at the hotel and casino, and were escorted inside by the city guard. The three were taken to a meeting room inside. Not long after, and rather early, the delegation from the United Duchies arrived.
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Emperor Artabanos arrived at what would most definitely be His third favourite meeting of the year - or was it the fourth? He had lost count. Anyway, what could be more fun than talk of trains? Artabanos enjoyed train travel almost as much as scotch, and during His reign, Inimicus's railway network had expanded drastically, with more than three thousand kilometres of track constructed, including an extensive high-speed network. Naturally, the funding for all this was dubious at best (the Artabanos Foundation had its fingers in multiple pies), but at least an Inimician from Orbis Terrarum could whizz to Telum within 90 minutes nowadays. It was worth it.
Of course, He was also extremely excited to once again visit Inquista, where He could always be assured of a warm welcome. As Artie Force One touched down on the tarmac in Saint Dominico, He ensured His hip flask was filled to the brim, and sooner rather than later His limousine came to a halt in front of the Grand Ludovico's main entrance. "Ah, Commissioner, how nice to meet you again - how's the wine here? I've heard the cellar is bottomless. Perhaps we could ask the Archbishop for a tour?" Artabanos then proceeded further down the corridor, where He met Archbishop Kligenberg. "Mikaela... you're looking radiant, as ever, today. I love your earrings, where did you get those? We have so much to catch up on, I can't wait for post-meeting drinks."
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Aguilar arrived at Saint Dominico as the last leader to do so. He exited the plane and entered the motorcade, heading towards where the summit would be celebrated at. When Aguilar arrived, he shook hands with Mikaela, Inge, John, Emperor Artabanos and Commissioner Juncker. Then, he said: "Ladies and gentlemen, it's a pleasure for me to be here. I hope we get an agreement concerning this, which is a very important matter for us all."
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The Archbishop's eyes lit up as Emperor Artabanos approach her. "Artie!" Mikalea exclaimed with glee, as she greeted Emperor Artabanos. Mikaela always found the Inimican Emperor to be a much welcomed presence. "Thank you! You're looking great too. Oh, these earrings? They're designed by this amazing jeweler who's blind, actually. Can you believe it? We definitely need to catch up later!"
Mikaela gestured for the Inimican Emperor to follow her into the meeting room. Moments later, Prime Minister Aguilar entered the room and two exchanged pleasant greetings. Commissioner Juncker then called the meeting to order, and everyone seated themselves around the table.
"Thank you all for coming! Commissioner Juncker, I think I speak for all of us today when I say that we all agree and hope that an agreement can be made. Could we begin with a reminder of what the current proposal is, and will need to be done?"
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Juncker greeted everybody and then called the meeting to order. Then, the Commissioner got his notes and started to talk:
"Archbishop Klienberg, Emperor Artabanos, President Aguilar, President Peckan, President Key; it's an honour and a pleasure to be here today and discussing one of the most exciting projects, in my opinion, for the European in 2020. The Eurorail project will connect the Europeans by train, which means 2 very important things: One, another mean of transport to reach different countries all around Europe. Secondly, the train pollutes less than the plane, which means we are also helping the European Union to reach the goals and aims set in the European Green Deal proposal. That's something we should be proud of, and despite some countries don't like the idea, I think it could be great to head towards this project.
So, the Eurorail proposal was divided in 5 phases or stages: We have already left behind Phase 1, which poll results were reported to the European Council and in which discussion Councillors were able to ask and propose things concenring Eurorail. Right now, we are located at Phase 2. As I said in the European Council, the suitable route right now would be a connection from Spain to Inimicus and a branch to Inquista in Red Croatia. Why have we chosen this proposal? Well, according to the transport poll, it was the only connected rail in Europe. Of course, we have the Duxburian - Angleteric connection, but with current services surely running, it's not useful to spend money on that until we don't have a connection between Angleter and Inimicus. As of now, we would just need to renew some tracks that are poorly mantained, but I think we could have a 1st service to run safely in the 2nd week of January 2021. I think the proposed date is reasonable and I trust on the capacity of us all to reach an agreement as soon as possible."
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John Peter Key responded " We are proud as a nation to be contributing to this project and indeed already have working international services but Eurorail integrated standardised system will be better for all cost and simplicity wise.I am suggesting the stops in United Duchies be Cair Para , Goudadam and Porterdam which already have international train facilities,border control and customs in the station due to the international sleepers and high speed trains. I suggest trains also go all the way through all countries with a three routes , Inquista-Inimicus, Inimicus-Spain and Spain to Inquista. Those three routes will create 2 corridors of high frequency trains. Perhaps we could consider trains every 30 minutes for each route at the moment with a potential for every 20 minutes should ridership be high enough. We could really put a chip in airline marketshare.There is one question though how should this be funded, should it be owned by the EU through the budget or owned by the member states it runs through with equal shares or shares in proportion to gdp %?"
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Juncker then answered:
"Mr. Key, inside your territory, you'll be free to select the route you want the Eurorail route to proceed, so your suggestion is approved because at the end, countries decide in which cities does the train stop. The route was also something which was very clear: Spain to Inimicus, incluiding services via Inquista which would take longer, and also Inimicus / Spain - Inquista and viceversa. The project will be ran by rail companies coming from countries involved, what means each country should select a rail company from their country and then, those companies would run the service together with an agreement with branded trains.
But now, I would like to hear the conditions of every member state concerning travel, passports and of course the proposed system."
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Jesús Aguilar had been thinking on a proposal that would not risk the European Union's stability and would be great for countries taking part on the Eurorail project:
"I think the proposed route and system, which involves companies to run the services under the same livery and 'company' it's great, and will give lots of chances to our workers, not only the Spanish ones, but all of them around this route. We obviously know this Treaty won't last long, because if the Eurorail keeps its track it will soon expand to other nations, but we should set some basic pillars that upcoming Commissioners should have in mind, apart from yourself Commissioner Juncker: Travel between member states on the Eurorail project is allowed; but in case 2 countries get incolved in a conflict between each other, the service should keep running but no services between both countries shall run, which means citizens from country A wouldn't be able to enter country B. This take us to passport controls, which I think they should be established. If free movemnet between some nations exist, there should be a difference on the queue to go through passport control. I think this is a very good idea, allowing us to keep our borders as we want to and keep the train running."
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Saahir al-Abad listened along with John Peter Key. He replied " We in Duchies already have a system of passport control and priority and visa free lanes at stations as well as security as mandated by our laws. I believe as you have said this is the model to use with special platforms for international trains. I agree on services through conflicting countries, services should run as long as it is safe but with controls on who gets to leave but that should be down to the countries involved. "
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"I think the proposed routes and system are super-duper great. Just like any and all international travel, obviously border-crossing rules will apply to the Eurorail. If it's required, passports and other related documents will need to shown by passengers before they travel. If there's free movement between the two travel destinations, then yeah, that's a different story and passengers can travel much more freely. I just don't see why the Eurorail would be exempt from border-crossing rules. In order to make the traveling process as fast as possible, I think it's reasonable to assume that there will different lines at stations for those traveling to countries with free movement and those who are not."
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"Commissioner Juncker", Artabanos announced towards the end of the summit, "With the extension of the Eurorail project to the borders of the Empire, I will be happy to agree to this proposal. Inimicus does require fairly stringent passport checks, but these can either be conducted before travel, or during travel by Imperial Border Force agents. I have full confidence this could work, and I share Archbishop Kligenberg's view that Eurorail should not be exempt from cross-border controls. In any case, I look forward to travelling on Eurorail myself in the very near future, when the necessary safety checks have been conducted, of course. Wouldn't want any repeats of last summer, now would we?" Artabanos's face greyed somewhat. "Anyway, er, thanks again, Commissioner, and congratulations on your success."
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Juncker smiled and concluded the summit:
"After we have all agreed to the proposal, I'm happy to announce Eurorail is a thing, The first is planned to take place on the 21st January, 2021. We will start our route in Inimicus, then we will go through North Diessen, United Duchies, Red Croatia taking the diversion to Inquista and then we will pick up President Aguilar in Santiago de Compostela, just before arriving to Madrid. I would like to thank you all for the success of this project, because this is not the success of a single person, it's the success of a whole team, which includes you all. Thank you for coming, and the summit is now over."
The leaders then took a family photo and everybody left towards their respective country, except Juncker, who returned to Europolis.
The Kingdom of Spain