Fwurg

[Senator Afra Mesti Vanlind of Komès]

"Fellow senators, representatives and citizens of all member worlds,"

Senator Afra Mesti Vanlind started after the Chancellor had opened the floor for candidates to announce their bids to run for chancellor,

"It pains me to make the sad observation that the current cabinet has done little with the precious time given to her in this electoral period, nor does it please me to see the amount of political power the respected senator of the Veolian Commonwealth has managed to gain.

If she has her way, the very principles on which the Union was founded will slowly be turned into the ways common to the vast and ever growing populace of the Commonwealth, eventually resulting in the loss of our very own cultural background, not only as the union but for our individual states and governments as well.

A prime example of this is the recent development within the Praetorian Empire, where the practice of slavery has apparently become legal after a substantial amount of funds had found its way in to the imperial coffers.

While every member world has a broad level of sovereignty to conduct their ways as they see fit, I wonder whether or not this is merely the beginning and how far the Commonwealth would go to undermine one of the principles on which the Union was founded. It seems that if the monetary gain is large enough, we are willing to sell the very things that makes us who we are and we'd be willing to forsake our traditions and cultural believes for the sake of coin.

One might expect from the Chancellor to protect these very principles, to protect those members with lesser influence for the benefit of the entire Union and their own protection, however Chancellor Acethoo has done quite the opposite. She has actively encouraged the rise of several groups within the union, each with different goals, that undermine our greatest defence against outside threats like the Mandalorian and the Hutt, our willingness to cooperate and coexist whilst working towards further advancement for all of us.

During the upcoming electoral period I plan on strengthening cooperation and inspire the populace to further our economic growth, I plan on maintaining a strong and efficient military force to ensure security and stability, and to make sure that the principles on which the Union was founded remain, while they are adjusted as a result of the current political debate on sentient rights.

Vote for me!"

The candidacy of Senator Afra Mesti Vanlind of Komès was seconded immediately after she had concluded her speech, by the Senators of the Kingdom of Meritonia and the New Communist Imperium of the Rising Suns of Deominius, who pledged their support as running mates.

[Nehket Aeka]

After the announcement by senator Afra Mesti Vanlind, the veolian senator got up.

"I see you have taken to lying to the senate to get ahead of the competition.", she focusses her attention directly on senator Afra.

"You claim that the Veolian Commonwealth has paid the Praetorian Empire to adopt a form of slavery, yet you know as well as I do that this is not true. The Praetorians expressed an interest in one of the facets of our culture, and we obliged them by providing them with information on our laws and the associated court cases."

The veolian woman looks at the assembled senate.

"At no point did we offer a payment for adopting this law, and at no point did we send any payment to the Praetorian in relation to their adoption of these laws."

"I, and the whole of the commonwealth with me, belief strongly that the strength of a group stems from its diversity. We are not interested in forcing others to conform to our cultural values and norms, and we are definitely not planning on changing the myriad of cultures within the Union in our own image."

"In fact, when other worlds started to demand that we change our ways and culture, we stepped back to hear their arguments before reacting. Since their arguments have merit we are looking forward to discussing a compromise that might lead to the commonwealth adapting to the demands of those worlds.

Does that sound like a world that wishing to undermine the culture of other worlds?"

She looks around the senate, before focussing on senator Afra.

Please, senator, show the senate the respect it deserves. Do not lie to the assembled senators, representatives and the public."

((OOC: For the record: the Veolian Commonwealth has never paid, nor offered to pay, the Praetorian Empire for changing their laws. Any world willing to investigate this matter can discover the truth with a moderate amount of investigating.

You are of course free to believe whatever and whoever you want, but know that the actual sequence of events never included a payment.))

[Senator Afra Mesti Vanlind of Komès]

Senator Afra looked rather unhappy while the Veolian Senator explained the truth about any supposed payment involving the slavery issue, understood the acquisation of disrespecting the senate by telling lies.

"Senator Nehket Aeka, senators and representatives,"

She started as she sought to restore her credibility within the senate,

"I do believe that I owe you an apology, as it was never my intention to lie to the senate or falsely accuse the commonwealth of event that clearly never happened. It appears that I was misinformed, and as such I have no choice to retract my statement on this issue of bribing the Praetorian Emperor and offer my most humble apologies to the people of the Commonwealth.

The question remains however, why the Praetorians have elected to legalise some for of slavery, which I consider to be a rather drastic change in regard to their long and rich cultural history and customs. I therefore wonder what could have motived the Praetorians now that is is clear that they, or their emperor, have received no direct payment.

I would urge the Praetorian Senator to correct me if I'm wrong, but the only reason I can think of why this change was made is the hope that it would offer better prospects on future trade agreements with the Commonwealth. In other words: though no direct payment was made, this interest in 'a facet of the veolian culture' stems from a strong desire to gain political favour with one of the Union's most influential and economically powerful factions, or rather the hope that this change in culture would increase the odds of more favourable agreements in the future.

Now let me stress that the Praetorians, in accordance with principles of the Union, are free to make any changes as they see fit, as are we all, I would urge you all to consider what happens if each and everyone of us takes a similar course."

((OOC: Afra indeed never intended to lie to the Senate))

[Senator Ardios Eldrilith]

After Senator Afra finished her effort to try to safe face Senator Ardios stood up. He looked angry and could have reacted very poorly if he wasn't trained to handle such situations.

He started to speak with a strong, rather loud voice.
"Senator Afra. Shame on you to suggest that Emperor Thorios Olchazith can be bribed for such a small matter of minor economical importance.

The Praetorian Empire has adopted this Veolian cultural aspect out of free will. We do not need convincing by the Veolian Commonwealth if we can observe by ourselves that Slavery is a small improvement for the imperial coffers. It is a great way for influencial individuals to invest in and seems to be easy for the Empire to tax on. However it is not nearly as important as you seem to think that the Emperor would consider being bribed for it.

Senator Ardios Eldrilith was silent for a moment, he calmed down and continued.
Please convince us about your economical plans to improve the quality of life in the Union Senator Afra.

Other than accusations against the Veolian Commonwealth and the Praetorian Empire you have not told us anything concrete."

[Senator Afra Mesti Vanlind of Komès]

"Thank you kindly, senator for proving my point." Afra responded to the Praetorian senator, after he had spoken out.

"As for my plans to improve the quality of life within the Union, and mainly my economical ones, I plan on offering incentive by means of encouraging the smaller worlds to grow by providing them with funds for the budget.

I'll also not shy not from looking into the trabehub proposal, but we should not forget to look into other options as well. My mean concern is that if we build the trade hubs as proposed, they'll benefit the larger economies more then the smaller ones. Simply because the larger economies can afford to invest more and faster.

I'll not deny that we need their money and support, but we should carefully consider how we should divide, if at all, the financial benefits and gains the result from this enterprise the increase trade and welfare within the Union.

Secondly I believe that the current proposal as set forth by Senator Harek is certainly worth discussing in greater detail, a declaration of rights would also be a set towards improving the quality of life, provided we are all willing to support any articles therein."

[Nehket Aeka]

"Senator Afra, it seems to me that you propose to do what you just accused the Veolian Commonwealth of.

You plan to offer monetary incentives to change the course of Union worlds. I find this a little strange after you just went on in length about how this is undesirable and what would happen if we all follow such a path. You literally want to 'offer incentives to grow' to smaller worlds from your budget, which is literally the same as bribing someone to take your desired course of action.

Would you care to detail your proposal by giving the senate an idea of the amounts you want to use, and what behaviour you want to encourage? As it stands now, it seems that you are proposing to do exactly that which you just railed against so loudly and incorrectly."

[Senator Afra Mesti Vanlind of Komès]

"I'd be happy to explain where I consider my plan to be different Senator,"

Afra responded to the question and insinuation of the Veolian Senator,

"I mean to offer the smaller economies constructive advice and counselling, by means of a specially formed committee, should they find themselves with difficult choices in investments. This program is of course on an opt-in bases, so the committee will not actively seek out the smaller economies, they will have to come to the committee.

Once several worlds have opted in, the committee can also negotiate loans and trade agreements with the larger economies on more favourable terms, simply because the smaller worlds can pull together their resources to offer deals at amounts that would be of interest to the larger economies.

If we were to provide this committee with a budget, say from the ministry of trade or finance for example, they could use that small budget to contribute a small share of the cost of loans, or provide slightly better prices to compensate the smaller economies for the lower then expected revenue generated by trade."