- Pronouns
- he/him, State of Matter: Gas
- TNP Nation
- -Weeklingz-
- Discord
- airmadecat
☆ Introduction by Minister of Foreign Affairs Vor
Hello friends! Welcome to the January 2025 Europeia Foreign Update! This update discusses several interesting topics relevant to Europeia's ideological identity, legislative developments, three concurrent wars, media developments, and World Assembly activity! Read on to discover all of that and more!
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Below are some short extracts from this month's update. For the full version see the dispatch version!
Regional News by various
Population: 1361 | Delegate Endorsements: 265
President Grea Kriopia | Speaker Lloenflys | Chief Justice Decacon
President Grea Kriopia | Speaker Lloenflys | Chief Justice Decacon
Is Europeia still Independent? by JayDee II
Over a year since Europeia entered Aegis, the question of identity has been a hot debate in the region. Attempting to put the question to rest for good, Grand Admiral Andusre submitted their Op-Ed on “The Question that ought to die.” Chronicling the historic struggle Europeia has faced against bad actors attempting to delegitimize the ideals of Independence and that the new debate of Independent versus Defender is just the revival of age old debates that have persisted both within and beyond the region.
Andusre’s article concludes that the very act of trying to define Europeia is an ultimately fruitless attempt to label something too complex to be labeled.
“We must instead ask "How does Europeia identify?" - a query whose wording actually invites nuance and discourse about the intricacies of Independence, without denying the tangible reality on the ground in the modern era of gameplay. And if someone were to hold a gun to my head and make me answer that in less than five words, "Ideologically Independent; militarily defender" is what would come out of my mouth, and personally I find that identity far more resonant.”
The Most Influential Europeians of 2024 by Vorhollah
The Europeian Broadcasting Corporation convened a panel to decide who the most influential Europeians of last year were. Chaired by Minister of Communications Gemeinschaftsland, the Arnhelm 8 were selected from among this year's most impactful citizens.
"Previously, the Europeian citizenry nominated Europeians to be considered as part of the Arnhelm 8, and those citizens chose sixteen people: UPC, Grea Kriopia, JayDee, Vor, Andusre, Rand, Sincluda, John Laurens, SkyGreen, Sanjurika, Westinor, Maowi, PhDre, Sopo, HEM, and Comfed. All of these individuals have had marked impacts on the region over the past year, but of them, there can only be eight! And the eight Europeians selected by the panel were as follows, in no particular order...."
New Senate, new topics! by Decacon
In a break with recent precedent, Europeians this January elected a new Senate with no incumbents returning. The new Senators have plenty of experience though, with former President JayDee, former President Lloenflys, former Speaker GraVandius, and TNP Minister Comfed among the newly elected. Voters selected candidates most aligning with their views on a variety of topics such as oversight of executive technology, judicial reform, and the future of Europeia's wars.
Senators got swiftly to work, selecting Lloenflys to return to the Speakership. Senator Comfed also introduced legislation allowing the Regional Security Council to perform a "delegate tip," due to the recent frontier magnetism changes announced by site staff.
Check back on our next update for more information on what this exciting new Senate gets up to!
Certified Question keeps the Judiciary Busy by Europeia
On November 23, then-Attorney General SkyGreen, submitted a Certified Question under the Judicature Act, asking whether Section RV1. of the Elections Act (2024), which provides for publicly viewable voting tallies, complies with the Charter of Rights' requirement for a "secret ballot or equivalent free voting procedure."
The AG sought a binding decision under TQ1. (1) of the Judicature Act, which permits challenging the law either as applied (in a specific scenario) or on its face (for all scenarios). The AG argued that public tally displays are constitutional on account of providing an equivalent free voting procedure and supported by legislative intent and customary law.
The Venerable Rand intervened, contending that publicly viewable poll results are inherently incompatible with a secret ballot. He presented arguments that argued that due to the possibility to view current visitors while tracking the votes as they came in, the public tally system was not inherently secret.
On January 15, JayDee issued a judgement joined by the new Attorney General Ellenburg, with Lime dissenting, ruling that it is possible to track the votes of an individual, thus violating the right to a secret ballot, ruling that the current conduct does not meet the criteria to be considered an equivalent free voting procedure, and ruling that the conduct of elections does not meet the criteria to be protected by Re: Customary Law in Europeia.
John Laurens applied for a Judicial Review of the decision due to Ellenburg simultaneously holding the position of Attorney General and Circuit Court Judge, which was contrary to the Attorney General Act which prohibits an AG from holding a position in the Judiciary.
Afterwards SkyGreen filed an appeal of the decision on several different grounds. Both cases are currently still active.
... and much more!
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Culture Highlight: The Europeian Book Club
The Official Unofficial Europeian Book Club has started 2025 off strong, continuing its trend of reading books from many genres and of many styles. Over the last 6 weeks, the book club has read books on Norse mythology (Neil Gaimon’s “Norse Mythology”), a classic of LGBT literature (James Baldwin’s “Giovanni’s Room”), a well-regarded fantasy novel (Scott Lynch’s “The Lies of Locke Lamora”), and a humor look a the history and use of the English language (Bill Bryson’s “The Mother Tongue”). In a few days, the club will start reading Redshirts by John Scalzi, a commonly recommended sci fi spoof. The diversity of genres is a hallmark of the book club – there’s something for everyone!
This isn’t by accident. The book club operates very democratically; anyone (whether formally member or not) can nominate a book during the club’s many nomination periods. The club then votes which nominated book they’d prefer to read. It’s a fun way to open the floor to members and followers, encouraging greater participation. The book club reads somewhere around 100 pages a week, with the week’s new assignment coming out on Wednesdays. If you want to be a part of a fun, entertaining, informative club stop by Euro’s forums and visit us at the Official Unofficial Europeian Book Club today!
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