European elections
Young and for Europe: This is what Volt is all about
“Dare to be Europe”: An election poster of the “Volt” party. Photo
© Fabian Sommer/dpa
In the European elections, Volt received 2.5 percent of the vote and secured two seats. The party scored particularly well among young voters.
In response to the British vote to leave the EU and the growing right-wing populism in Europe, three young Europeans started a pan-European movement: Volt was founded on March 29, 2017. About a year later, it was registered as a party in Germany on March 3, 2018.
According to its own information, Volt is now active in 31 countries and wants to engage in politics at the local, national and European level. The small party achieved its first success in the 2019 European elections, in which Volt received 0.7 percent of the vote in Germany. This gave it one of the 96 mandates and sent founding member Damian Boeselager as the first Volt representative to the European Parliament.
In reference to the pioneer, the small party proudly announces: “One delegate has become more than 100 elected representatives across Europe.” Since then, Volt has also won several mandates at the local level in Germany, especially in large cities. In the current European elections, the party called for the EU to be expanded into a federal state, the veto rights of EU member states to be abolished, the energy supply to be completely converted to green energy by 2035 and the rescue of migrants at sea to be legalized. The preliminary high point: The movement scored particularly well with young voters – in the 16 to 25 age group, it even reached 9 percent, according to figures from the research group Wahlen.