Young Party
Electrified for Europe? That’s what Volt is all about
The young party Volt attracted attention with its clear stance in the European election campaign
© Kerstin Kokoska / Funke Photo Services / Imago Images
“Don’t be an asshole,” read their election posters. Volt still got 2.5 percent in the European elections. The still young party is a result of Brexit.
Born out of Brexit frustration
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.
Volt scores points in European elections especially among young voters
In reference to the pioneer, the small party proudly announces: “One delegate became more than 100 elected representatives across Europe.” Since then, Volt has also been able to win 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, for veto rights of EU member states to be abolished, for energy supplies to be completely converted to green energy by 2035 and for the sea rescue of migrants to be legalized. The peak so far: The movement scored particularly well with young voters – in the 16 to 25 age group, according to figures from the research group Wahlen, it even reached 9 percent.