I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1388 Financial Freedom
As the Chamber of Commerce president said, if the payment cycle for international transactions is shortened from one or two months to one week, the trade volume is likely to increase by one-third or even more in a short period of time!
Baron Luciani nodded, about to announce the start of discussions on joining the European Central Bank, when Fornovo, the owner of Parma's largest discount bank, stood up and said coldly:

"I think everyone is being too optimistic."

"This settlement system does bring convenience, but it puts our banks and trade under the control of the European Clearing Bank!"
"If one day they use the threat of halting transit settlement applications to blackmail us..."

Palmieri immediately waved his hand and pointed to the "Plan," saying, "It is clearly written here on the second page that 45% of the seats on the board of directors of the European Bank for Settlements will belong to our country, and major decisions on day-to-day operations require the approval of 80% of the directors."

Joseph was well aware of the importance of "democracy" in international affairs, so he stipulated from the outset that the European Bank for Settlements would be jointly controlled by all member states, with France holding only a few extra seats.

Fornovo glanced at the regulations and yelled at the finance minister, "Look, our country has to bear 45% of the costs of setting up the European Bank for Settlements. It's not worth it at all."

He then looked at the senior bank executives present: "At that time, everyone will have to pay margin or asset collateral to the Eurobank, and will also be subject to their supervision. Are you really willing to do that?"

His words immediately caused several people to hesitate.

The subsequent meeting, deliberately steered by Fornovo, turned into a debate about the risks of joining the European Bank for Settlements.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Baron Luciani reluctantly announced the end of the meeting.

The following day, after signing a loan agreement with Bodoni, the manager of Milan Savings Bank, Palmieri couldn't help but bring up the matter of the European Settlement Bank.

"This is absolutely the most perfect settlement model I've ever heard of!" the latter exclaimed immediately. "When I get back, I'll have to suggest to the Milan council that we should join this system too!"

Milan is the financial center of northern Italy. If such an efficient settlement system could be introduced, the profits would be far greater than those in Parma.

Palmieri shrugged: "But this will affect the discount bank's profits, and they are desperately trying to stop it."

Bodoni leaned forward and said earnestly, "Listen, old friend, I will push for Milan to join the European Central Bank. You must also persuade Baron Luciani, even if it costs money!"

"Spending money?" Palmieri frowned. "But I think this is something His Majesty the King and the Chamber of Commerce should worry about..."

"What if we could make a fortune from this?"

That evening, after the manager of the Milan Savings Bank left, Palmieri immediately summoned several trusted confidants and instructed them to invest all their funds to buy francs.

Yes, Baudoni told him that once the European Bank for Settlements was established, the use of the franc in international trade in northern Italy would inevitably increase rapidly. At that time, many merchants would seek to exchange their francs, thus driving up the franc's exchange rate.

In other words, as long as you buy francs now, you can get a high return without any risk.

Bodoni was very efficient. He joined forces with the Milan Chamber of Commerce and, through a series of financial maneuvers, quickly gained the support of a large number of members of parliament.

Just over ten days later, the Milan Parliament passed a resolution to apply for membership in the European Settlement Bank System, with reservations only regarding the requirement to use the franc exclusively for international trade.

Joseph didn't expect that the "demonstration zone" would attract new members before it was even built.

He was also very flexible and immediately agreed that Milan could accept other countries' currencies in foreign trade.

Given the stability of the franc and France's enormous trade volume, a unified settlement market can be established within a few years.

While things were going smoothly for Milan, Palmieri encountered trouble.

In the office of the Parma North Commercial Bank, Bodoni frowned and growled, "Didn't you say the Crown Prince was very supportive of this?" Palmieri nodded with a bitter face, "The Fornovo Discount Bank has attracted a large number of investors, as well as two ministers. Even the royal family cannot ignore their influence."

Bodoni immediately stood up in agitation and paced back and forth in the room.

It's important to understand that Milan Savings Bank absorbed a total of 13 million francs during this period, much of which was borrowed from other banks. If it had remained tied up in the vault, the interest alone would have bankrupted them.

After a long pause, a cold glint flashed in his eyes as he looked at Palmieri, and he said in a low voice, "Then let this troublesome fellow shut up forever!"

In mid-April, Fornovo was shot in the back of the heart inside the opera house and died on the spot.

The murderer claimed that he killed his wife to wash away the shame because she was having an affair with him.

Well, Bodoni gave him 7000 Ducati gold coins, which is 84,000 francs.

The Fornovo discount bank was immediately thrown into chaos.

Three days later, Ferdinand I personally signed the agreement for Parma to join the European Settlement Bank.

……

1800 5 Month 3 Day.

Palace of Versailles.

Charles felt a little nervous as he stepped through the golden doors of the conference hall.

There seemed to be quite a lot of people attending the cabinet meeting today. He saw not only all the cabinet ministers and deputy ministers, as well as senior officials from the police department, tax bureau, and chamber of commerce, but even his mother, who hadn't attended a cabinet meeting in a long time, was there.

Yes, Joseph has been allowing his brother to sit in on cabinet meetings since last year.

Charles suddenly felt a pang of anxiety. Could this be a discussion about his marriage?

Was it Princess Maria Anna of Hesse, who was a head shorter than him but weighed more? Or was it Princess Augusta of Bavaria, who was always listless?
No, no! He looked anxiously at his brother, "I only want Louise... but how can we get through this today?"
Soon, everyone rose to pay their respects to Her Majesty the Queen and the two princes. Then, Finance Minister Godan stood up first, holding a document and proclaiming loudly: "Under His Highness the Crown Prince's wise rule, our country's fiscal revenue and expenditure situation last year was very good..."

Knowing that the crown prince disliked flattery, he quickly got to the point:
"The total fiscal revenue for the whole of last year was 1.23 billion francs!"

"Total expenditure for the year was 1.44 billion francs. The deficit was 210 million francs."

He glanced at the Crown Prince, then lowered his voice slightly and said, "The current total government debt is 2.38 billion francs."

Joseph smiled and nodded at Gordan.

Yes, France's foreign debt has hit a new high, soaring to 24 billion francs. But he is not worried at all, because the French economy is now more than twice the size it was a decade ago, and dealing with this amount of debt is no problem at all.

In fact, the huge fiscal expenditures of the past two years were due to the large-scale construction of railways. Although it appears to be a deficit, it actually has a huge stimulating effect on the national economy.

(End of this chapter)