Internal Affairs Commisioner - Czech Slavia Summit
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"I am glad that you like our country and that you chose to come here for the third time." Černá smiled back at Juncker. "I understand you have come to inform me about some of your proposals, please mr. commissioner, I am eager to hear them."
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As I promissed in my campaign, I have come here to visit Czech Slavia and also, as you said, to inform you and your government about the proposals I'll take to the Heads of Government meeting that we will have in Europolis very soon, and to which you are invited. He took his briefcase and picked some sheets of papers with notes.
First of all I'd like to talk about that meeting I have told you about. These meeting will happen twice a year, it's called the European Assembly but I call it somekind of different. On those meetings we will discuss about the EU nations, we will discuss what are the hugest problems for every country about the European Union and also I'll bring some proposals to them in order to decide which are better to us. At first, Id like to talk about the Communist uprises with all those nations that have suffered one of them, and try to mediate between the beligerents and the actual governments. And then, I'd like to ask you how would you rate a free trade and movement area which is not compulsory for every member state, but could be good for those that add theirselves to it. What do you think about it?
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Černá simply nodded after Juncker finished "Mr. commissioner, I don't think there is anything left to say about uprisings, I don't think other countries should intervene in a matters of sovereign nations. I can ensure you that Czech Slavia will have no part in any attempts to mediate in countries where the uprising ended and the government was either overthrown or the uprising has failed."
"Regarding the free trade and movement area could you please provide me with more information on that?" -
With the uprise I obviusly mean those that could start during my commission period. And to those that have ended, a recommendation to do free elections. I think that we need to cooparte all together in order to stop every single type of uprise. Now we are seeing Communist uprises, but what if they are fascist? That's the matter of all of this cluster of events one behind the other and with no rest. He looked at her and seemed a bit worried but also serious.
Talking about the second question, the European Union countries that sign it would have a free movement of goods, people and also trade, so they wouldn't have to pay for exporting their products to other countries, only the retailers would pay. Same for people, no visas would be needed, and instead, to enter a country they would just need their National Identity Card, same applies for indentification in the country. Going back to the free trade, the person that buys the product from other country would only pay the real price of the product, with no taxes for the product entering the country. I don't know if I've explained as I want the idea to be.
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Černá smiled at Juncker "Well if the debate about uprisings will be within the limits of what you just described then you can be assured that Czech government will take a part in the debate, you have my word. Taking part in The free trade and movement area will have to be discussed with the government and the parliament first before I can give you a response."
Černá offered the Commissioner a bottle of traditional Czech beer "Please mr. Commissioner accept my gift for you. And tell me is there anything else you wish to discuss?" -
Jean-Claude Juncker took a bottle and toasted with Černá: "Cheers". After that, he drank a bit of the beer and said "Delicious".
Then, after talking about their lifes for 10 minutes, they had drunk the whole beer and Juncker took some others sheets of paper from his briefcase "Now it's time for the trains Ms. Černá" He laughed. "Are you ready to hear or you prefer to avoid the trains?"
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"I am most eager to hear about trains. Sadly a very overlooked topic." Černá also laughed for a bit but then she once agin got back to her serious face "But please Mr. Commissioner, tell me your propositions regarding trains, it honestly is a important topic."
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"As you said, a very overlooked topic, but also very important for the European Union. The Eurostar project as it was proposed by the Spanish Government or by whoever it's impossible at the moment. We would need a lot of money, a lot of investors and a huge budget, which it's impossible at the moment, because firstly we need an European Union budget, which we haven't seen one for years. So the Eurostar project would be divided in 3 or 4, even 5 phases. Juncker gave a copy of the papers he got from his briefcase before to Černá.
"As you can see in those papers, phase 1 would consist on analyzing the resources of every nation about public transport, specially focusing on trains, as it's the main matter. Once we have recieved all of that information, we would go to Phase 2. That one would consist on start seeing which routes are suitable to start between nations, building with the governments, specially the Ministry of Transport of each country the necessary infrastructures to have an Eurostar service while the enterprise, that would be a mix between public and private, would start buying the trains. Then, we move towards phase 3, when the first services between nations would start. Our purpose is to start the services between nations closer to each other. Phase 4 would be hard to achieve, because benefits should be done before moving towards this one. In phase 4, the major infrastructures projects would start, like tunnels under the seas or bridges over them. And finally, phase 5, completion and starting the services between the whole EU, granting the Europeans a safe, confortable travel between European nations. He stopped talking and drank a bit of water.
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"So far I think you can expect with our support for Phase 1 and based on results of that we would decide if we can to continue our support to such a project. But until the Phase 1 has been finished and the costs of the the next phases have been calculated, I can not speak for the position of the Government of Czech Slavia" Černá nodded a bit. "But as I said you rely on our support for Phase 1."
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That's great. I am looking forward to hear more opinion in the Heads of Governments meeting, that for sure will stand as a very important tool to hear the opinion of every single European Nation about what we are doing. Juncker took all the papers and put them in his folder.
So Černá, if there's something you want to tell me about, it's the time to do so. If not, we have finally ended this meeting. I'm open to hear you. Juncker smiled and looked at Černá.
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"Let me once again thank you for coming here and informing me about your proposals. And let me also personally wish you well in the office of commissioner. I am looking forward to meeting with you again." Černá said and stood up to shake hands with Juncker.
Outside of Kramář's vila there was already a black Škoda Superb car waiting for Mr. Juncker to transport him back to Ruzyně International Airport.