Foreign Affairs Commissioner Town Hall
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMISSIONER TOWN HALL
Welcome to the live Foreign Affairs Commissioner Town Hall, taking place tonight in the European Union capital, Europolis.
While there may not be enough candidates for a Foreign Affairs Commissioner debate, the ANTONI 2022 Campaign and the EUBC have come to a mutual agreement, in the best interest of the European public, and of a healthy European democracy, to hold a town hall question period with the sole candidate for Foreign Affairs Commissioner, Bishop Antoni Reynels (EPA, Inquista).
Bishop Antoni Reynels will open up the town hall with an introductory speech, before members of the public audience, who come from all across Europe representing all political stripes, pose questions to the Foreign Affairs candidate.
Audience members should introduce themselves by giving their name and stating where they come from, and may additionally also give their age and occupation if they wish, before asking their question(s). An audience member may pose up to three questions at once if they so desire. However, once an audience member has asked a question, the Foreign Affairs candidate must have the chance to answer their question(s) before the next person asks their question(s). We ask that the public audience be respectful and patient when asking their questions. Since we only have one candidate for Foreign Affairs Commissioner, he may answer questions or give statements without any limits to his time.
Once the question period has come to an end ((OOC: after approximately 7 days)), the Foreign Affairs candidate will close the town hall discussion with some final remarks.
We will now turn to our candidate, Bishop Antoni Reynels, who will make his opening speech, before starting the question period. Antoni, take us away!
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Good evening everyone! What's up, Europolis? How's everyone doing? Long time, no see!
Man, I'm so excited to be here tonight, and to be with you all. I'm running to be your Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, on the basis of 'Representing the European Community'. We really have something special going on here with our Union and our unique European community of nations. Our European community is something that I am so proud of, and it something that I hope to represent to the fullest extent - including all of our little quirks! With my former tenure as Foreign Affairs Commissioner in mind, and my most recent experience working as the Bishop Secretary in the Inquistan Orthodox Church, where I got to travel across Europe and make several trade agreements with European leaders, I hope that you can all feel safe and positive with me as a representative of our region abroad.
Apart from being a friendly face, I also have a plan. I am fully committed to the protection of our region and the safeguarding of our allies. I wrote and passed the Act to Establish the European Corps in 2020, only one month after taking office. I will work to support the continued development of the Eurocorps with the same vigour as I did in my previous tenure. While I may have been the legislative mind behind the Eurocorps, I do need to give all credit to Commander Vincent Drake am Weisshaupt of the Duxburian Union, who is the real life and soul of the organization, who has overseen all of its success. I appointed Commander Vincent Drake as Eurocorps Commander in June of 2020, and I will continue to entrust him in that position. Commander Drake has received international commendation for his commitment to protecting our region, and region like ours, from foreign threats and expansionist actors. I will be seeking to have him receive the same recognition here at home, with a European Order of Merit.
I aim to renew and strengthen our regional relations with our defensive partners. In my previous tenure, the European Union cemented our traditionally strong defensive bonds with the Grey Wardens, but we also deepened our bonds with the 10K Islands, and also became new allies with the Rejected Realms, who have a positive record of protecting peaceful regions like ours from expansionist and imperialist powers.
Our relations with what I deem as our our 'cultural allies' are also especially important to me, namely our relations with the Conch Kingdom and Spiritus. Before my tenure, these were two regions that we had little contact with. However, during my term, they proved to be two regions that the European Union could count on as active participants in many our renowned events, such as the EuroVoice competition. I hope to renew these relations once more, by including them in our regional events, and hopefully making our bilateral bonds even stronger.
Lastly, I want to work with our partners, whether they be defensive or cultural, to take a firm stance against far-right and imperialist powers that seek to undermine the sovereignty of free countries, unions, and regions abroad. I had the pleasure of working with like-minded partners in condemning these type of hostile actors that failed to respect the sovereignty of peaceful people. A particular highlight of my previous term was working with our partners and allies to recognise the good work of Commander Deadeye Jack, a former European native of the Gun-toting Animals, who became internationally commended for his commitment to upholding international peace. I am proud that I was part of the campaign that had him commended, and in his spirit, I hope that our Union will be active in a principled fight against expansionism, imperialism, and tyranny.
Thank you.
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Hi Antoni, I'm Ria en Levion-Rike, a junior analyst at the Center for Public Policy in Dairghazburo. My name used to be Ria Levion before marrying this lucky guy (gestures to Aandrew en Rike-Levion next to her), but we're still such a young couple that we don't know whose name will carry the family line and thus both had to hypenate for the time being. Anyway, I have two questions for you today!
The first is about our foreign policy posture in a world full of recent changes - so obviously, the Brotherhood of Malice is back and blowing up raider relations with the independent and imperialist spheres to such a thorough degree that forces of the North Pacific, Thaecia, Balder, and even Europeia have repudiated them and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with EU troops during several massive liberations. While unofficial and under the table, I've been told that Jon Mitchell and Vincent Drake actually received apologies for the past raid attempts by members of TNP and Euro's governments, by people who didn't know or weren't even around in that era. Clearly, the governments and sentiment of citizens in these regions have shifted significantly in the past 6 years since we terminated diplomatic relations and closed those embassies. So, my question is, do you think it's time to re-evaluate these relationships? Should we still be holding these grudges in today's completely different world, or do they remain justified?
My second question is, and yes I swear it'll be brief...er, is What do you think is the best way to communicate the EU's FA news and updates to the international community these days? Some regions have shifted to RMB updates and dispatches, others still use the traditional means. The EU historically hasn't had much success with publicity and the world keeps changing, so I'm very interested to hear your take on the future prospects of this. Thanks!
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Ria! It’s good to see you! Congratulations on your marriage. Deciding which family name to take is always a huge discussion in Inquista. My older brother actually decided to hyphenate his name with his wife’s family name after they got married, which now means that my nephew Rhys Johnson-Reynels gets to carry the legacy of two families with his surname, which is pretty badass in my opinion. It’s a deeply personal decision, so definitely feel free to take as much time as you’d like, and don’t feel too pressured by anyone to decide.
Thank you for your brilliant questions – both of which I had to grapple with in my previous term.
The international arena is definitely in a state of flux, and it’s always interesting to see what kind of new makeshift alliances appear and what kind of vendettas begin to brew. In an ever-changing world, it’s important to be adaptable and flexible. In my previous term, I actually had an ambassador from the North Pacific approach me to restart a possible alliance between the EU and TNP. I turned the offer down pretty quickly, not just because they attempted to invade us, but because they broke an alliance, and alliance breakers don’t make for good allies. The ambassador was pretty taken aback by my reasoning, since they apparently had no idea the North Pacific had attempted to invade us in the past. I ran into the ambassador again at a World Fair event that I attended on behalf of the EU, and we had a deeper chat about it. It’s clear that many regions abroad tend to change much more quickly than our Union, with their member-states and leadership now totally unrecognizable from six years ago.
I think it’s fair to hold grudges, to use your words, since they represent very valid concerns, but we can also choose to forgive and adapt to new realities. The keyword here, though, is forgive. There needs to be an acknowledgement of wrongdoing and genuine apologies made, even if these events happened six years ago already, and it needs to be incumbent upon us to decide whether their actions are forgivable or not. It’s encouraging to hear that apologies have been made to Jon Mitchell and Commander Drake. If we are to restart formal relations with TNP or Europeia, then we shall start with an apology from them to our wider community. Going forward, after that, I am very open to establishing more formal relationships with them, if the partnership makes sense. I am certainly open to it. If there’s a chance that we can make the world safer with them, rather than against them, then I’m for it.
Furthermore, I will also say that the EU has a potential role to play as an entity that could win the hearts and minds of partners that are not fully committed to defense or liberation, and win them over by showing them that their foreign policy actions have very real consequences. As a vibrant community of interconnected states, with a pretty unique history and style of governance, we can demonstrate that there are many other unique and colourful regions like ours, and that they each also deserve protection, and are worthwhile to defend too. Defending makes a big difference to the very real communities that are threatened by invasion, and I don’t think everyone recognizes that fact.
Now, to your second question. I wrote monthly FA reports for the first five months of my previous tenure. As far as I know, that was the last time we had the FA communicate regional news abroad. I disseminated the reports in a hybrid style, always putting them into a dispatch and having them posted on RMBs, but also on embassy portals on the websites of our regional allies. Generally, I found that the former received way more engagement than the latter. Truthfully, though, I found that regions that engaged with us on a deeper and more cultural level were the most interested in us and our latest happenings. I think the best way to communicate the FA’s messages is by combining dispatches posted on RMBs alongside efforts to engage allies to participate in our regional activities, such as EuroVoice, and have the EU also engage in the cultural activities of our friends. By putting names to our faces, we build interest in us.
Additionally, I also hope to see our foreign ambassadors be more present here in the EU, and have them even included in potential regional gatherings, parties and events that we see take place across the EU. There’s a lot to love about the EU, and I think most people would be pleasantly surprised if they took the chance to immerse themselves in what we have to offer.
Thanks again for your questions!
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Well, I'd like to thank everyone that showed up tonight and thank everyone catching us from home! Ria, you carried this.
The Foreign Affairs Commissioner is often the most invisible role within the European Commission. Much of their work happens behind the scenes and much of their labour will go unnoticed. It's a pretty thankless job. Even so, I hope it's position that you can all trust me with. I've done it before, and you can feel secure in me doing it again. My record should speak for itself.
I also hope that you can extend your trust to the rest of the Progressive Team. Jean-Claude Juncker is a highly qualified and experienced candidate for Premier. I served alongside him in both of his terms as Internal Affairs Commissioner, and I can personally vouch that nobody can match Juncker's energy, enthusiasm, and willing to get things done. He would make an excellent Premier.
Senator Kevin Cotilla is a great choice for Internal Affairs. Cotilla has a great vision for our Union, and he has a solid and achievable platform to make sure we get there. Above all, he has a strong commitment to uniting and working with the EU's member states in tackling our regional hurdles.
Please support the whole Progressive Team in the upcoming Commission elections. We'll work together, as one, for you.
Good night! Peace!
