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by 
The Supine Socialist Slothland of Maowi.
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Europeian June Foreign Update: Voices from the Outer World
Hello all! Welcome to Europeia's June Foreign Update: Voices from the Outer World. Rest assured we will not be permanently rebranding Europeia after Dune -- these are just some temporary aesthetics for the administration. This month's edition features a number of exciting updates implemented on our new foreign update template, including some shiny new graphics. Read below about news from Europeia's domestic affairs such as recent Senate elections and a potential revival of the People's Assembly as well as major culture events hosted recently like the ovation of Le Libertie and EuroPride 2024. We've also got a neat deep-dive on the Europeian Book Club and a special Gameside feature about Minister Andusre's RMB Questions of the Day. Finally, our update includes any recently published content from Euro's bustling media scene for your enjoyment. We hope you enjoy and learn a bit about our region along the way!
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Regional news
Media highlights
Gameside highlight: Question of the Day
Culture highlight: The Official Unofficial Europeian Book Club
World Assembly updates
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President 
UPC | Speaker 
Decacon | Chief Justice 
Primorye Oblast
Ellenburg Narrowly Victorious in Third Senate By-Election
Forced to a run-off, Ellenburg defeated John Laurens in the third by-election of the Senate term with 57.1% of the vote (24 votes to 18). The two faced off after already clearing a crowded field of competitors, with Caldrasa and Industhan defeated in the first round of voting and Grandfather Clock withdrawing candidacy after being involuntarily nominated. John Laurens conceded defeat gracefully at the end of voting and promised to launch another campaign in the coming Senate General Election at the end of this month.
Le Libertie Celebrated in Ovation Festival
To mark Le Libertie's receipt of Europeia's highest honour, nominated by President upc and confirmed by the 94th Senate, the Ministry of Culture ran a festival in our beloved tortoise enthusiast's honour. As well as spam games and a dispatch contest run by the Ministry of Gameside, multiple high-profile Europeians have stepped forward to speak at length on the former Europeian Delegate and current Regional Security Council member. Delegate upc reminisced about Le Libertie’s work alongside them in numerous gameside endeavours, the debate between Europeia’s future as a Frontier or Stronghold, and the development of gameside security after its transition to Frontier status. Supreme Chancellor Lethen then made sure to recount Le Libertie’s time as Vice Chancellor and talk about his broader impact as a community member, and Pland Adanna stepped in to tell of Le Libertie’s momentous influence on Europeian interior affairs and recruitment. Here’s to you, Le Libertie!
John Laurens Elected People's Assembly Chair, Promises Reinvigoration
After a petition called by Senator Rand achieved adequate signatures, an election was called for the position of the Chair of the People's Assembly (PA). In the early stages, it seemed as if the abolition of the PA would be the focal point of this election, with candidate Prov taking a pro-abolitionist stance in contrast to rivals August and John Lauren's more reformist views on what ought to be changed about the institution. Prov ultimately dropped out of the race and John Laurens secured a convincing 27 to 4 victory over August, with a platform that promised PA threads shadowing those in the Senate both on legislation and on executive oversight.
Ministry of Culture Hosts Europride Festival
Europride, an annual cultural event hosted by the Europeian government to celebrate the region's LGBTQ+ community, has concluded its celebrations. The eight days of festivities ran the gamut from a Barbie movie night to games like Gartic Phone, Skribbl.io, and Among Us; from music (with the creation of a Pride-themed playlist as well as a listening party) to the festival classic: counting and tug of war. As you will see in the Media Highlights section, EBC Radio was also featured in the celebrations for a show on the theme of intersectionality. The event was a wonderful opportunity to have fun alongside our friends, to celebrate our many and varied identities, and to make some new friends along the way.
General Senate Election and Executive Midterms
Today saw the conclusion of the election of five senators to serve in Europeia's 95th Senate. Seven candidates ran: Sopo, Rand, Cordova I, Eldorin, Gem, John Laurens, and Caldrasa. 59 voters cast a ballot in this election, electing the first five of the names listed above. The course of the election was fraught with nailbiting intrigue over whether the coveted fifth seat would be secured by Eldorin, John Laurens, or Caldrasa, with Eldorin ultimately prevailing. Congratulations to the winners and commiserations to those not elected! The new Senate has already selected Rand as speaker, who has appointed Gem as his deputy. Policy items likely to face discussion this term include the introduction of approval voting, reform of the Senate substitute system, and the role of the People's Assembly Chair. Meanwhile, all ministers have been busy writing up midterm addresses to summarise the term's progress so far, just in time for the Ministry of Communications to conduct midterm polling. At the time of writing, polls are closed and Communications staff are busily writing up their analysis for imminent publication!
Kazaman and Westinor Promoted to New Roles
In addition to the rather frequent turnaround in the legislative branch, two further appointments have been made. The Senate unanimously confirmed both of the president's nominations: Kazaman for justice and Westinor for the Regional Security Council (RSC). In this second stint in the judiciary, Kazaman replaces outgoing Chief Justice Darcness, who could not be renominated upon the expiry of his term due to newly instated term limits. Meanwhile, the addition of Westinor to the RSC brings it back to its previous size of seven members prior to Pichtonia's resignation from the vice delegacy as part of a step back from wider activity last year.
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EBC Article: Shifting Sands - An Updated Outlook on Nationstates Recruitment and Asperta – Westinor turns her attention to recent changes in the manual recruitment scene interregionally, with the retirement of Dot's manual recruitment function and the emergence of president upc's bot, Asperta.EBC Article: The Malignant Incursion of RL Politics into R/D – Vor and Westinor report on the way narratives based on real-life politics have been used to advance agendas within the game, particularly in military gameplay.
EBC Article: Senate By-Election Liveblog - June 2024 – President upc gathers commentary and opinions on this hotly contested third by-election of the Senate term, as citizens tread the well-worn path to the polling booth!
EBC Article: Senate Week in Review, 13th to 20th June – Kasaria makes their EBC debut with coverage of the latest goings-on in this busy Senate, in particular focusing on approval voting and Senate substitute reform.
EBC Article: Project Keller - My Deafness and Disabilities – In this first article published under the scope of Project Keller, named after deaf and blind disability rights activist Helen Keller, Ervald reflects on how his experiences and mindset have changed over the last seven years and shares his perspective on accessibility both in real life and on NationStates.
EBC Radio: Commend Writinglegend Special – Vice President Grea Kriopia (and some rowdy listeners) put Security Council author Westinor in the hot seat to learn about her experience and process in authoring the latest Europeian Commendation.
EBC Radio: Power Player Draft 13 – The ever-popular power player draft makes a triumphant return, hotly anticipated after a year-long hiatus. Crowds flocked to the Europeia Discord stage to hear our four wise, somewhat out-of-touch sages place their bets on who will be making waves in the coming months.
EBC Radio: Presidential Town Hall – upc and Grea Kriopia take to the Discord stage to answer a colourful variety of audience questions and give their thoughts on the presidential term so far.
EuroPride Radio: Discussing Intersectionality – hosted by SkyGreen and featuring special guests Calvin Coolidge, Salem, and Westinor, check out this thoughtful discussion on LGBTQ+ identity and intersectionality from our EuroPride festival.
EBC Radio: Senate Election Special – Minister of Radio Xecrio is joined by Prov and Industhan to dissect the recently concluded General Election.
... and much more, all available on EBC Radio Spotify!
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A new project created by the Minister of Gameside Andusre is the Question of the Day (QotD or QOTD)! It is, as you can tell by the name, a daily question asked on the RMB that all nations can answer if they want. And don't be afraid to post through embassies! Everyone may answer!
Here is just one example to draw you in.
It turns out that this year, Europeians have learned ...
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Fostering a love of reading since the year 1326 (trust them), the Official Unofficial Europeian Book Club has in recent months become a hub of activity in the Palace of the People. Executive superdeputy Fillet minion (aka
12 AAA Batteries) sat down with founder 
Lloenflys for a chat about this cultural staple.FM: What prompted you to start the Club?
Lloen: I have always enjoyed the idea of book clubs generally, and I had tried a few times previously to start one in Euro but it usually died out pretty quickly. This time when we decided to read Orconomics, a few people actually were reading along with us so it seemed like it was having more success. Tasting that success, I decided to formalize things (that's why I called it the "Official Unofficial" book club ... it started off as an unofficial assembly and then was formalized, and I wanted to honor that history in the title).
FM: Favourite book the Club has read so far?
Lloen: I think either the first one, Orconomics, or the second one, Tress of the Emerald Sea. Both were a lot of fun. Tress was a better book, and was the first one we read after a vote, so it holds the edge for that reason. But Orconomics is special because it is the one that held things together for long enough for the club to coalesce as a real thing.
FM: If you could go back in time to reread any book for the first time, what book would it be?
Lloen: The Fellowship of the Ring. When I first tried to read this I didn't make it through - I was just a little too young and gave up in the first chapter (which has a LOT of background material). But there has never been an experience quite as meaningful for me as a reader as picking it back up later and getting through it for the first time. That book showed me what books could do, and experiencing it over again for the first time would be amazing. There are a LOT of books I could put on this list that have entertained and delighted me, but none would be more meaningful to my life as a reader than Fellowship.
FM: Does the Book Club have expansion plans?
Lloen: Well, I would say before we would expand we would need to get more consistent participation. I think it's very likely that most of the books I'm the only one who is reading them, but I at least am very excited that we have always had a couple of books nominated for the vote (with one exception, when I intentionally did not make a nomination because I was curious about the book that was already nominated). I think if we got to the point where we had a LOT of books being nominated and a highly participatory membership there are different things (like splitting into genre based sections or something) that could be done, but for now nothing like that is necessary or planned. I would also be thrilled if people throughout NS found out about the book club and decided to participate ... I'd love to reach as big a tent as possible!
FM: If you could remodel the Book Club to any other type of Club, what would it be?
Lloen: I wouldn't remodel the book club to any other type of club! I think it fulfills its niche nicely. If I was going to create another club, maybe I'd create a bird club 🙂
FM: And finally, any book recommendations for the rest of Europeia?
Lloen: Book recommendations are highly personal depending on what people like and what their appetite for things like scares, disturbing or adult scenes, long expository scenes, and even just genre are. That said, if I was just asked to make a general recommendation to people I would probably recommend something relatively short and humorous that could be read quickly and would appeal to a broad group of people - something like The Colour of Magic - the first book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. If I knew more about someone's particular reading habits, I would almost certainly go in a different direction, but Pratchett is going to be at least moderately funny to most people so it is a safe pick.
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This month saw the General Assembly extend its full-throttle activity stretch, and excitingly, we are closing out with Europeian citizen Alien (aka Zinke zoogle bee-bop) bringing their first-ever proposal to vote! By contrast, the Security Council queue peacefully slumbered for much of June, only picking up activity in the second half of the month. Both passed resolutions are the handiwork of the unstoppable Westinor. First, co-authored with PhDre, we celebrated the successful commendation of Writinglegend, a true titan of Europeian history as the resolution puts it. Just eight days later, Commend Nasicournia received an overwhelming vote in favour to become SC #504. July will be rung in with the probable passage of Liberate Arkana Coalition by upc and Makasta in efforts to obstruct the region's destruction. The Europeian Ministry of World Assembly Affairs' Information for Voters for each resolution can be found here:
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