Benelux Globe--International Edition
January 10th, 2010
A Dream No More: Benelux to Become a Reality
LUXEMBOURG CITY: In a hastily-arranged joint press conference today in Luxembourg City, the leaders of the Benelux countries--Guy Verhofstadt, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium, Ben Fayot, Prime Minister of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, and Jan Peter Balkenede of the Kingdom of the Netherlands announced the creation of the Benelux Union. Effective January 1st, 2011, all three nations will cease to exist and will yield their sovereignty to the Luxembourg Union.
In their statements, the three leaders made no secret of the fact that international events prompted the abrupt negotiation of a Union. "The Benelux charter was up for agreement this year anyway, and some discussions had been held on creating a joint treasury between the three states, but recent events--most importantly the seeming breakup of the EU--hastened our negotiations," said newly-elected Luxembourgish PM Ben Fayot, head of the One World party. "On Friday, when we met for our annual Benelux talks, all of us independently arrived planning to propose this. We worked out the details over the weekend, and here we stand before you."
Prompted by the union of Iran, Iraq, and Turkmenistan, as well as the annexation of several states into Russia, several states have seized on the opportunity for union to provide greater security. "Security was one of the major reasons for this proposal," said Fayot, "but it was not the only one. In this changing world, I felt that the people of Luxembourg could best be served by uniting with those who share their views. My fellow PMs felt similarly."
Large portions of all three nations budgets for the coming year will be spent on integrating the civil services and governments of all three nations. The official languages of the nations will be French, German, Dutch, Frisian, and Luxembourgish. French and Dutch will be the administrative languages of the new governement. Elections will be held in late 2011, but in the meantime the legislatures will simply combine. The three PMs will act jointly as a Governing Council.
The official currency of Benelux will remain the Euro, as Benelux will remain part of the EU. Each PM stressed that though the EU appears to be in crisis, Benelux will continue to play an active role in it.