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The Great Transition of the Seven United Provinces; Creating the Bill of Change
Topic Started: Sep 7 2011, 07:16 AM (607 Views)
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'That is all for now I suppose. We both know now that extensive military deals will be possible and agreed upon. I think that is all we can do at this moment. Hopefully more will follow after the plans will be officially presented.'

The two shook hands and Julia left the department. She headed back to the embassy to report to the Ministry of Defense of the Seven United Provinces.
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The Stadhouder and the Raadspensionaris landed in New-Amsterdam after a few weeks of chaos. The conference in North Chicanan had been a tiring event and both men badly needed some rest. However, huge things were about to happen again. The Dutch ambassador in Byronmandy reached an agreement with Byronmandy for the largest military deals in the history of the Republic and the Minister of Foreign Affairs came back from Lithuania yesterday. He had sent a request to meet the Stadhouder as soon as possible. He sent out notice that he had big news and that a meeting was a necessity.

'Welcome home Johan' the Stadhouder said to the Raadspensionaris as both men left the plane. 'Glad to be back sir' the Raadspensionaris replied. 'So what is the plan now?' The Stadhouder sighed and said 'Well, I hoped we could take a small vacation but duty calls. So let us take a quick break of 2 days maximum and continue as planned after our sleep deprivation is cured. See you in two days my friend.'

Both men shook hands and left in opposite directions. The transition had been initiated and the point of no return had been left behind a long time ago...
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~ 4 am New-Amsterdam, Working Palace, Stadhouder's Office

'Good morning Johan, how were your two days of ultimate rest?' The Stadhouder asked when the Raadspensionaris entered the office.
'Morning. I go with too short and not long enough... How about you sir?' the Raadspensionaris asked. 'I am fine, thank you. I suggest you take a longer break after all of this is finished.'
The Stadhouder continued 'Anyways, first things first. The big day has finally come. I am very curious what will happen after today. We probably going to catch a lot of shit.'

A short silence fell, then the Raadspensionaris laughed 'Haha, who cares? I still smell bad from the last load we caught. One gets used to everything I suppose.'
'Well then my friend. Let us go for breakfast and get it on with.' The Stadhouder concluded.


~ 10 am New-Amsterdam, Working Palace, Conference Hall

A young, formally dressed lady came from the back of the hall and walked up to the podium. She climbed the stairs to the podium and approached the microfone. She looked into the public where a great number of people from the press where heading for their seat. She said 'Ladies and Gentlemen from the press, guests and other visitors. Welcome in the Working Palace of the Stadhouder of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces. I ask you to move to your seats, there are enough for everyone. The Press Conference will begin at 11am, there is no official end time planned. After the conference a buffet will be available for you in the Dining Room on the opposite side of the hall from here. I thank you very much.' Subsequently she repeated the message in Dutch, German and French. She left and left the crowd behind in the Conference Hall.
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~ 11 am New-Amsterdam, Working Palace, Conference Hall

At exactly 11am the Stadhouder, the Raadspensionaris, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Dutch Ambassador of Byronmandy entered the Conference Hall and took seat behind the table on the podium. They were not announced, so it took a while for the crowd to notice their entrance and stop making noise. Though, as silence set in it was a deep kind of silence. The Stadhouder thought a frog could be heard any moment and chuckled. He took the microphone.
'Ladies and Gentlemen, first of all WELCOME! As you might already know I am Baaper the I van Voorne-Putten, some call me the Stadhouder of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, a mouthfull I must say. Anyway, you are here because we sent out the word that we have big news today, and I sincerely believe we have. We have spoken about a great transition, big news, huge changes, etc. Change is needed, and change will be induced. Well, I have a lot to tell you today so I suggest we begin immediately. The screen behind us will show you background information on the subjects we are talking about and all information will be published afterwards.'


----


Ethnic groups

The Stadhouder spoke 'I want to begin with our delicate position. As you probably know the region where we live has not been our home for ever. Our ancestors were driven out of Holland by the French and fled to the east. In the east they colonized an area which they believed to be uninhabited. However, they were wrong. Many Russians, Ukrainians and Kazachs live within our borders. They have been forced to obey our rules and regulations and live according to our culture. The only thing they were allowed to keep was their nationality. Do not get me wrong, this is not a small part of the Provinces, they do not form a small ethnic minority. The Seven United Provinces has somewhat over 18,5 million Dutch citizens and approximately 15 million of people without a nation. We are almost speaking of an ethnic majority here.'
The Stadhouder took a drink from his water and continued. 'We find it our duty to make an end to this situation. We therefore propose to split the Provinces in two parts. The southern part is called The Federation of New-Russia, it will be a sovereign nation for the people we robbed of their indeoendence for much too long. The northern part will continue to be the Republic of the Seven United Provinces. Ofcourse we plan to monitor and help this new nation in any way we can, they will not be completely on their own feet for the next couple of years. Initially our government will supervise the government of The Federation of New-Russia with the ability to overrule their decisions. To make sure the Federation gets as much freedom as possible we ask the international community to form a board which questions and reviews the SUP government in her role as supervisor. Finally the international community would take the decision when the Federation will lose our supervision. Finally all people of these ethnic groups are allowed to choose whether they want to keep their own nationality or take the Dutch.' The Stadhouder took a sip from his glass again.

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Militarization

The Stadhouder said 'Well that is something already, but we feel it is also our duty to become more active on the international podium given recent events. This means our defenses have to grow and modernize. The Provinces has a very large trade surplus which gives us more space to invest in our defenses. Our old statistics are as follows:
Population: 17.500.000
Percent of population in military: 1.4%
Military size: 245.000
Active Strength (non support)(1/3): 81.666
Divisions of 20,000 each: 4

By recent growth of our nation during the international wars and increased military funding we plan to bring the percentage of population in the military from 1.4% to 2.7%. The updated numbers would be as following:
Population: 18.500.000
Percent of population in military: 2.7%
Military size: 499.500
Active Strength (non support)(1/3): 166.500
Divisions of 20,000 each: 8

In short this is what we plan to do for the growth or our army, more details will follow later.'


Modernization

'Ofcourse a larger army is good to have, but when it dates back to the stone age you can do nothing with it. To face the painful facts, the Royal Dutch army and Navy are hopelessly outdated. Therefore we signed a modernization agreement with the Republic of Byronmandy. The Byronmandy Ministry of Defense will help us to modernize our army with materials and knowledge, they will also help us to set up the Royal Dutch Airforce. In return we pay them for their materials and efforts, and we make sure our armies are closely linked.
We will modernize the Royal Dutch Navy on our own, the Provinces is a seafaring nation from a historical perspective and we believe the Navy can modernize independently. Construction of a new shipyard in the port of Rotterdam has begun during the recent war and very soon we hope to begin the production of ships for our own navy and for export.'


Foreign relations

The Stadhouder coughed and continued talking 'Excuse me, long stories make my throat dry and painful. Well, considering foreign relations you might understand that a lot has happened given recent events. The Seven United Provinces as a member of the LTO and a close ally of the Republic of Byronmandy has chosen sides, however we have not taken an active role in the war. We have been given criticism, asking question, and openly stating our thoughts and opinions. This damaged foreign relations, but has not destroyed them.
After the recent conference in North Chicanan I have spoken with the Emperor of the Empire of Grangale. Considering the fact that we support opposite sides the meeting was good and valuable. We agreed to continue our work at Nova Zembla for which new plans will be made soon. In addition we agreed to cooperate on an extensive air-sea emergency rescue service, and most excitingly we signed a mutual non-agression treaty which represents our good will for the future.
Other great news is that I have spoken with King Edward from The Kingdom of Celatoria. Celatoria possess the territory which was ours once. We agreed to simplify the rules to emigrate to the low-countries for our citizens, and it will become possible for the people living in the low-countries momentarily to get the Dutch nationality. Also we will cooperate in creating a museum stronghold-town about the Dutch history.'

'We are very thrilled about this progress in foreign relations. The world is gigantic and on our own we are meaningles, therefore we need eachother in every way possible.'


Lithuania

The Stadhouder sighed and said 'Our last subject is maybe the most delicate. We have been in talks with the government of Lithuania for some time now. We have not reported this to the media because we did not want to force a matter as fragile as this. It is widely known that Lithuania has been an unstable nation for some years now. The government has been struggling to keep up with the powerful organized crime and poverty of the people.'

The Stadhouder paused for a few seconds because he noticed that the tension in the crowd was immense. He continued 'The Republic of the Seven United Provinces has come to an agreement with the government of Lithuania. The nation of Lithuania will become the eight province of our Republic. However it will be a province extraordinaire, a province with her own governance and laws embedded in a common wealth system with the Seven United Provinces as main power. This means that the territory of Lithuania will make her entrance in the United Provinces while maintaining her own culture and partial governance while. If Lithuania gets added to the Republic of the Seven United Provinces all Lithuanians will automatically get the Dutch nationality. However, considering the special circumstances all inhabitants of Lithuanian are allowed to make the choice whether they want to keep their Lithuanian passport in addition to their Dutch one.'

'By bringing safety, schooling and industry to Lithuania the Lithuanians get a better future and the Seven United Provinces as a whole increases her place as one of the most stable and developed nations in the world.'


Lunch
The crowd became restless and the silence changed into excited whispering. The Stadhouder stood up from his chair, raised his arms and said 'People, I understand this news is not your regular front page article. I suggest that we go to the lunch now and let all this information sink a bit, after the lunch we will return here to answer answer all your questions. The break will give you time to think and discuss the things I have just told you. I hope you all have a nice meal, bye.'
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The Republic of Byronmandy has released an official stement saying that the Republic wishes the provinces luck with their transformation, and hopefully that it will lead to a greater future for the Dutch people and the rest of the free world.
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