Curbing the Tide
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"F...jell...marque....F....oh, for crying out loud, these Scandinavian cities need renaming. I can barely pronounce it at all!" said an exasperated Foreign Minister Florence Parly. She had just left tongue-twister nation Vayinaod and its capital. Now she was going to Fremet (easy enough) to Fjellmark to meet with the Fremetian Foreign Minister Erna Solberg.
She studied her notes a bit more. She studied up on the Kingdom of Fremet some more. She found a lot of similarities ("Oh, they're Orthodox too!?" the Foreign Minister gasped, causing an aide to drop her coffee) and differences ("What do you mean E1A is a highway?!"). She'd rather be in Defence, as it was her forte but the Government asked her to be the Foreign Minister. Perhaps they understood that there was a need to have essentially two military minds moving in Gallorum's favour.
Upon arriving at the major airport, she remarked how clean everything was. Aurelis was clean, but this was a whole different level of streamlined and efficient. Very clockwork. It reminded her of the military and the Gaulois business world.
The journey continued via helicopter out to the retreat at Fjellmark. Parly got out of the helicopter, flanked by a couple of subordinate junior ministers. She went to shake the hand of Foreign Minister Solberg.
"Wonderful to meet you," said Parly, exchanging a warm welcome.
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"Welcome to the Kingdom of Fremet and Mjøsa Castle, Minister. I trust your journey was swift as it was comfortable?" She motioned her aides to the side and the two walked into the great hall of the castle, where a massive 400-year-old table of solid oak spanned 10 whole meters, the length of the room. On it were small pastries and other tasty treats along with clear place settings for each delegation. The two ministers sat across from each other in the bright room overlooking Lake Mjøsa. After they each had seated, Erna looked up, a smile on her face, and said, "Shall we begin?"
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"The view is amazing! What a beautiful chateau you have here," said Foreign Minister Parly. "Is this a private property or does the state keep this as part of the government's assets? Either way, it is tres charmant."
Parly sat down at the giant table. She was reminded that Fremet was Germanic and considered part of the Scandinavian trio of nations (Fremet, Ireland and Vayinaod), so the idea of what was small furniture differed greatly from the Gallic way of decorating.
"It seems the Government got a win on the nationalisation of the railways. Congratulations! Was there an issue with delivery of service that needed to be addressed? You know, sometimes the private sector can really mess up."
Parly helped herself to a small pastry. It was flaky and light like she would expect a croissant to be, but it was seemingly drenched in poppy seeds. She turned to one of the Fremetian aides and asked, "What is this delightful pastry?"
"Tebirkes," the aide answered back.
"Te....what?" asked Foreign Minister Parly.
"Tebirkes," the aide answered again, this time a bit slower.
"Oh...tebirques..." Parly laughed off. She was clearly not getting her tongue around Scandinavian language. "How delightful!" She then saw a small bowl of what looked like a porridge. "What's this?"
"Ollebrod..." the aide answered. Parly made a face of resignation before chuckling to herself. She helped herself to the bowl. "Oh, it's sweet! What is it made of?"
"Umm, rye bread and beer with some spices and sugar this one," the aide answered back.
"Shockingly delicious!" Parly exclaimed. "Now, not to be a bad guest, but would you like to get on to the business of summiting?"
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As much as Erna enjoyed seeing the Gallic delegation familiarise themselves with all that Fremet had to offer, she knew that her Gallic counterpart was correct.
"Yes, of course," she responded while opening up a colour-coded binder.
"I have several topics I'd like to discuss while you are with us, but first and foremost, and quite frankly, the primary reason of us asking you here is the situation in Icholasen.
I know your government has made an effort to normalise Gallorum's relations with the UNSR, and while I can say that my government is making efforts to open a dialogue with the new regime, we are far from establishing formal diplomatic relations. As you are probably aware, during the last revolution in Icholasen, they invaded our island and occupied it for nearly seven years. Obviously, when news came of a new revolution across the Emerald Sea, many were fearful of what that would mean for our nation. While few are still alive to remember the occupation, the ramifications of it are still latent in our society today. I myself served in the Royal Army to fulfill my Royal Service Requirement. After losing so much, we are very proud of what we have been able to accomplish and rebuild, and we would do anything to protect our home. With that, we do not want to make the same mistakes that we made so many years ago. We cannot expect to go it alone, and Fremet must remain an open and free society if it is to survive. We would like to continue that thread of openness with a partnership with Gallorum.""What I'm proposing is a Treaty of Mutual Defence. I believe that the best way for both of our nations to ensure our own security in these trying times is to stand together as a fortress for freedom."
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Foreign Minister Parly lit up. Defence, of course, was her thing.
"Ah yes. But the Kingdom must be clear: we do not want to involve ourselves with...how do you say...direct, neoliberal regime change If we are to become allies with a nation in this post UNSR world, we will have to do so in order to keep the realpolitik balance going. Right now, there's a very loose triangle of Machiavellian chess between Inquista, Gallorum and the UNSR. Inquista and Gallorum are allies in religion. Inquista and the UNSR are allies in...expediency. I have heard of the wiley ways of Paul Craticus. I bet this probably has something to do with Firoux and his allies. It always ends up that way. Mind you, don't become an enemy of the Blessed State. UNSR and Gallorum have at least turned the heat off and taken the pot off the boil for now. There's cooperation building in a mutual understanding of each others' rights to exist.
"We share far more in common as crowned democracies: constitutional monarchs bound by constitutional conventions, parliamentary supremacy and fair, free elections. It is a yes from me, and a yes from the Hotel de Matignon."
Parly swirled her coffee around her cup.
"Le Gallorum would like to see a fair trade deal struck between us to compliment our defence idea. We'd like to see free movement of goods between our nations as well as services. We'd also like to explicitly write into law that revenue generated in one nation or the other should be taxed by the nation in which that revenue was generated. So, for example, if Citroen were to go to Fremet and sell 40 million in profit with its cars, the Fremetian Government should reserve the right to tax that revenue. What would you say to that?"
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"As always, Fremet seeks to make further, longlasting ties with the mainland. The free movement of goods and services is paramount to that goal. We see no issue in making for a cohesive and frictionless flow of trade between our two nations. I'm sure that an addition to His Majesty's Corporate Tax Code could be made to accommodate your request on local taxation of revenues generated by offshore corporations. To accommodate these terms would Gallorum be interested in opening an office in the Commerce Ministry in Trondheim, and vice versa for its Gallic counterpart in Aurelis?"
Erna was quite pleased, she had already moved through the first coloured binder and had one of her aids give her the second colour coded binder, this one was red and had an image of her cat, Sir Cuddles, tucked away in the front insert. She smiled at her furry friend and opened the binder.
"The final item on our agenda here is Freedom of Movement for both of our peoples between our respective countries."
She sat up in her chair and began reading off of a list in the red binder.
"To ensure the rights of our peoples as they move between our two countries, we seek visa-free travel between Gallorum and Fremet. Citizens from each of our countries will be allowed to travel to the other for a maximum of thirty consecutive days at a time. To remain longer than the 30 day allowance, proof of employment or attendance to an accredited educational institution must be provided, where the respective person(s) and their dependent(s) would be granted the Right to Abode in the respective country. Upon the granting of Right to Abode, formal residency within the respective country would be granted as well to these person(s) and their dependent(s). When residence is established, previous residence in the other country shall be terminated. However, this is merely for the purposes of not having citizens maintain residence in two locales. The persons granted new residence will not lose their citizenship in the origin country. This also guarantees that these newfound residents will have the right to vote in elections in the country of said residence, but not be able to vote twice as they would if they maintained residence in the country of origin. Because voting in Fremet is not tied to citizenship, but residency, we can implement this immediately. Will Gallorum pledge to put these new residents in your electoral rolls? Do you have any other questions, comments, or concerns?"
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"An excellent idea to have an office in our trade ministries," Parly answered. "No doubt that we could create a space in the Ministry of International Trade. We also agree to your provisions on the movement of people. In our mission of fair trade, we'd like to add a small clause that a Gaulois company operating in Fremet or a Fremetian company operating in Gallorum cannot try to undercut the wages they would pay in the other's economy. We'd also like to guarantee workers' rights are followed in the country of operation."
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"That would not be a problem. We can have the Arbeidsdepartementet move to implement the wage protection guidelines and the workers' rights guarantee within our existing legislative and regulatory framework.
In addition to our defensive framework, we believe that these efforts towards a fair trading scheme between our two countries— as well as opening up a means for both of our peoples to move between our two Kingdoms without hindrance— have paved the way for a fruitful partnership between our two nations."
Erna closed the red binder and handed it off to an aide.
"Is there anything else you'd like to discuss?"
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"I think that is it for my end," said Parly. "Gallorum and Fremet will continue to build lasting bonds that will strengthen the relationships of our nations. I will invite your government to Aurelis should there be anything you'd like to add to our agreement. As the National Assembly is sitting for another week before we rise for Holy Week, we will not be able to lay down the required legislation for the implementation of the deal quite so soon, but the deal will have a good chance in passing the National Assembly. "
Foreign Minister Parly stood to shake the hand of the Fremetian foreign minister.
"I hope your elections go well!" Parly commented. "It's a beautiful country that I've been able to visit today."
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"I'm certain once the Bundestag returns after the election this agreement will pass into law."
Erna closed her binder and stood up.
"It has been an honour to have you here, and I look forward to working with your government in the future. Have a safe trip home— and thanks, I'll take all the luck I can get!"
She smiled as the delegations got up to leave. Erna was proud of what she and her Gallois counterpart were able to accomplish, but sadly she wouldn't have much time to revel in it. She had an election to win, and she was going to need all the strength she could muster to pull it off.
