Chapter 891 Accident (20)

"Wait, what does EU mean? Is it similar to the League of Nations? And what's so special about the permanent members?"

The two people looked a little weird: "To be honest, the current description of the European Union is not a systematic, complete and effective legal or political document. It is just an elaboration of Hitler's political philosophy, including political, economic, national defense, cultural and other integrations, that is, Europe Countries must form a unified and led body. If EU countries have any disputes in the future, they will not resort to war and resolve them through coordination. In addition, if they attack any country in Europe (excluding colonies and dependent countries), they will be regarded as a collective attack on Europe and they will enjoy collective rights. The right to self-defense.”

The European Union was discussed during the negotiations between Edward VIII and Hoffmann. The EU organization proposed by the latter was essentially different from the League of Nations - the League of Nations was a loose club of countries with no coercive power, while the EU was a tight-knit political organization led by Germany. Entity and more importantly EU power does not operate on one country, one vote.

In the eyes of Hoffman, the principle of one country, one vote and unanimous approval is simply poison to the operation of the EU system in later generations, greatly exacerbating the tendency of centrifugal force. In its vision, the highest power of the EU belongs to the European Parliament, which is a super-sovereign political organization that overrides the sovereignty of European countries.

This political entity is designed to operate as a joint-stock system. Germany is the out-and-out major shareholder and chairman of the board. It exclusively holds 35% of the voting rights of the European Parliament, serves as the permanent presidency and has one-vote veto power; Italy, France, Britain, Russia (Mensheviks) ) is a permanent member of the Security Council, the second tier in Europe, with 33% of the voting rights.

The European Administrative Council is a day-to-day working organization, with members from the four permanent members taking turns serving as the Secretary-General (one chief and three deputy), and the German head of state concurrently serves as the head of the European Union.

The five major countries concurrently serve as leaders of various professional integration organizations in Europe. For example, the British have the longest constitutional tradition and will serve as the speaker of the European Parliament (unicameral parliament); the French will serve as the president of the European Central Bank, and the Italians will serve as the four major European leaders in culture, sports, religion and trusteeship. Chairman of the Council (because all of Africa is a colony, the Trusteeship Council has a lot of power. Of course, Hoffman knows that the colonies will eventually become independent. This is the trend). Russians serve as Chairman of the European Agriculture and Energy Council; Germany controls the European Court of Justice, The three most important professional bodies are the European Security Council and the European Economic and Social Development Council.

In the CSCE, Germany will concurrently serve as the commander of the European Rapid Reaction Force and possess the only nuclear force. When negotiating with King Edward VIII, they originally agreed to let the British serve as the commander of the European Combined Fleet. Now the Royal Navy has been beaten. Guang, let the British take over, let alone the Italians, I am afraid the French will not be convinced either.

Medium-sized countries such as Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Greece, Belarus, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Finland belong to the third echelon, with a combined 20% voting power in some professional councils. He can be a deputy; the rest are small countries with a total voting power of 12%, such as the three Baltic countries, Croatia, Slovakia, Macedonia, Slovenia, etc., so they can only applaud and approve.

In this system, 50% approval can be adopted and implemented throughout Europe. If more than one-third of the votes are against (if all four permanent members express opposition, this is basically the number), then Germany must also consider the political impact , re-discuss and vote in stages. Except for the five major countries, all other countries can apply to withdraw from the EU, but they must agree with more than half of the voting rights (basically, there is no chance of withdrawing). The five major countries are not allowed to withdraw, otherwise it will be regarded as a declaration of war on the EU! Since Russia (Mensheviks), Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, the three Baltic countries and other countries actually have affiliated or supporting relationships with Germany, Germany can securely obtain 50% of the votes in favor. There are obvious conflicts among Italy, France and Britain, and it is extremely difficult to unite to deal with Germany.

This voting rights system and shares can be changed with the consent of a two-thirds majority to create conditions for absorbing more countries, but it is obvious that the voting rights of the five major countries will not be affected or not significantly affected.

In this system, Hoffman also dug a hole for Italy: Italy, which ostensibly owns the mainland, Albania and Serbia, and is also the second in command of the axis, has a higher second voting right than France and the United Kingdom, but considering that France has a higher second vote in Belgium Compared with the traditional influence of the Netherlands, France is actually the second largest invisible shareholder. This is a routine of mutual restraint.

“How much voting power do small countries like Denmark and Luxembourg have?”

"There will be no more Denmark and Luxembourg. They will all merge with Germany."

"And there's no Poland either?"

"There may be a Little Poland, which is probably the original Russian Poland before World War I. Not all of it - part of the territory will be given to neighboring countries, and the whole of Little Poland will be under German trusteeship for 20 years." Eden said, "The overall conditions are roughly That's it. European integration will definitely affect the power of national governments, but to be honest, there are many benefits. For example, the vicious arms race can be reduced. In the future, military expenditures will be determined at a clear proportion, ranging from 2% to 3%. Anyway, the larger the volume? The more money you spend, this will allow some of our congressmen who talk about balancing the budget and saving costs to not have to worry about it. In the future, the army will be deployed across Europe, and no one will be able to fight anyone..."

Attlee added: "On the economic front, there will be no tariff barriers, trade discrimination and competitive devaluation of currencies. Tariffs within the EU will be reduced and exported unanimously, such as a unified currency. This will be beneficial to economic development, and we will rely on a country like the UK for raw materials. It is beneficial for industrial countries that supply other countries and lose their colonies. Of course, the colonies must be looked at separately. It is true that the British Empire lost its colonies, but the colonies of various countries will be reopened to European countries. In other words, we also have access to it. , the British Empire should not even think about being a world hegemon. That is a matter for the Germans. However, if you put down your ambitions and close the door to become a meaningful and influential regional power, you can still guarantee your national life. It would be better, and of course it’s hard for politicians to accept that.”

"If the United States wins, we will probably be in the same situation as the United States. At most, it will be slightly better."

King George VI nodded: "I understand the conditions. They are definitely worse than the conditions that the United States won or a few years ago, but they seem to be better than the conditions we gave the Germans back then. Are the Germans sincere this time?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Aiden said after thinking about it, "Judging from the relationship between France and Germany in the past two years, I think the Germans are sincere. The French and even the Belgians and the Dutch are more satisfied than before; from the Eastern countries and Judging from the actual situation of the Jews in the German-occupied areas, Hitler's tone is much more moderate now than before. His credibility is better now than it was then, or he is very mature politically - this can be seen from the continuous propaganda and public opinion offensive against the United States. ”

"Are these conditions final?"

"More than 90% of the conditions are similar. I don't think Germany still has much room for concessions. At most, some details can be revised to gain some benefits for us."

"You ask me to think about it, and I will reply to you in three days. Don't act rashly recently." George VI thought for a while, "You also don't want to confront the Prime Minister, let alone intensify the conflict. Winston is also for this country, and he can think of it. Everyone must think of a way.”

During the secret meeting between the three, Churchill was listening to Big C's secret report.

"Prime Minister, this is what I got. The complete telegram sent by Black Cat from Berlin. The content is very detailed. I don't think it is a forgery."

Churchill glanced briefly and nodded: "How many people know about it?"

"Black Cat's top officials in the country and the important members of the neutral faction of the cabinet must know about it." Menzies analyzed. "Tonight, Eden and Attlee are going to visit the king. I think His Majesty will know about it soon."

Churchill asked casually: "What do you think of this?"

"Me?" Menzies asked subconsciously, "Are you asking for my opinion?"

"It doesn't hurt to talk about it."

"My position prevents me from expressing specific opinions, but if I step out of this framework, I would like to say..." Menzies thought about it for a long time, "This is a cruel condition that is difficult for us to accept, but it is something the Germans can offer. The most tolerant conditions, if the positions and situations were reversed, I would not guarantee to give Hitler such good conditions.”

"The Americans advised me to resist to the end." Churchill blew out a smoke ring. "Next month, the United States will have two aircraft carriers in service. In another two months, our two aircraft carriers will also be in service. They will not be without the power to fight."

Menzies nodded: "Logically speaking, this is true, but from a human perspective, it may not be so. As far as I know, the surviving officers and soldiers of the Royal Navy who returned home were completely mentally broken, and they lost their souls... "

"The Americans also said they would find ways to resume material delivery to Britain as soon as possible, and they also vaguely hinted that they have a powerful new weapon that can be used by the end of this year and can turn the tide of the war."

"Do you believe it?"

"I..." Churchill was speechless. The credibility of the Americans is not very good right now. They even withhold a few Meteor jets and refuse to give them away. How can they still expect to give Britain a super weapon that can turn the tide of the war?

"I have my own ways."

"I know," Menzies said quietly.

"But I don't want to use it yet!"

"I know too!" Menzies remained calm.

"Okay." Churchill was speechless, "Can you carry out my order?"

"As long as you are the Prime Minister of the British Empire, I will carry out your orders if they meet the needs of the country." Menzies said neither softly nor hard.

Now Churchill was embarrassed, because he had clearly felt that the three military chiefs Brooke, Porter and Pound were getting closer and more and more disobedient. He could not replace them because other cabinet members did not agree. . The only way is to follow the path drawn by the Americans, resist to the end, and carry out a coup if there is opposition. Truman made it clear in the telegram that the more than 100,000 U.S. troops stationed in the UK will obey the arrangements and follow Churchill's "orders."

But after seeing the black cat's negotiating conditions, Churchill began to hesitate again.