Balder Press Release, Issue 1

[Theoden Sebastian]

Balder Forum Balder Region Balder Discord

Regional Government [center][b]Monarchy[/b] [b]Queen of Balder:[/b] Rach Eriksen [b]Crown Prince:[/b] North East Somerset[/center] [center][b]Statsraadet[/b] [b]Statsminister:[/b] Onder Kelkia [b]Minister of Foreign Affairs:[/b] Tomb [b]Minister of WA Affairs:[/b] Theoden Sebastian [b]Minister of Defense:[/b] Zander Cerebella [b]Minister of Integration:[/b] Fake [b]Minister of Culture:[/b] Vaclav Vinograd[/center] [c][center][b]Storting[/b][/center][b] [center]Lawspeaker:[/center][/b][center]Tomb [center][b]Members of the Storting:[/b][/center]Theoden Sebastian Vaclav Vinograd Tomb Onder Kelkia Wycliffe[/center]

December Elections & Future Plans

Every two months, Balder holds legislative elections in which it elects five members to its unicameral legislature, the Storting. After its election, the Storting is tasked with nominating and selecting a Statsminister (prime minister) and Lawspeaker (speaker of the legislature). Early this month, Balder held the latest round of legislative elections in which Tomb, Onder Kelkia, and Theoden Sebastian retained their seats in the Storting and were joined by new MPs Wycliffe and Vaclav Vinograd. Despite putting forth a strong campaign, the sixth contender, Deputy Minister of Integration and Culture Fake, failed to win a seat but has pledged to continue being active in the region, and shortly after, was promoted to Minister of Integration by the Statsminister.

Shortly after the Storting Election results were called, the Storting proceeded to nominate and elect a Lawspeaker and Statsminister. Tomb sought another term as Lawspeaker of the Storting promising greater activity within the Storting as well as an increased focus on regional culture, and went on to win a second term in an uncontested race. Onder Kelkia, the incumbent Statsminister, sought a third term in office and was elected unchallenged as well. In his campaign for the position, the Statsminister cited the comprehensive work of the government in improving regional activity while at the same time highlighting its efforts in furthering relations with our allies abroad over the past two terms. He promised to continue this work in this coming term by focusing on recruitment and integration domestically and continuing to build relations abroad. Shortly after winning the election, the Statsminister went on to name his cabinet, which included new faces as well as regional veterans.

A New, Dynamic Cabinet

In his reelection address to the region, Statsminister Onder Kelkia laid out his Statsraadet (cabinet) appointments. The Statsraadet saw reshuffles in some portfolios and the introduction of two new ministers. Overall, the region has high expectations for this cabinet due to its strong standing as a diverse one made of new players and veterans who share one goal in common: improving Balder.

Greetings citizens of Balder,

Tomb is appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs. In addition to the frequent publication of the Raven Post, Tomb will be tasked with the restructuring our current ambassadorial program. With the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff, he will be developing the infrastructure for a new Diplomatic Corps for the Ministry to ensure that Balder is actively represented abroad at all times.

Fake is appointed as Minister of Integration, with responsibility for encouraging nations to join the forums and integrating those members who do join the forum into our community. He has high activity on the forums and the regional message board. In the previous term, while serving as a deputy minister, Fake completed excellent work in producing designs for our forthcoming WA Awards programme. He also pursued several other integration initiatives, including a guide for new members using the forum.

Zander Cerebella is appointed as Minister of War. While the Jomsvikings have seen a minor slump in activity the past few weeks, Balder's military force remains and as committed as ever to defending Balder and protecting its interests abroad.The organizational and leadership skills which Zander showed as Minister of Foreign Affairs will serve him well in his new role as he seeks to further expand the Jomsvikings.

Vaclav Vinograd will continue as Minister of Culture. His recent role in managing the cultural aspects of the Balder-United Kingdom State Visit presages a successful term of cultural activities and events. Apart from arranging cultural events, Vaclav Vinograd's key focus will be maintaining our increases in forum activity over the last two months.

Theoden Sebastian is appointed as Minister of World Assembly Affairs. Together with our partners in Europeia and The North Pacific, we have recently been engaged in efforts to revive the World Assembly Legislative League. In addition, there is vast room for improvement in our own approach to World Assembly issues, centred around improving the number of Balder nations which participate in the WA The Minister will support the Delegate and will not pursue any duties which clash with the Delegate's role.

I believe that this is a strong cabinet which is well-positioned to take our region forward. There will be a further announcement shortly about specific priorities for each department.

Congratulations to all those appointed.

Balder - UK State Visit

On December 11th, Balder hosted a delegation from United Kingdom (UK) for the first Balder - UK state visit since the ratification of the Treaty of Asplund. The state visit featured a grand ball held in the Winter Palace, the Queen's residence, where citizens of both Balder and United Kingdom got to meet each other and mingle. Attending the ball were several prominent UK politicians including King Charles III, Prime Minister George Mountbatten, and Foreign Secretary Elena. On the second day of the state visit King Charles III addressed the Storting in a speech that got the King a standing ovation from the Storting. In his address, King Charles praised Balder and expressed optimism about the days ahead of Balder and UK as they continue to strengthen their alliance.

Regional Flag Contest



In the weeks to come, Balderan citizens will be selecting an official flag for Balder. This was a project started by the Storting earlier this year; however, the Storting session at the time never had the chance to complete it due to general inactivity. Several sessions later, Lawspeaker Tomb has prioritized the selection of a regional flag for the region and has promised to see it go through. In what is to be one of the largest projects and examples of cooperation between the Storting and the Statraadet, the flag contest will be a partnership between the Storting and the Ministries of Culture and Integration. The Storting has outlined a timeline for the flag selection process, and flag submissions are planned to take place on December 19th - 24th. Several rounds of regional voting will start afterward, and the winning flag will be submitted to the Storting to be legislated as the official Balderan flag.

The Balder Press Release
Produced and Published by the Balder Ministry of Foreign Affairs[/center][/center]

[Transdavisia]

Thank you very much for this update! It was a very interesting read.

[Sygian]

Nice to hear what's going on in Balder! Thank you!