#859 - Iberian Apennines Summit III
Chapter 855 Iberian-Apennine Summit · Three
Genoa's Governor, Aybiasso, as a member of a merchant family, was the quickest to react, immediately standing up and saying:
"Your Highness, I believe the Bank of France is very suitable to undertake this responsibility."
Joseph was very pleased with his compliance, smiled and gestured for him to sit down, and then shook his head, saying:
"This is a bank serving the common market, and it is not appropriate to have the Bank of France concurrently serve this role.
"I suggest that all member states jointly invest in the establishment of a 'Mediterranean Bank.' Shares in the bank will be allocated according to each country's investment ratio.
"This bank will not engage in ordinary deposit and loan business, but will only focus on settlements and national-level loans between member states."
The representatives of various countries nodded in agreement, admiring France's generosity even more.
Such a bank managing cross-border trade settlements would inevitably have a huge influence, even affecting a country's trade prosperity.
France was actually allowing all member states to jointly invest and participate in management, a level of sincerity that even close brothers might not be able to achieve!
Immediately, there was another round of praise.
Joseph raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet and continued:
"In order to standardize the business of the Mediterranean Bank, and also to facilitate trade settlement and loans within the common market, I believe it is necessary to designate a currency as the standard settlement currency.
"When countries engage in international trade, they will settle in the standard currency. This will not only be more efficient but also reduce the likelihood of trade disputes.
"Countries can stipulate the exchange rate between their own currency and the standard currency, and the Mediterranean Bank will use this exchange rate for conversion during settlement."
This era was still dominated by gold and silver coins, so there was no need to worry about currency manipulation.
The Governor of Genoa was again the first to speak: "The standard currency should, and can only, be the Franc. The trade volume between all our countries and France is very large, and using the Franc is the most convenient."
Only then did Joseph smile and nod, looking around at everyone: "Regarding Governor Aybiasso's proposal, who agrees and who opposes?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Anyway, the Franc could be exchanged for gold at the Bank of France at any time, so what problem could there be in using it for trade settlement?
Moreover, French goods were selling well in Italy, so even if they didn't exchange it for gold, they could use it to buy goods.
Joseph originally thought there would be a "I object"环节, but he didn't expect it to go so smoothly. He immediately announced with satisfaction:
"Then, according to everyone's wishes, we will use the Franc for trade settlement. Regarding the preparations for the Mediterranean Bank, please send financial representatives from each country as soon as possible so that it can be launched as soon as possible."
In this way, after very simple negotiations, the Franc officially took the throne of national settlement currency.
This day was destined to leave a rich and colorful mark on French history.
But for most of the national representatives attending the meeting, they had not yet fully realized what this meant.
After all, currency wars were still a concept that had never appeared before…
The whole day's summit ended, and everyone, whether excited or expectant, discussed with each other, crowding around Joseph as they walked out of the conference hall.
That night, at the court ball at the Palace of Versailles, Archbishop Brienne was surrounded by delegations from various countries, barely able to dance at all.
After the meeting, the representatives of various countries began to have their own small thoughts. Some wanted to invest more shares in the Mediterranean Bank, such as wealthy Genoa, and some wanted to reserve a development loan, such as poor Spain.
Well, despite Spain shipping silver back from South America by the boatload, its domestic industry was declining, agriculture was backward, and the nobles were used to extravagance, so it had a high deficit every year.
Brienne was still followed by a large group of people even after he returned to his residence.
It was one o'clock in the morning when he finally wearily sent away the last guest—the Speaker of the Milanese Parliament.
He rubbed his sore old waist, but in his heart, he couldn't stop marveling at how His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had come up with these almost magical methods, uniting these countries tightly around France in almost a single day.
And each of them was happy to do so.
He subconsciously made a cross on his chest and murmured: "Thank God for sending a divinely favored son to France."
The next day, to the sound of the band's music, the representatives of various countries walked into the Tuileries Palace on the red carpet.
The Iberian-Apennine Summit continued.
"When any member state is invaded, all countries within the organization have an obligation to provide military support. At the same time, when the common market faces the risk of being destroyed, the Security Defense Organization will also summon the armies of member states to carry out appropriate counterattacks."
Before his words were finished, the representatives of all countries except Spain showed signs of retreating.
The French Crown Prince's words sounded like he was going to establish a military alliance.
The small countries of Northern Italy did not want to tie themselves to France's war chariot.
Mainly because those countries that could become France's enemies were countries they couldn't afford to offend.
If France were to declare war on countries like England, Prussia, and Austria, and drag them into the war, they might face national destruction…
Joseph had long expected such a scene, and immediately said in a relaxed tone:
"The Security Defense Organization will be managed by a general staff independent of all countries. The general staff officers will be sent by all member states, and officers from each country will take turns serving as the Chief of Staff for a term of one year.
"All actions of the Security Defense Organization must be approved by the general staff. Major decisions, such as starting a war, require a vote by all member states."
The representatives of the Northern Italian city-states looked at each other, seemingly relieved.
If the decision to go to war or not was decided by everyone's vote, then obviously their small countries would have more votes, which would definitely avoid being dragged into a war between major powers.
Joseph continued:
"The Security Defense Organization also has an important function, which is to mediate disputes between member states. When diplomatic disputes arise between member states, they can appeal to the Security Defense Organization.
"Before the Security Defense Organization makes a ruling, member states are prohibited from using troops against each other."
This time, the representatives of the small countries began to stir.
This was equivalent to France giving them a security commitment.
At the same time, it could also prevent neighboring countries from threatening them with troops.
The threshold for declaring war in this era was very low, and small countries were all trembling with fear, walking on thin ice.
If they had this Security Defense Organization as a reliance, they could rest easy in the future.
They wouldn't have to follow France to fight wars externally, and they could ensure their own security internally. This Security Defense Organization seemed like something they could join.
