Fwurg

[Nehket Aeka]

"Fellow Senators", chancellor Nehket Aeka started, looking especially cheerful today.

"At the end of the term of Chancellor Bolv'ar, I promised to reopen the discussion on the Safety of the Union Act. As this subject is still of the utmost importance, the cabinet has internally discussed how best to approach the issue. Today I propose the basis of the Revised Safety of the Union Act, upon which we hope this debate will build a new proposal acceptable to us all."

A document was sent to all delegations.

Revised Safety of the Union Act, version 1

1. To promote member worlds to build their own fleets, the Union will pay 10 upkeep for a single fleet for each member world, if such a fleet is present.
2. To further promote member worlds to build their own fleets, the Union will pay a 1000 subsidy to member worlds who construct a fleet, with a maximum of once per member.
3. Article 3 applies only if the Capital Ships for this fleet are produced by the member world themselves or if they are acquired from another member world who produced them through trade.
4. To finance these subsidies, Tax Brackets 1 will be increased to 15%, for a total additional tax per turn of up to 50 per member world.

Offer of Aid Addendum

1. To promote new worlds defending themselves, Defence Forces may now be purchased with the 'Offer of Aid' funds granted to new members.

"We have removed all points in the previous proposal to cut to the essentials of the Union act. The technology subsidies were removed because the Union already promotes technological advancement through the Tax Deductable Technological Research Law. The ont-time subsidy on Defence Forces was removed because it promotes a method of defence that can not be used to defend another Union member.

I wish to open the debate by bringing forward some of the issues brought forward for the previous act:

The method of funding. In place of an increase of the tax rate in the first bracket, the act could be funded by retracting article 2 of the turn 17 subsidies. There is clear indication that the current market for needs no support. For example, the Praetorian Empire has recently refurbished their industry to the production of , in place of .

The second point of discussion are the Union Fleets. Instead of promoting the military build-up of individual members, we could look into improving the prowess and efficiency of the Union Military. While the 12 fleets currently in operation are of the highest quality, we could look into increasing support, and improvements to miltary intelligence.

It is my hope that through this debate, every delegation is heard, and we can arrive at a mutually acceptable solution."

[Senator Yotoya Ascended]

"This proposal will hurt the peoples of Pruela and Ascension. It proposes to place the burden of this tax on the poorest factions, while taking away the one-time subsidy on Defence Forcesthat might have benefited us in the future. Is it not fair that new world should have a secure defensive base, so that they are not defenceless before an aggressor until help arrives?"

[Senator Danar Tassar]

After the senator of the Inter-System Charter Company did her saying, the Teprogrenaian senator raised an figurative eyebrow as teprogrena didn't had real eyebrows.

"Dear Senator Yotoya Ascended, there are 12 Union fleets and at least 3 factions working on their own military. Besides, planets are very sturdy of themselves. And don't forget that your faction is located at the inner side of the Bozzy Spine. Aggressors will have quite some troubles reaching your faction unnoticed, and if they are there, they can expect the might of the Union fleets on their heads.

Now our, the Consensus, thoughts about the act: In general the Consensus prefers Union fleets over personal fleets. And given that the Union has quite grown, we think it would be logical for the Union to increase the amount of fleets accordingly. We also propose to support the construction of defence zones. However we do see that this very expensive when every faction want their own defence zones. Taken that the current proposal uses the complete budget of Union for this act, we propose that the money used to promote military fleets would be used to promote defence zones."

[Former Senator Aunzora of the Confederacy of Excaria]

"The Confederacy of Excaria believes this proposal is balanced. We also think there is surprisingly little debate considering how many factions held an opinion on the very similar earlier proposal."

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

"I do have a question, concerning the status and intentions of the cabinet around military intelligence. While I have no real grounds to doubt our current capabilities, it strikes me as odd that for the purpose of this proposal, the subject seems to ignored. In my opinion a large military is useless without reliable intelligence.

What is the opinion of the cabinet and particularly of the minister of defence in this matter?"

((OOC: edit: fixed typos))

[Nehket Aeka]

"Senator Yotoya, I think senator Tassar already answered your question with regards to the protection of small worlds."

"The reason defence forces were removed form the proposal is the same as the reason why we do not wish to promote the construction of planetary defence zones. Stationary defence, while effective, can not be used to come to the aid of others. Furthermore, this proposal already includes the addition that member worlds can use the Union Grant to construct defence forces.

While we could look into the extension of the Union defence fleets, I am of the opinion that it is better for each member world to maintain their own military. Not in the least because this is what each member world has comitted to by ratifying the Alliance Declaration. However, the most important reason is one of culture: each world has their own martial tradition. It would be a waste of so much experience to be pushed into the mold of the Union defence fleets. We should strive to remain diverse, so that we are not vulnerable should the enemy find a weakness in the Union defence fleets' method of operations."

"I leave the question of military intelligence in the capable hands of the Minister of Defence, Maria Latharion."

[Nehket Aeka]

"It appears an error has crept into the distributed document. Article 3 should read: 'Article 2 applies only if the Capital Ships for this fleet are produced by the member world themselves or if they are acquired from another member world who produced them through trade.'

Apologies for the confusion this might have caused."

[Maria Latharion]

"Military intelligence is, unfortunately, a highly complex matter.

It cannot be covered by this act alone and I must refer you to the State Secrets Act at this moment.

However I will return to you on this subject later."

[Nehket Aeka]

"Fellow senators,

As requested, the cabinet has devised an addition to the Safety of the Union Act.

Safety of the Union Act, Additional

5. An operational budget of 250 per will be made available for research and military intelligence under the purview of the Ministry of Defence.

5.1. To determine the distribution of these funds, the 'Committee on the Distribution of Union Military Intelligence Expenses' will be established.

5.2. The committee shall consist of three members, every Union member is entitled to nominate by sending in an application to the Chancellery.

5.3. The Chancellery, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall each select one of the members of the committee from the pool of applicants.

5.4. The committee advices on the distribution of funds between research and direct implementation. The military intelligence network itself remains the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence.

Though the extra committee does increase the bureaucracy of the Union, we think that it is impossible to fully encode the fluid process of research funding and military intelligence requirements in law.

We have opted to include the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because this ministry is responsible for the intelligence network of the Union, and we wish to increase the cooperation between these two ministries."

[Senator Danar Tassar]

"We of the Consensus see no problems so far about this additional act."

[Nehket Aeka]

"If there are no further remarks, I will open the vote on this proposal at the beginning of 91."