Volt Europe

Volt Europe
Party leader	Valerie Sternberg Reinier van Lanschot
Treasurer	Mihaela Sirițanu
founding	29th March 2017
Alignment	European federalism progressivism social liberalism
Colours)	violet
Number of members	approx. 25,000 (July 2020) , of which 1,700 in Germany (August 13, 2020)
MEPs	1/705
EP Group	Greens / EFA
Website	volteuropa.org (English)

Volt Europa (usually abbreviated Volt ) is a pro-European citizens' movement with party character , which is also registered as a national party in several countries across Europe due to corresponding legal provisions . It was founded in 2017 by Andrea Venzon, Colombe Cahen-Salvador and Damian Boeselager . The organization pursues an EU-European approach in many policy areas such as climate change , migration , economic inequality, international conflicts, terrorism and the influence of the technological revolution on the labor market. The funds for the party's actions were raised through crowdfunding . According to the official final result, the party received a mandate in the 2019 European elections in Germany with 0.67 percent of the vote. This means that the German top candidate Damian Boeselager has moved into the European Parliament.

The party name is based on the international electrical unit of measurement, volt , in order to be able to use a uniform term that is understandable throughout Europe and which is supposed to symbolize “new energy” for Europe as well as the speed and efficiency of the team.

history

Volt Europa was founded on March 29, 2017 by the Italian Andrea Venzon, the French Colombe Cahen-Salvador and the German Damian Boeselager in response to growing populism worldwide and the Brexit and registered as a non-profit association in Luxembourg under the name Vox Europe ASBL .

In March 2018, the Volt Germany party was launched as the first national association . Soon after, Volt had the most members in Italy. The movement's first congress took place on May 27, 2018 in Paris . On June 19, 2018, the association changed its founding name to Volt Europa ASBL. This should symbolize the "new energy" Volt wants to unleash in Europe.

In July 2018, the organization said it had around 10,000 members and supporters in more than 30 European countries. By July 2020, and thus within two years, the number grew to over 25,000. 70% of the members had joined the movement with no previous party political experience. In the meantime, Volt is also active with national associations in all EU countries. There are currently 15 national parties and teams in 31 countries.

Political agenda

General classification

Volt Europe was with Emmanuel macrons movement en La République Marche , Jeremy Corbyns Momentum Group and pro-European movements such Ciudadanos in Spain and the NEOS compared in Austria. According to various media, the aim of the movement is to promote democracy in the EU. Volt emphasizes the importance of a united European voice in world politics. Volt also supports the idea of ​​a federally organized Europe with a strong parliament, in which the citizens become the center of European politics. This is to be achieved through the right of initiative for the European Parliament .

The movement does not want to categorize itself in the classical political spectrum such as left, right, conservative or liberal. At the same time, the movement sees itself as a pan-European party and appears in all countries under a uniform logo. Its aim is not to act as a representative of national interests in the political institutions in Brussels, but to keep an eye on the European Union as a whole.

Volt differs from other pro-European movements such as Pulse of Europe or the Union of European Federalists in that the organization wants to participate in European, local and national elections through its individual sections in all EU states. In this sense, Volt Europa sees itself as the first transnational party in Europe, although transnational European parties were founded before it (e.g. the European Federalist Party ). As the umbrella organization, Volt Europa is responsible for the national associations in the individual EU countries.

Political program for the European elections: Amsterdam Declaration

For the European elections in May 2019, Volt has decided and published a pan-European program, the “Amsterdam Declaration”. This has been translated into several languages ​​and consists of three main points: a reform of the European Union, a strengthening of the European economy and the development of a sustainable and just European society. The FAZ editor Timo Steppat sees the content as close to Varoufakis' DiEM25 .

Political activities

Flyer of the German group

The movement is registered as a party in seventeen European countries , in German-speaking countries in Germany and Austria. The movement's goal was to want to move into the European Parliament with members of the European Parliament in the 2019 European elections , if possible with at least 25 from different EU member states, in order to be able to found a parliamentary group there. With only one German MP, however, this goal was clearly missed.

Damian Boeselager announced that he would negotiate with groups in the EU Parliament . He left open which faction he wanted to join. In an interview with the Handelsblatt, Boeselager only excluded groups that were “right-wing populist and very far left”.

The movement shares many goals with the citizens' initiative Pulse of Europe , which is why members of Volt tried to make their party better known at the Pulse of Europe demonstrations and to encourage people to vote in the European elections.

Party researchers assume that there is a potential voter whose pro-European stance is not adequately represented by the previous party system.

European elections 2019

For the 2019 European elections , the party ran in seven countries, including six with party lists. In the United Kingdom, the electoral commission rejected the application as incomplete. In Germany, the party was able to get a mandate due to the lack of a blocking clause , Damian Boeselager moved into parliament as the top candidate.

country	(Top) candidates	Result	Mandates
Belgium	Kim Leonard Smouter	0.48% +	-
Bulgaria	Nastimir Ananiev	0.18%	-
Germany	Damian Boeselager , Marie-Isabelle Heiss	0.67%	1
Luxembourg	Rolf Tarrach	2.11%	-
Netherlands	Reinier Van Lanschot	1.9%0	-
Spain	Bruno Sánchez-Andrade Nuño	0.14%	-
United Kingdom	Andrea Venzon	0.0% *	-

^* Venzon result as an independent candidate in London

⁺ in the Dutch-speaking electoral body

In France , Italy , Austria and Portugal the party was not allowed to vote. In France, the 800,000 euros necessary for printing the ballot papers could not be raised. In Italy, the party failed because of the 150,000 notarized supporter signatures required. The 7,500 and 2,600 required supporter signatures were also not achieved in Portugal and Austria.

National sections

Even if the party explicitly sees itself as a transnational party, due to the European electoral system it has to run its own national section in each EU country.

Volt Germany

Volt Germany
CEO	Paul Loeper, Friederike Schier
vice-chairman	Paulo Alexandre, Konstantin Feist, Caroline Flohr, Sophie Griesbacher
Treasurer	Leo Lüddecke
founding	March 3, 2018
Alignment	European federalism progressivism social liberalism
Colours)	violet
MEPs	1/96
EP Group	Greens / EFA
Website	voltdeutschland.org

With “Volt Deutschland”, founded in March 2018, the party is represented in Germany and is running for elections with this section within the Federal Republic of Germany.

According to the company, Volt Deutschland's basic program is based on a Policies Proposal , which is also authoritative for Volt Europe as a whole. The focus will initially be on five “challenges” that Volt Germany would like to address at local, regional or national level. These are “an intelligent state, social equality, economic renaissance, politically active citizenship” and “global balance”. In addition to these priorities, a transnational EU reform in accordance with the Volt Deutschland and Volt Europa programs is to be sought. Volt Germany's program for the 2019 European elections is identical to that of all other European sections. It was adopted as the "Amsterdam Declaration" by all Volt sections in October 2018.

In May 2019, Volt Germany successfully sued the Wahl-O-Mat of the Federal Agency for Civic Education because the maximum possible pre-selection of 8 parties and the fact that established parties are displayed higher up put small parties at a disadvantage. The administrative court in Cologne granted the urgent application and decided that the Wahl-O-Mat could no longer be operated in its current form. The area for the European elections was therefore not available for two days. After an out-of-court settlement, the Wahl-O-Mat went online again on May 23, 2019, after the Federal Agency for Civic Education had promised to enable all parties to be compared from the state elections in September 2019.

In the 2019 European elections, Volt Germany received 249,098 votes according to the official final result of the Federal Returning Officer. That corresponds to a share of 0.7 percent of the voting shares and thus one of the 96 seats from Germany in the European Parliament. This is the first time the party has passed the 0.5% hurdle for party funding that applies to European elections in Germany . Damian Boeselager was in first place on the party's electoral list and has thus entered the European Parliament for the party .

Volt Germany was able to achieve the highest percentage of votes in cities. The front runner was the urban district of Heidelberg with a share of the vote of 2.9 percent. But also in cities like Munich and Karlsruhe (2.2 percent), Mainz (1.9 percent), Bonn (1.8 percent), Cologne (1.6 percent) or Frankfurt am Main (1.5 percent) Party do significantly better than the national German average. In the two largest cities in Germany, Berlin and Hamburg , the party made it to 1.2 percent of the vote. In the local elections held at the same time in Mainz, Volt received 1.2% of the votes for the election to the city council, has one seat there and forms a parliamentary group with the deputy of the Pirate Party .

In the local elections in Bavaria 2020 , Volt ran in Munich and Bamberg and won a city council mandate with 1.8 and 2.1 percent of the vote. In Munich city councilor Felix Sproll joined the SPD parliamentary group and thus the city government.

Volt Germany regional associations

Volt Germany is organized nationwide in numerous local and city teams, which, with the exception of a few district associations, do not form legally independent organizational units. The city teams are assigned to the next higher organizational unit, which is usually either the Federal Association of Volt Germany or one of the six currently existing state associations.

Baden-Württemberg

The state association in Baden-Württemberg was founded in summer 2020.

Berlin

Regional association in Berlin .

Hamburg

The Hamburg regional association was founded at the end of 2019. Chair: Kilian Muth and Janne Silden

Hesse

Volt Hessen is the state association in Hessen . The board consists of the two co-chairs Teresa Kraft and Nico Richter, the deputy chairmen Nicolas Kämmerer and Ana Lena Herrling, and the state treasurer Patrick Zasada.

Rhineland-Palatinate

Regional association in Rhineland-Palatinate .

Thuringia

Regional association in Thuringia .

Volt Netherlands

Volt Netherlands, in Dutch Volt Nederland, was founded on June 23, 2018 in Utrecht and ran in the European elections in May 2019 . According to the preliminary official final result, she received 1.9% of the vote and thus did not receive any of the 26 seats that the Netherlands has in the European Parliament.

Volt Austria

Volt Austria
Party leader	Marlies Steinhauser
Deputy Chairman	Alexander Harrer
Treasurer	Ina Dimitrieva
founding	October 12, 2018
Alignment	European federalism progressivism social liberalism
Colours)	violet
Website	voltoesterreich.org

The political movement has also been registered as a party in Austria since October 2018 as "Volt Austria" , had around 100 active members in April 2019 and was planning to run for the 2019 European elections. The 2600 declarations of support required for this were not achieved, so Volt Europe was not eligible in Austria. In addition to the federal organization, there are also local Volt Austria groups in Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Graz and Linz. Volt Austria has had focus groups (Young Volt Austria, Queer Volt Austria, Women of Volt Austria) since 2020, which campaign for the target groups youth, LGBTIQ + and women. Young Volt is also specified as a youth chapter. Volt Austria will also take part in the state and municipal council elections in Vienna in 2020.

donate

Volt has committed itself to publish all donors whose donations exceed 3,000 euros in a calendar year with the name and total amount of the donation within 15 working days on its website. Volt Europa lists the Open Society Initiative for Europe of US billionaire George Soros as the two largest donors with 19,191 euros and entrepreneur Christian Oldendorff, son of shipowner Klaus E. Oldendorff and founder and CEO of ParkU, with 25,000 euros (booth 27 May 2019).

The website of the German section lists several major donors, including Christian Oldendorff with 95,000 euros, Claus von Loeper, until 2015 managing director of Hannover Finanz , with 20,000 euros and several donors with amounts of 10,000 euros and 5,000 euros (as of May 27, 2019).

Web links

• Volt Europa website (volteuropa.org)
• Volt Deutschland website (voltdeutschland.org)
• Description of Volt Germany by the Federal Agency for Civic Education on bpb.de.
• Volt Europa on Twitter
• Report on Volt Europa by Arte , Re: Election campaign for beginners: The new European party VOLT , arte.tv , April 26, 2019

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Cornelia Meyer: Volt Europe: This new party wants to save the EU. GMX , July 26, 2018, accessed on July 22, 2020 .  
2. ^ Tobias Gerhard Schminke: Small German EU Parliament Parties One Year Ahead of National Parliament Election. Retrieved August 13, 2020 . 
3. ↑ volteuropa.org. Retrieved May 5, 2019 . 
4. ↑ About us . In: Volt . Retrieved June 13, 2018. 
5. ^ ^{A b} Mark Chandler: The future of the EU? New movement to create United States of Europe party (English) . In: Express.co.uk , January 26, 2018. Retrieved June 16, 2018. 
6. ↑ European "Volt" movement: A bit green, a bit liberal , Der Tagesspiegel, November 2, 2018
7. ↑ Federal Returning Officer: Preliminary results of the 2019 European elections. Accessed on May 27, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Own information: questions and answers. 1. General. voltdeutschland.org, accessed on July 22, 2020 . 
9. ^ Volt: Youth party wants to save the idea of ​​the European Union . Retrieved June 13, 2018.
10. ↑ Number F11591 in the Luxembourg Business Registers www.lbr.lu
11. ↑ Legal . In: Volt . Retrieved June 13, 2018. 
12. ↑ Politico Brussels Playbook, presented by the Barilla Foundation: Europe in 4 speeches - New US ambassador - A different Brexit story (English) . In: Politico , May 11, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2018. 
13. ↑ You are planning the European revolution! Retrieved August 19, 2018 . 
14. ↑ ^{a b} Simone Disegni: I millennial di volts vogliono dare la scossa alla Ue rilanceremo l'Europe (Italian) . In: Corriere della Sera . Retrieved June 13, 2018. 
15. ^ Youth party "Volt" wants to turn Europe upside down. Retrieved August 19, 2018 . 
16. ^ Volt: The Pan-European Political Movement. Retrieved July 27, 2020 (English). 
17. ↑ "Nous voulons créer le premier parti paneuropéen" (French) . In: Liberation.fr . Retrieved June 13, 2018. 
18. ↑ tagesschau.de: European elections 2019: Italians want to get excited about the EU . Retrieved June 13, 2018.
19. ↑ Send in campo la generazione Erasmus. Una conversazione con Andrea Venzon, presidente di Volt (Italian) . In: European Circus . Retrieved June 13, 2018. 
20. ^ Věra Dvořáková: Volt wants to “energize Europe” - but how? . Retrieved June 27, 2018.
21. ↑ Volt - Vision. Retrieved August 18, 2018 . 
22. ^ New European party "Volt" Against populists, for more Europe. Retrieved August 19, 2018 . 
23. ^ Colombe Cahen-Salvador : Amsterdam Declaration. August 19, 2018, accessed January 15, 2019 . 
24. ↑ Amsterdam Declaration. Retrieved January 15, 2019 . 
25. ↑ ^{a b} The Amsterdam Declaration - The Volt Program for the European Parliament 2019-2024. (PDF) In: http://www.voltdeutschland.org/ . Retrieved April 29, 2019 . 
26. ^ Supporting Doc of the Amsterdam Declaration, German translation
27. ↑ Small party before the European elections: Much ge-Volt
28. ↑ Timo Steppat: Small party before the European elections: Much ge-Volt . In: FAZ.NET . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed May 22, 2020]).
29. ↑ Carolin Wollschied: New party founded: Your name is Volt and you want to join the European Parliament . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed March 3, 2019]).
30. ↑ About volts. Retrieved August 18, 2018 . 
31. ↑ youtube.com
32. ↑ Orange by Handelsblatt: “The most exciting evening of my life”. May 28, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019 . 
33. ↑ Demo for a high turnout in the European elections. Retrieved October 19, 2018 . 
34. ↑ Kaja Klapsa: How can we save the European Union? In: The world . No. 187 , August 13, 2018, Department: Politics, p. 5 ( Online [accessed August 18, 2018]).
35. ↑ Thomas Hummel: The anti-right-wing populists . In: sueddeutsche.de . 2019, ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed on May 23, 2019]).
36. ↑ Eight European countries to partake in supranational party volts in EP elections, Baltic News Network, April 30 of 2019.
37. ^ Finalized party registration decisions, Electoral Commission
38. ↑ Party Registration Decisions - English Version (PDF), Electoral Commission
39. ↑ Wahlen2019.belgium.be: Results of the European elections in figures, accessed on May 27, 2018.
40. ↑ election officer. Retrieved May 29, 2019 . 
41. ↑ On your marks , get set, go in the Luxemburger Wort of March 29, 2019, p. 2.
42. ↑ Chloe Chaplain: European elections 2019: full list of MEP candidates standing in the EU vote from across the UK. May 3, 2019, accessed May 3, 2019 . 
43. ↑ Volt UK… on Instagram: “… We are glad to announce that Volt will be participating in the European elections in Britain! Given did the Electoral commission ... " ( English ) Retrieved on April 27 of 2019.
44. ^ Italy's Battle For Europe. In: Italics Magazine. April 24, 2019, Retrieved May 3, 2019 (American English). 
45. ↑ Facebook post ( French )
46. ↑ Tutti i simboli e le alleanze in Corsa all elezioni europee (Italian) . April 9, 2019. Retrieved April 25, 2019. 
47. ↑ Europeias: são novos, são pequenos e prometem ser melhores. Mas será que estão a conseguir? ( Portuguese ) Observador. March 18, 2019. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
48. ↑ Volt does not provide enough voltage in Austria - derStandard.at . Retrieved April 16, 2019.
49. ↑ volteuropa.org. Retrieved May 5, 2019 . 
50. ↑ Federal Agency for Civic Education: Volt Germany (Volt). Retrieved May 6, 2019 . 
51. ↑ ^{a b c} Our basic program. Volt Germany, accessed on May 4, 2019 . 
52. ↑ Online decision-making aid: Court stops Wahl-O-Mat after a lawsuit from the new party Volt, rp-online.de, May 21, 2019.
53. ↑ European elections: Court stops Wahl-O-Mat, Zeit Online , May 20, 2019.
54. ↑ tagesschau.de: dispute settled - Wahl-O-Mat goes online again. In: Tagesschau. May 23, 2019, accessed May 23, 2019 . 
55. ↑ Results Germany - The Federal Returning Officer. Retrieved July 14, 2020 . 
56. ↑ Federal Returning Officer: Results of the 2019 European elections nationwide. Retrieved May 27, 2019 . 
57. ^ Federal Returning Officer: Preliminary results according to parties and areas. (PDF) p. 74 ff. , Accessed on May 27, 2019 . 
58. ^ Federal Returning Officer: Preliminary results according to parties and areas. (PDF) p. 74 ff. , Accessed on May 27, 2019 . 
59. ↑ State electoral officer: Preliminary result of the district election 2019. Accessed on May 31, 2019 . 
60. ↑ VRM GmbH & Co KG: For the climate, traffic and digital: Volt and pirates form faction in Mainz - Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved June 21, 2019 . 
61. ↑ https://www.kommunalwahl2020.bayern.de/verbindungen_gremien_wahlvorschlag_aktuell_1_990.html Retrieved on March 23, 2020
62. ↑ https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/muenchen-stadtrat-buergermeisterinnen-wahl-1.4896348
63. ↑ Volt Germany ???? on Instagram: “We are proud to announce that another state association was successfully founded by Volt in Baden-Württemberg. We ... " Retrieved August 21, 2020 . 
64. ↑ Volt Germany ???? on Instagram: “We are proud to announce that another state association was successfully founded by Volt in Berlin. We wish the ... “ Retrieved on August 21, 2020 . 
65. ^ Bendix Hügelmann, M. A: Volt Germany Landesverband Hamburg | bpb. Accessed August 21, 2020 . 
66. ↑ https://twitter.com/voltdeutschland/status/1296520374272892931. Accessed August 21, 2020 . 
67. ↑ Volt Germany ???? on Instagram: “We are proud to announce that another state association was successfully founded by Volt in Rhineland-Palatinate. We ... " Retrieved August 21, 2020 . 
68. ↑ Volt Germany ???? on Instagram: “Last week a new regional association was founded in Hessen! ?⁠⠀ Of course, still subject to strict hygiene regulations ... ”Accessed on August 21, 2020 . 
69. ↑ Ariejan Korteweg: Nieuwe partij Volt wil de geschiedenis ingaan as first pan-Europese partij . In: de Volkskrant , June 24, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2019. 
70. ↑ List of parties. Retrieved June 24, 2019 . 
71. ↑ volteuropa.org. Retrieved May 5, 2019 . 
72. ↑ ^{a b} Milena Pieper: Volt does not provide enough voltage in Austria. In: The Standard. April 15, 2019, accessed May 5, 2019 . 
73. ↑ Andreas Puschautz: EU election: Europe's first party wants to compete in Austria. Kurier.at, April 11, 2019, accessed on May 5, 2019 . 
74. ↑ Cities. Retrieved December 17, 2019 . 
75. ^ WORLD: Shipowner Klaus E. Oldendorff dies after a heart attack . March 20, 2003 ( welt.de [accessed May 27, 2019]).
76. ↑ Wirtschaftswoche: Startup: Startup Parku. Retrieved May 27, 2019 . 
77. ^ Volt Europe: Transparency. Retrieved May 27, 2019 . 
78. ^ Claus von Loeper, Hanover - managing director of Procudo GmbH. Retrieved May 27, 2019 . 
79. ^ Volt Germany: Transparency. Retrieved May 27, 2019 .