Press Statement - April 2nd, 2021
Dear Europeans,
I am happy to announce that negotiations between Caspian states, organized by me, have been successful. We have agreed on The Caspian Treaty, which will establish a council of states, hopefully resolving all conflicts in the future. The treaty is as follows:
PREAMBLE
We, the Caspian nations and the European Commission, wishing to achieve our aim to restore the Caspian political situation to its previous peaceful and friendly one, agree with the following terms:
SECTION I – THE CASPIAN SEA AUTHORITY
I. The founding members of the Caspian Sea Authority will be the Kingdom of Reitzmag, the United Duchies, the Kingdom of Pravoslaviya, and the Confederacy of North Diessen.
a. The Autonomous Territory of Copala City will be admitted to the Caspian Sea Authority as an observer state.
b. The Caspian Sea Authority’s activities shall be funded by annual contributions from its members, set proportional to their Gross Domestic Product.
c. The Caspian Sea Authority’s budget shall be set annually by a majority vote of the Caspian Council.
d. The Caspian Sea Authority shall have a secretariat, to be located in a city to be determined by a majority vote of the Caspian Council.
II. Any other sovereign state with a coastline on the Caspian Sea is entitled to become a member of the Caspian Sea Authority.
III. Every member of the Caspian Sea Authority is entitled to one vote on the Caspian Council, which shall be the governing body of the Caspian Sea Authority.
IV. The Caspian Sea Authority recognises that each member is entitled to 24 nautical miles of territorial waters from their contiguous coastline, and 200 nautical miles of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
a. Each member has within its EEZ exclusive economic rights over the exploration and exploitation of marine resources, including, but not limited to, fisheries, mining, drilling for oil or gas, and renewable energy sources.
b. Each member may sell some or all of its economic rights in its EEZ to other entities.
c. EEZs are not part of the member’s territory, and no member has the right to construct artificial islands, or conduct any business outside their proper economic rights, in their EEZ without the unanimous prior approval of the Caspian Council.
V. In the event of overlapping claims to territorial waters or EEZs according to Section I, Clause IV of this agreement, the equidistance principle and the natural prolongation principle shall apply.
a. Members may decide by bilateral or multilateral treaty to amend the maritime boundaries between them.
b. In the event of any disputes between members over their maritime boundaries that cannot be resolved bilaterally, the Caspian Council shall by majority vote adjudicate on the dispute.
c. The Caspian Council will have respect to the equidistance principle and the natural prolongation principle in its adjudications on maritime boundaries.
VI. The Caspian Sea Authority is responsible for oversight of the non-territorial waters of the Caspian Sea.
a. The Caspian Sea Authority shall not hinder the following activities of its members in the non-territorial waters of the Caspian Sea:
i. Trade, shipping, and commerce
ii. Public transport
iii. Border security
iv. Search and rescue
v. Routine naval exercises
b. The Caspian Sea Authority shall, by a majority vote of the Caspian Council, set policies relating to fishing, mining, drilling for oil and gas, renewable energy generation, and other forms of economic activity in the non-territorial waters of the Caspian Sea that do not belong to a member’s EEZ.
c. The Caspian Sea Authority shall be responsible for air and sea traffic management in the non-territorial waters of the Caspian Sea.
VII. No country may construct artificial islands beyond their territorial waters without the unanimous prior approval of the Caspian Council.
a. No offshore naval bases or permanent military installations shall be constructed in the non-territorial waters of the Caspian Sea.
VIII. The Caspian Sea Authority shall, where appropriate, commission environmental impact reports to assist it in its responsibilities.
IX. Military vessels belonging to countries without a coastline on the Caspian Sea that enter the Caspian Sea may not travel outside the territorial waters of the United Duchies, or any country whose coastline on the Caspian Sea borders that of the United Duchies, except for humanitarian purposes.
The Caspian Sea Authority may, by a unanimous vote of the Caspian Council, choose to grant certain countries or specific vessels further naval access to the Caspian Sea.
X. The United Duchies will guarantee access to the Baltic Canal to civilian vessels from, or carrying goods to or from, all countries with a coastline on the Caspian Sea, subject to tolls.
The United Duchies may restrict certain goods from being transported through the Baltic Canal for the following reasons only:
Reason to believe the goods will be used for military purposes;
Reason to believe the goods will be used for criminal activity;
Biosecurity;
Health and safety.
The United Duchies reserves the right to regulate the size of vessels transiting through the Baltic Canal and to deny entry to vessels that it deems to be overloaded or not seaworthy.
The United Duchies reserves the right to police the Baltic Canal to prevent illegal or unauthorised military activity or to deny access to the Baltic Canal for civilian trade involving countries that have been subject to sanctions by a vote of the European Council or involving countries that do not have a coastline on the Caspian Sea and have been subject to sanctions by the United Duchies.
If a member of the Caspian Sea Authority believes that the United Duchies is restricting trade beyond what is permitted in subclauses (a), (b), and (c), and is unable to resolve this dispute with the United Duchies bilaterally, then the Caspian Council may adjudicate by a majority vote.
SECTION II – ISLANDS
I. The islands constructed by the Kingdom of Reitzmag in the Caspian Sea beyond its territorial waters as determined in Section I, Clause IV of this agreement (hereafter, ‘the islands’) will be destroyed by the European Commission in an environmentally friendly manner, aimed at restoring as much as possible the biosphere before construction of the islands commenced.
II. When the islands are destroyed, any sand or other building material that is reclaimed shall be returned to the Kingdom of Reitzmag.
The Kingdom of Reitzmag may identify and prepare an area along its coastline for any such materials to be deposited. If it does not do this before demolition work commences, then the party responsible for destroying the islands shall proceed regardless, and deposit the materials at a location of its choosing.
III. After the islands are destroyed, the Caspian Sea Authority shall periodically review the ecological situation in the area for the next five years.
I would like to thank John Peter Key of the United Duchies, Metodi Pravoslav of Pravoslaviya, Victoria Romanov of Copala City, İnge Pekcan of North Diessen and Simon Bridges of Reitzmag for their cooperation.
Münevver Birdane
Internal Affairs Commissioner of the European Union