I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 853 Iberia-Apennines Summit
Count Floridablanca was shocked and his voice trembled:

"You...you mean, we should file a complaint against the Vatican..."

He didn't even dare to utter the last word.

In the eyes of someone like him who grew up under the influence of the church, reducing the Vatican's control over Spain would be the best situation. He didn't expect that the French prince would be so bold!
This is simply blasphemy and treason...

Joseph patted his shoulder to comfort him: "Don't be nervous, I'm not going to do anything to the Vatican, I just want to restore it to its original state."

"original appearance?"

"That's right." Joseph nodded, "The Holy See should be God's representative on earth, serving the Lord wholeheartedly, rather than wasting energy on managing taxes, bureaucracy, and territories like secular kings.

"You know, the Holy See originally had no territory, and even the city of Rome should not belong to the Holy See.

“As clergy, they only need a church and their pious souls.

"However, secular desires controlled those less than pure priests. They greedily occupied large tracts of land such as Lazio, Umbria, Marche, Abruzzo, etc., and extended their hands of power to various European countries."

He took a deep breath and said, "So, what the Holy See should be like is to stay in the Vatican and serve God sincerely."

Count Floridablanca did not dare to answer, but he quickly imagined the situation described by the French Crown Prince in his mind - without the support of the Papal States, the Vatican withdrew to the Vatican, and it was indeed impossible for the Spanish Church to make decisions. At that time, His Majesty the King only needed an imperial decree to completely complete the church reform.

In fact, Joseph had one last thing to say, which was - let the Holy See return to Avignon, and don't even leave the Vatican to them.

Then, France could, as it did in the time of Philip IV, threaten the Pope at will, or even "use the Holy See to command the princes."

Joseph glanced at the Spanish chief minister who was sweating profusely, and said with a smile:

"Look, I told you this is my gift to Spain, so you don't have to do anything."

He pointed the tip of his nose at the people from the Italian state outside the hall:
"They just want the Vatican to serve God wholeheartedly. Spain just needs to keep silent for a certain period of time."

What he said seemed simple, but it was already commendable that Spain was able to suppress the church power in the country and not provide assistance to the Vatican.

What Joseph said today was to let Carlos IV prepare in advance.

Two days later, the Iberian-Apennine Summit officially opened in this hall.

The name of this summit does not seem to mention France, but the underlying meaning is: the Iberian Peninsula (Spain) in the west and the Apennine Peninsula (Italian states) in the east are connected by France, and operate synchronously with France as the axis.

After a complicated diplomatic ceremony, representatives from various countries sat down around the oval conference table, and Joseph, who was at the head of the table, began the main topic of the meeting:
"Today, all the countries present here are connected by deep friendship.

“How can we make the most of this friendship and bring us more benefits?
“I believe everyone must have the answer.

"That is - a great, vast common market!"

He opened his arms and said excitedly: "There are eight countries here with a population of nearly 5 million! It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the West African Sea to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea surrounds it.

“Also, there is no poor country here, everyone has sufficient purchasing power.

"We will establish an internal tariff mechanism to keep foreign goods out of the common market." In such a large market, any goods produced by everyone can easily find a market, and no matter how much goods are produced, they can be 'eaten up' by buyers.

“And every country here will have this huge market!”

Representatives from Spain, Sardinia, Genoa and other countries immediately had their eyes lit up. Why did European countries desperately fight for overseas colonies? Mainly for the colonial market!
If we can build a huge market spanning the Mediterranean, why do we need colonies?

What overseas colonies could be richer and have greater purchasing power than European countries?
This is something I couldn’t even dream of!
However, Prince Ludovico of Parma stood up cautiously and looked at Joseph nervously:
"Your Highness, as you said, the huge market will bring us huge profits, but you know that without tariff protection, many workshops in our country will close down, and even... the cheap wheat in North Africa will cause farmers to go bankrupt."

Joseph nodded and said, "You may have misunderstood. I am not asking all member states of the Common Market to abolish tariffs. Everyone can propose industries that need protection at any time and set tariffs under the coordination of the Market Arbitration Committee.

"As long as we ensure uniform high tariffs for countries outside the common market, that will be fine."

The "Iberian-Apennine Common Market" and the "Seine-Rhine Trade Agreement" are completely different.

The latter is mainly composed of countries in the German region, and the right to speak is in the hands of Austria, so France’s goal is to earn as much as possible.

The former is led by France and is located in its own backyard, so it must consider sustainability and whether member states have complaints.

So Joseph copied the model of the later WTO.

We can discuss tariffs and if necessary, we can appeal to adjust the tax rate.

Trade disputes are resolved by arbitration institutions to ensure that each country's revenue and expenditure do not become seriously unbalanced.

Ludovico finally breathed a sigh of relief and slowly sat back in his chair.

Joseph pointed to the document that had been placed next to everyone: "These are some rules and regulations of the common market, you can take a look.

"Let me talk about the most important one - the principle of equality among member states. For example, preferential conditions granted to a member state will automatically extend to all members.

“The principle of regulatory consistency. Imported goods will be consistent with domestic goods in terms of taxation and regulations…

"The principle of fair competition. Malicious dumping of goods is prohibited, and unfair competition methods such as slander and deception are prohibited...

“Unity of patent principles…

“The principle of specific protection…

“And most importantly, the dispute arbitration body.

"All member states will elect members of the arbitration committee to handle trade disputes and other disputes. No country may retaliate against trade by means other than arbitration..."

The representatives from various countries in the hall opened their mouths in surprise.

When have they ever seen such a scientific, detailed and standardized trade system? The words of this clause are full of fairness and justice, which fills them with a strong sense of security.

(End of this chapter)