Fairness, fairness-the Trade Alliance offered nothing but fairness!

Vice Speaker Kolkirk exclaimed with delight, "If that's the case, joining the Trade Alliance is virtually risk-free!"

Harcourt nodded. "If managed properly, we can gain access to the vast market of the Mediterranean Region while avoiding a massive influx of foreign goods."

Yes, judging from the text of the rules, it is indeed possible to profit by continuously "creating" small Free Trade Zone.

Joseph included this seemingly flawed clause because, judging from the situation of that Economic Community in later years, the "spoke" model was always just a beautiful fantasy and could not be realized in practice.

The so-called Hub-and-Spoke Model refers to the Trade Alliance where each member country wants to use itself as the "axle" to build free trade agreements with a large number of other member countries, making them the "spokes" of the union.

This way, they can fully enjoy the markets of other countries while creating barriers for those countries with industrial advantages.

However, when they actually try to implement it, they find that the political and diplomatic costs are exorbitantly high. If you propose to establish Free Trade Zone with several countries, you have to offer political benefits to persuade them. Even if you are willing to pay any price, there will be situations where two Free Trade Zone require you to offer the same benefits, and then your domestic political groups will have to fight each other first.

Therefore, most of the time, a country joins a free trade zone.

Secondly, Free Trade Zone can't always guarantee you pure profit; other countries aren't fools either. If you want someone else's market, they'll demand concessions from you.

Dorcas more free trade zones, you'll find that a large portion of domestic industries are facing challenges.

It's important to understand that if the industries of the surrounding countries didn't have significant conflicts, they would have signed trade agreements long ago, like Bavaria and Württemberg. Why would the Holy See need to intervene and rally support across Europe?

Finally, Joseph also copied the "patch" clause from later generations, which required that "Free Trade Zone must cover the vast majority of trade and cannot select individual industries for preferential treatment."

This policy, seemingly aimed at trade equality, actually allows countries that establish Free Trade Zone to appear to avoid industrial disruptions from major powers, while simultaneously attracting dumping from their neighbors. Once a country within Free Trade Zone discovers an advantage in a particular industry, it will inevitably strive to develop it aggressively.

Ultimately, countries will find that instead of investing so much political and diplomatic resources in establishing Free Trade Zone, it's better to simply allow the purchase of goods from major countries, since it doesn't make much difference to their own industries anyway.

However, for countries that have never been brutally beaten by international trade competition in this era, how could they possibly have imagined such a profound implications?

Not to mention them, many countries didn't even understand this system until the 20th century.

Soon, the members of parliament who had been discussing other matters gathered around Vice Speaker Kolkirk and his group, straining their ears to listen.

The Vice Speaker couldn't help but exclaim, "This set of trade rules is truly ingenious, unlike previous trade agreements where you either had to accept everything or withdraw."

"The person who designed it is an absolute genius!"

Steffens nodded. "In fact, the Free Trade Zone is just one of the highlights of the Trade Alliance; there are also excellent internal systems such as the Member States' Summit, the Alliance Council Mechanism, the Trade Dispute Mediation Court, the Principle of Unified Regulatory and Quality Standards, and the Settlement and Investment Rules."

Someone couldn't help but interject, "What do you mean by ' Summit ' and 'Trade Council '?"

Steffens took a sip of his Wine and began his patient explanation. He'd secured a promise of benefits from Susie, and had spent the last few days memorizing a full 17 pages of documents, all to promote the idea that such an outsider tactic wasn't unique to the United Kingdom.

"The Member States' Summit is the highest authority of the Trade Alliance and can decide on or amend the basic terms of the union."

"Each member state has voting rights, receiving a corresponding number of votes based on trade volume and international influence. However, the weight cannot exceed 10% and cannot be less than 1%."

The surrounding councilors' eyes lit up again.

So, it seems that if 10 small countries joined forces, they could withstand the will of large countries like France and Spain.

This is simply a model of equality and respect!

From now on, the international trade order will no longer be dictated solely by major powers!

If Joseph told them that the Economic Community of later generations did not distinguish between large and small countries, and that everyone had one vote, they would probably be shocked.

In reality, even if a large country has only one vote, it can still outweigh the power of 99 small countries.

However, to minimize disputes, Joseph still set a maximum voting weight of 10% for major powers. In this era where the law of the jungle prevails, this is already a significant concession from the major powers.

Steffens continued, "The Summit is held every two years, and the venue is applied for by member states, but a country may not apply twice consecutively."

Those around her were practically in tears.

They had all assumed that such a summit with the highest level of power would definitely be held in France, but they never expected that the countries would take turns hosting!

This alone demonstrates that the Holy Trade Alliance is a very equal and just system.

One member of parliament asked, "If multiple countries apply at the same time, who decides where the meeting will be held?"

Steffens displayed an excellent ability to memorize, replying almost without hesitation, "The Alliance Council, of course."

What kind of organization is this?

"When the Summit is not convened, it serves as the permanent body handling the general affairs of the Trade Alliance," Steffens said. "The Council is also composed of representatives from all member states, with a maximum of six and a minimum of one. Its offices are located opposite St. Paul's Cathedral, allowing the Pope to oversee fairness and impartiality there at any time, in the name of God."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Avignon is currently the core of Catholicism, and the Holy Trade Alliance was initiated by the Holy See, making it the most suitable location. Moreover, ultimately, the Council is merely an administrative body under the Summit, so there's no need to pay too much attention to it.

In reality, only Joseph knew that the biennial Summit was essentially a gathering of trade representatives from various countries. Any adjustments to the basic rules of the alliance, discussions, optimizations, and exchanges of benefits could not be completed in less than six months, and the Summit only lasted a week before adjourning.

Therefore, to solve the problem, we must rely on a permanent body, namely the Alliance Council.

This institution happens to be located in Avignon, which is essentially no different from being in France.

Steffens then went on to explain in detail the Trade Dispute Mediation Court, which, like the two institutions mentioned above, has Grand Justice nominated by member states and then decided by a joint vote.

It's so fair that no one can find a single fault with it.

Of course, the court was also located in Avignon. After all, under the watchful eye of God, no one dared to make an unjust judgment.