Austrian Homecoming

Day 735, 08:05 • Published in Austria Austria • by Rangeley


We have seen much in these past few days. We were taken by surprise when the nation of Hungary launched an invasion of Burgenland, breaking previous promises that this would never happen. We rallied together, and with the help of allies and allied fighters, succeeded in the defense. We then participated in an effort to help our neighbor, Slovakia, achieve this same independence. The joint effort restored Western, and Eastern Slovakia to their rightful owners.

A continued, perpetual, and endless war with Hungary, however, is not and never was our goal. Negotiations were ongoing with Hungary, and I am pleased to announce today that both of our nations have agreed to launch no further attacks against each other. But more than this, as promises have clearly shown themselves to not be sufficient in the past - influential members of the Hungarian congress will for the first time move to close the open state of war with Austria.

This was a request we gave to Hungary two times in the month of October, with it being dismissed both times. That they are now willing to officially push for an end to the state of war is a very good development. If successful, it would spell a final end to the era in which Austria willingly destroyed its reputation, in allying nations Hungary sought war with as a way of opening up a cheap war. It would close the door on the possibility of another rogue attack on our nation without a declaration of war, in the process ending the economic embargo. And it would instead create the possibility of open and honest relations between our two nations. This would be a very large step in the right direction.

Empires and Dissent

I've seen two troubling things in Austria lately. The first is the seemingly growing desire to make these recent events into a sort of first step towards an Austrian Empire. Austria has been in empires before - other nation's empires. We've been absorbed in ill-conceived quests for greatness. This isn't something we attempted to impose on anyone, nor is it anything we are interested in doing in the future. Our actions were for the opposite purpose: to save our independence and help a neighbor further achieve theirs.

Along with this has been a hostile attitude towards dissent against decisions made in the recent war. We need dissent. Without dissent and different opinions, decisions won't be made with a full consideration of all options. Some believe that in times of war, this principle changes. But if anything, it becomes even more important to speak your mind.

State Run Weapons Company

It has been suggested by some, including former President Metallon, that we re-open the weapons company owned by the Osterreichs Bundesheer, as a way of having a stockpile to supply our armed forces in the event of an emergency. This would entail first upgrading it from a Q1 to a Q2 at a cost of 20 gold, and then of course require further expenditures to pay for employees to work there. We don't traditionally use state owned companies, and haven't for months - but perhaps this could be an exception to the rule considering the circumstances. Input on this issue would be greatly appreciated, either here or on our forum (www.eaustria.tk) where I would like congress to eventually vote on this decision.

Current Legislation

There are a few laws currently up for a vote. One is a donation to the treasury, while the other two are laws with no adjoining discussion. The accepted tradition is to vote down laws that have no adjoining discussion, regardless of their merits. However, one law is currently set to pass: a change to the citizen fee. I strongly encourage anyone who has not yet voted, to vote against this law proposal until a discussion on the topic is held. Especially considering the law itself may be quite harmful to new citizens in our current economic conditions.

On the Agenda

With my last regular update, making sure that relations remained solid with our neighbors who left PEACE GC was identified as a focus. While this played out quite ironically and we were invaded just minutes after the posting, at this point relations have been stabilized. However, the work must continue and improving relations will remain an important focus.

With the congressional elections tomorrow, I urge everyone to make sure they get out to vote. And I also would like to pre-emptively remind everyone running for congress to please donate 3 gold of the 5 gold they win to an official organization of the Austrian Government to help fund it. The Austrian Central Bank, after spending 400 gold in war related costs in the past several days, is in my opinion easily the area of highest need.