The Foreign Minister, Fabian Meyer, has said he believes an accession agreement with the Gallian and Centrican League is ‘imminent’.
Meyer, who has been leading negotiations with the grouping since last October, was commenting on speculation that Polasciana’s membership of the group was looking increasingly unlikely following reports that at least one current member was considering vetoing any deal. Speaking to PTV News on Saturday morning, the Foreign Minister reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring that talks with the League were a success and promised a positive outcome which he said would ‘benefit the Polascianan economy’. Meyer went on to comprehensively reject comments made by government insiders that a deal would not be forthcoming.
Meyer, who was appointed Foreign Minister last year replacing First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Lebedev, previously led exploratory talks with the League in 2012 on behalf of President Artamova, but failed to entice the economic union to offer membership. Instead, he secured ‘associate membership’ status for Polasciana – a relationship which brought no formal basis for an economic partnership but gave Polasciana ‘first in the line’ access to any future membership negotiations.
The current round of talks, kickstarted after Asta Dahn secured a majority in last year’s legislative elections, have been taken more seriously by the League – with reports that its leadership has responded well to a number of measures put in place by Polasciana since the last set of discussions took place. These are thought mainly to be major changes to Polasciana’s exit and entrance visa processes as well as the loosening of economic regulations for foreign companies operating within the country.
The talks are taking place in Anhalt in Wiesereich and are set to enter final stages over the next few weeks. But sources close to the League’s leadership suggest they are nervous about confirming a final deal prior to Polasciana’s presidential election. With the Nationalist Party gaining momentum prior to the poll in November, Polasciana’s neighbours fear a significant switch in the country’s economic and political direction should the party secure a significant foot-hold within the Federal Council, and potentially gain an influencing position in terms of the government’s relationship and future shape of policies for its League membership. Meyer downplayed the risk and restated his Coalition’s commitment to the long-term economic future for Gallia.
Should Polasciana complete a deal with the League over the summer, it will become the first transition nation to join the pact. The League has been in negotiations over the past four years with the Central Gallian Republic, but no deal has been completed. Meyer claims that the previous set of negotiations he led have ensured Polasciana preference in terms of joining the pact.
