The Budapest Protocol Read Online Free PDF Page A

strengthen his support. There was increasing talk of a Papal audience. After the recent Immigration Liberation Army bombing in Berlin most polls gave Sanzlermann at least an eight per cent lead over his main rival, Edith Leclerc, the French schoolteacher standing for the Social Democratic Alliance.
    The plane banked slowly as the pilot announced preparations for landing at Budapest’s Ferihegy Airport. A young, handsome flight attendant walked down the aisle and offered Sanzlermann some more whisky. He shook his head, and pulled out a pen from his pocket.
    “Klaus, isn’t it?” Sanzlermann asked, looking into his eyes.
    The steward nodded. Sanzlermann signed his book and handed it to him. The steward thanked him, blushed and walked quickly to the back of the plane, holding the book and whisky against his chest. Sanzlermann smiled to himself, turned and looked out of the window. The plane flew over acres of concrete pre-fabricated apartment blocks, the drab “panel flats” that were built all over the former eastern Bloc, from Bulgaria to Berlin. The Danube was a black ribbon snaking through the city, its banks marked by orange streetlights. The same river that flowed through Sanzlermann’s home town of Linz, from where he had first been catapulted onto the national, then the international stage.
    The European Union now had thirty members, including all the central European post-communist countries, Macedonia and Croatia. As Austrian Foreign Minister, Sanzlermann had played a pivotal role in expanding the union eastwards. The remaining former Yugoslav countries were scheduled to join within five years. The post of President of Europe would not be ceremonial. After intense lobbying by Germany and Austria, and hints from Switzerland that it may soon consider its own referendum on eventual membership, it was agreed that the President would be directly elected by universal franchise in each member state. The President would chair the finance, economics and foreign relations committees of the European Parliament, with veto rights over all new laws. The post would be an unprecedented hybrid of executive, legislative and ceremonial powers. That much was public information.
    Behind the scenes, the future President’s potential for dealmaking and breaking, awarding contracts and peddling power and influence was almost unimaginable. Brussels had decided that voting would take place on a country-by-country basis, over a three-month period, to allow the candidates an opportunity to campaign across the continent. The eastern members were first on the trail, to show Brussels’ commitment to the new, expanded Europe. With Sanzlermann’s help Hungary had been chosen to open the voting, to the chagrin of its neighbours, on November 9, the anniversary of the opening of the Berlin Wall. November 9 was also the date of
Kristallnacht
, the Nazis’ 1938 pogrom against the Jews that marked the start of the Holocaust, although that anniversary received less attention.
    He checked himself in the back of the seat vanity mirror: ski-slope tan, a firm chin, well-trimmed light brown hair streaked with grey, blue eyes, cool and assessing. The years on the piste had preserved his looks. Satisfied with what he saw, he steadily scratched the back of his left hand, closing his eyes with pleasure as his nails dug into the flaking skin. The plane began its descent. Sanzlermann’s Chief Political Adviser returned to his adjacent seat as the seatbelt lights came on. Reinhard Daintner was a thin man in a grey suit, somewhere in early middle age – Sanzlermann had never been able to find out the details – a near-albino, with snow white blond hair, eyebrows and eyelashes, above very light grey eyes. He had the unnerving habit of licking his lips like a lizard contemplating a particularly juicy insect.
    “Back to Budapest again. How many times is it now?” asked Daintner, as he buckled up.
    “I’ve lost count. It will be good to see Attila again. He