Volt Europa
Volt Europa is a transnational pro-European and federalist European political movement. It operates as a pan-European umbrella for subsidiary parties sharing the same name and branding.
Volt aligns its political positions across Europe, presenting a common, pan-European manifesto. In the 2019 European Parliament elections, Volt ran in eight member states with a shared platform, emphasising solutions to supranational challenges, such as climate change, defense, energy policy, migration, economic inequality, terrorism, welfare, and the technological evolution of the labor market. The party advocates for a stronger, more integrated European Union, with the long-term goal of creating a federal Europe. Additionally, Volt endorses the formation of a European army, joint European debt and taxes, nuclear energy including the construction of new nuclear power plants, and stronger economic solidarity between the EU member states.
Initially using the slogan "Neither left nor right", Volt is now generally perceived as centrist or centre-left, with a core focus on evidence-based policy and best-practice sharing among EU countries and municipalities. It campaigns on these principles in both local and national elections.
Founded in March 2017, Volt's first national subsidiary party was established in Hamburg, Germany, a year later. Since then, Volt has developed local teams in all EU member states, as well as in non-EU countries like Albania, Switzerland, Kosovo, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. Volt subsidiaries are now registered political parties in many of these countries, most recently expanding to Cyprus and Romania.
Despite its organisation and being referred to as a "European party" or "transnational party", Volt does not yet meet the requirements to register as a European political party.
History
Foundation
Volt Europa was founded on 29 March 2017 by Andrea Venzon, Colombe Cahen-Salvador, and Damian Boeselager, on the same day that the United Kingdom formally announced its intention to leave the European Union under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. According to their own statement, Volt's foundation was a reaction to growing populism in the world as well as to Brexit. Venzon became founding President, Boeselager Vice President, and Cahen-Salvador policy lead.2019 European Parliament election
Between 27 and 28 October 2018, Volt Europa hosted its General Assembly meeting in Amsterdam, agreeing its Amsterdam Declaration, which also served as its manifesto programme for the European Parliament elections. The party previously gathered in Berlin, Bucharest, and Paris.Between 22 and 24 March 2019, Volt Europa hosted its first European Congress in Rome, presenting its candidates for the 2019 European Parliament election. The keynote speakers list included Paolo Gentiloni, Emma Bonino, Enrico Giovannini, Marcella Panucci, Sandro Gozi and Antonio Navarra.
During the European Parliament elections in May 2019, the party won one seat by winning 0.7 percent of votes in Germany, with Damian Boeselager its first Member of the European Parliament.
On 9 June 2019, following a pan-European vote of party members, Volt elected to join the Greens–European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament. In the future, Volt hopes to be able to form its own political group in the European Parliament, which would require a minimum of 25 MEPs from at least seven different member states.
Election of new board and first pan-European digital assembly
From 12 to 13 October 2019, Volt Europa hosted its general assembly in Sofia to elect the new board of Volt Europa. While Volt up to that point had been an ASBL non-profit with only few registered members, based in Luxembourg, it was transformed into an international non-profit organization according to Belgian law. In the AISBL structure all members of the Volt movement, as well as the national subsidiaries could become voting members. The statutes of Volt Europa lay out a general assembly, open to all members, which decides on important issues, and elects a gender-balanced board of nine directors.Volt's Spring 2020 general assembly was scheduled to take place in Lisbon, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the party held a digital general assembly, which included a decision on its programme until 2024.
From 16 to 17 October 2021, Volt Europa hosted its General Assembly in Lisbon, Portugal, the first physical General Assembly since 2019. During the 2021 General Assembly, Reinier van Lanschot who has been co-president since the General Assembly in Sofia 2019 was reelected. Francesca Romana D'Antuono from Italy was elected as co-president. Johannes Heinrich from Switzerland was elected as treasurer. The six non-executive board members elected were: Ines Consonni, Anouk Ooms, Lucia Nass, Thor Larholm, Charles Evain and Lucas Amorelli Ribeiro Kornexl.
2024 European Parliament election
On 27 November 2023, Volt adopted its joint European election programme during its General Assembly in Paris. At a subsequent meeting in Brussels on 7 April 2024, the party elected Sophie in 't Veld and Damian Boeselager as its lead candidates for the 2024 European Parliament elections, also choosing a symbolic transnational list.Following the election, Volt increased its number of seats from 2 to 5, with 3 seats from Germany and 2 from the Netherlands. Volt announced that it would engage in negotiations with both the Greens/EFA and Renew Europe groups in the European Parliament and would let its members vote on which group to join. Upon a unanimous recommendation by its newly elected MEPs, 87% of voting party members chose to remain affiliated with the Greens/EFA group.
Name
Volt Europa was incorporated as a non-profit association in Luxembourg under the name "Volt Europa", abandoning a previous name of Vox Europe to avoid any confusion with a similarly named far-right Spanish party."Volt" was chosen as a name due to its similarity to the initial name and the added meaning of figuratively bringing voltage into politics. Added to that, both the term "Volt" and the Latin version of the name of the European continent are understood in all European languages, hence as a transcontinental movement, Volt Europa does not need to translate its own name, except for languages where non-Latin alphabets are used.
Ideology
In 2018, Volt identified "the 5+1 fundamental challenges", which it has identified as crucial for an improvement of the European Union:- Smart state – Digitalisation of public services
- Economic renaissance – a blend of circular, green and blue economic models
- Social equality – Human rights, equality of opportunity, gender equality, and tolerance of cultural differences
- Global balance – Sustainable and responsible policies in farming and trade, measures to address climate change and refugee crises, and support for labour migration and development cooperation
- Citizen empowerment – Greater subsidiarity, social responsibility, and participatory democracy
- European reform – Federation of EU states, with greater responsibilities for its regions and cities
On social policy, Volt opposes sexism and racism and supports LGBT+ rights.
Volt also supports deep reforms to EU institutions, including common management of migration and border protection, a European army, and European debt and taxation. It argues that a European army should be established and that the relationship between the EU and NATO should be reviewed and balanced.
Volt supports the idea of a federal Europe with a strong European Parliament, in order to create a united European voice on the global stage. There should be a European government, elected and accountable to the parliament, instead of a European commission. The European election law should be uniform across all member states, the European parliament should gain the right to initiate laws, and the European Council should be transformed into a second chamber with regressive voting weights to balance the dominance of larger states. Volt supports a referendum across all member states, which legitimizes such a constitution for the set of agreeing member states to form a core union, even if not every member state agrees.
In terms of environmental policy, Volt has committed to the target of the Paris agreement. To implement the target, Volt proposes a broad certificate trading scheme, the proceeds of which should be redistributed to citizens. Volt supports investment into nuclear power for maintenance and new reactors if safety standards are met. A European energy grid is promoted to integrate production and distribution in the European single market.
As opposed to other movements promoting European integration, such as Pulse of Europe or the European Federalists, Volt has participated in elections on all levels of government as a political party. Its first major objective was the European Parliament elections in May 2019. Volt has participated successfully in local, national, and European elections.
In 2024, Volt published the "Electoral Moonshot Programme", its electoral programme for the 2024 European elections, with comprehensive policy proposals organised in five pillars: Europe's geopolitical leadership, quality of life, humane migration, making votes count, and a liveable planet. The program is available in 7 languages.