Monthly FA Dispatch

Senate Elections - April 2024

On April 20, a new slate of Senators was elected to the Europeian Senate. Nine candidates stood, and citizens voted to make the top seven be elected. Candidates Lloenflys, Prim, Ervald, Cordova I, Comfed, JayDee, and Rand were all elected. The first order of business was selecting a Speaker, of which Lloenflys was chosen to lead. However, Lloenflys surprisingly resigned soon after, and Cordova I was selected as his replacement.

Debate topics centered around the ongoing Constitutional Convention, the Peoples Assembly, Half-Terms, and Court Reform. Notably, Senator Ervald pledged to only serve half his term (following in the footsteps of former Senator UPC) to show his commitment to the Half-Term Senate proposal. The 94th Europeian Senate quickly got to work, and several proposals are working their way through the Senatia.

First Frontier Day

May 2nd marked the first anniversary of Europeia becoming a Frontier. The event was celebrated with a festival that included games, meme contests, and speeches. President UPC noted that, despite the challenges that the region faced during those early days, “our success this last year has been about as resounding an affirmation of the Europeian spirit as [he] can imagine.” In recognition of the community’s efforts this past year, President UPC and Senator Ervald introduced an amendment to the Awards and Honours Act (2021), which would create a new title, Praetor, which translates to “one who goes before,” to be awarded to every Europeian citizen at the time of the festival.

One additional honor was granted during the festival. Le Libertie (LL), one of Europeia’s all time greatest recruiters and the region’s first Frontier Delegate, was nominated for an Ovation of the Senate. The Senate unanimously confirmed this Ovation, with Senator Comfed saying that “Le Libertie has always been a considered voice of reason, providing a sober second thought in an environment where many rush to move fast and break things.” LL will be officially granted the Order of Republica during a festival held in his honor next term.

Senate By-Election

There will be a Senate by-election due to the recent resignation of Speaker Lloenflys, prompted by real-life conflicts. Consequently, there will be an election to fill his vacant seat and complete the remainder of the term.
So far, three candidates have emerged for the vacant seat, each presenting their ideas and plans for the short-term tenure in the Senate. The candidates currently in the race as of Thursday morning are former Senator and Presidential Candidate Olde Delaware, Former Senator Gem, and Prov, who has recently returned to the region.
The pressing issues for this campaign appear to be changes to the Bar Association, the Junior Senator option, the Pioneer Amendment, and the Diplomatic Affairs Act. We will find out on Friday who emerges victorious!

NationStates Shutdown

For about 10 days beginning April 14th, the NationStates website experienced a database failure and went into shutdown, and it wasn’t until recently that update started running normally again and the last effects of the event faded. Although some ministries, like the Navy, Outreach, Gameside, and World Assembly Affairs were almost completely disabled for this period, game nights and other events kept Europeians busy and revealed the social strength of the region.