Volt Germany (, mostly known by the abbreviated name Volt) is a

social-liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Polit ...

, eurofederalist

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is the German branch of

Volt Europa Volt Europa (frequently abbreviated as Volt) is a pro-European and European federalist political movement that also serves as the pan-European structure for subsidiary parties in several EU member states. Volt candidates stood on a common, pan- ...

, a political movement that operates on a European level. Italian Andrea Venzon, French Colombe Cahen-Salvador and German

Damian Boeselager Damian Hieronymus Johannes Freiherr von Boeselager (born 8 March 1988) is a German business consultant, journalist and Volt Europa politician who has sat in the European Parliament since being elected in 2019. Early life and education Damian Boes ...

founded Volt Europa in 2017 as a counterpart to the rising

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

and

right-wing populism Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establi ...

in Europe. The party has been classified as socially liberal and pro-European. The key topics are: A reform of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, tackling the

climate crisis ''Climate crisis'' is a term describing global warming and climate change, and their impacts. The term and the alternative term ''climate emergency'' have been used to describe the threat of global warming to humanity (and their planet), and to u ...

, a fair and sustainable economy, and digitalization. Volt has an evidence-based, scientific approach and is highly interested in introducing

best practice A best practice is a method or technique that has been generally accepted as superior to other known alternatives because it often produces results that are superior to those achieved by other means or because it has become a standard way of doing ...

s. As there is no legal possibility to found a (pan-)European party, after the founding of the parent organisation Volt Europa A.I.S.B.L., national parties had to be founded to be able to participate in elections. On March 3, 2018, Volt Germany was founded as a party in Hamburg. Volt Germany's first elections were the 2019 European elections and they were able to win one mandate, which Damian Boeselager holds in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. At the municipal level, Volt Germany is part of the city governments of

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, and

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

among others. The party's name is derived from the international electrical unit Volt in order to have a uniform name that is understandable throughout Europe, symbolizing "new energy" for Europe.

Policies

Programmatic development

After its foundation, the "5+1 Challenges" were adopted for the parent organization Volt Europa. Soon afterwards, the European basic programme ''Mapping of Policies'' was adopted, which serves as the basis for the creation of all Volt programmes. Volt Europa finally stood for the European elections in 2019 with the election programme derived from the European policy programme, the Amsterdam Declaration. Since then, the ''Mapping of Policies'' has been accompanied by several thematic documents. Together with the ''Mapping of Policies'', these documents form the so-called ''Policy Portfolio'', from which all national, regional and local programmes are derived. On December 22, 2020, Volt Germany presented the basic policy programme adapted to Germany on the basis of the ''Mapping of Policies'' and later developed the election programme for the 2021 Bundestag elections from it.

Programme

European policy

Volt sees the European Union (EU) as the most successful intergovernmental project since

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, enabling Europe's citizens to live in peace, freedom and prosperity. At the same time, Volt believes that the often outdated, entrenched political structures of the EU are increasingly reaching their limits when facing current and future challenges. Volt is convinced that these challenges cannot be met effectively by addressing them alone at and at a national level, but only with stronger integration and more European democracy. In Volt's view, the reform of the European Union must begin with the reform of its bodies and institutions. Volt calls for an EU of and by its citizens with reformed electoral law and more participation, in which the directly elected parliament and not individual heads of state and government decide the common future. Volt's goal is a European federal republic that should be able to meet current challenges - from

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

to mobility transformation and digitalisation, to

social inequality Social inequality occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. It posses and creates gender c ...

. This also includes a common European army, instead of many national ones.

Climate policy

Volt aims at making Germany CO₂-neutral by 2035 and climate-neutral by 2040. The party's strategy consists of an holistic approach, they describe as a social-liberal transformation. For Volt, climate policy is a cross-cutting issue. It is important to the party that climate policy is designed in a socially compatible way and that the economy is set up in an economically as well as ecologically sustainable way. In order to achieve the goal of comprehensive decarbonisation, the party calls for an increase in the CO₂ price. At the end of the holistic transformation there should be a

circular economy A circular economy (also referred to as circularity and CE) is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. CE aims ...

. The party emphasises the importance of social cohesion in the course of the transformation to climate neutrality.

Social policy

Volt strives for a community of solidarity in which

social mobility Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given society ...

and participation in

prosperity Prosperity is the flourishing, thriving, good fortune and successful social status. Prosperity often produces profuse wealth including other factors which can be profusely wealthy in all degrees, such as happiness and health. Competing notion ...

of all citizens is improved. To this end, destigmatized and appropriate social security systems that enable people to participate in society and plan their individual lives are to be created. The core issue in this context is the common good-oriented economy in order to counteract the social divide. According to Volt, the labour market is too bureaucratic, contains unclear legal regulations, sets the wrong incentives and lacks protection. The party, therefore, wants to create a new framework and improve employment relationships. Volt wants to reform the education system to a large extent and plans the "school of the future". 2019 ColognePride - CSD-Parade-8831

The party is against

discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

of any kind and calls for direct support for those affected,

inclusion Inclusion or Include may refer to: Sociology * Social inclusion, aims to create an environment that supports equal opportunity for individuals and groups that form a society. ** Inclusion (disability rights), promotion of people with disabiliti ...

of people with disabilities and plans to combat racism and antisemitism. With a progressive migration policy the party wants to ensure that migration is organized in a humane way and that refugees are able to improve their opportunities for participation. Volt calls for a progressive

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

and immigration policy that consistently implements the human right to asylum and finds transparent regulations for immigration. Volt wants the EU to evolve in this area and achieve a common asylum policy.

Economic and financial policy

Volt judges the climate crisis and growing social inequalities to be the greatest dangers for the continent and Germany. Therefore, Volt combines green, liberal, and social elements in its economic policy. Its self-declared goal is an "ecologically-social and economically sustainable economy", a "sustainable and generation-appropriate market economy ..that sees opportunities instead of obstacles in

decarbonization Climate change mitigation is action to limit climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases or removing those gases from the atmosphere. The recent rise in global average temperature is mostly caused by emissions from fossil fuels bur ...

, entrepreneurship, and digitalization." The party's economic policy is based on the principle of "sustainable development". At the European level, the party wants to harmonize the EU's tax systems and reduce intra-European tax competition. Wahlplakate für Volt Partei Bonn 2021

Volt demands the burden on small and medium incomes to be reduced.

Bureaucracy The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

must also be reduced and corporate tax rates lowered "towards a medium European level". In return, higher incomes should be taxed more heavily, as should profit from capital. Additionally, inheritance tax should be comprehensively reformed.

Digital policy

In terms of digital policy, Volt advocates the nationwide expansion of broadband connections and has set itself the goal of consistently digitizing the administration along the lines of Estonia. To this end, Volt plans to establish a Ministry for Digital Affairs, to which the Federal Office for Information Security would be subordinated. In Volt's view, states should use the technological possibilities of our time to update public services in areas such as education, health care, and the judiciary. At the European level, Volt opposes the use of upload filters and instead advocates for a unified European

copyright law A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

. Volt also calls for a safe and precautionary approach to

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

, as well as ethical guidelines for AI research and use.

History

In 2016, Andrea Venzon from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, Colombe Cahen-Salvador from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

from

were living and studying in the United States. Dismayed by the shift to the right and rising nationalism in Europe and the US, culminating in the

Brexit referendum The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...

and Trump's election, among other things, they decided to found a European citizens' movement. On March 29, 2017, the day the UK declared Brexit Article 50, the non-profit association ''Vox Europa A.I.S.B.L.'' was founded in Luxembourg. Due to several reasons, ''Vox Europa'' was already renamed ''Volt Europa'' on June 19, 2018. The new name, derived from the international unit for the measurement of electrical potential, is intended to describe the energy that Volt brings to the political landscape, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the word "Volt" is inclusive, as it is understood in all European languages. Due to legal regulations, it was and is not possible to found a European party. In order to be able to participate in elections, Volt had to found national parties. In March 2018, the party Volt Germany was founded as the first national offshoot of Volt Europa. Today s of 27.09.2021 Volt Europa is active in 29 countries, and officially registered as parties in 16 of them. ''Volt Hamburg'' was the first national association of Volt Germany to be founded in late 2019. By April 2021, the founding of the other 15 state associations followed, so that Volt Germany is now organized nationwide in state associations. Volt's first elections were the 2019 European elections. Due to different national registration requirements, Volt was able to participate in the elections in only eight member states. Volt contested with the same election programme, the Amsterdam Declaration, in all eight countries. In addition to noticeable successes, for example in the Netherlands (1,9%), and Luxembourg (2%) the party was able to gain 0.7% of the votes in Germany. As a result, the leading candidate Damian Boeselager entered the EU Parliament. Volt views itself not only as a party, but also as a citizens' movement. Several initiatives, NGOs, etc. were founded, initiated or supported by Volt Europa and Volt Germany. These include the now independent aid organisation #EuropeCares, the initiative and petition #StopHomelessness, the initiative #ValuesOverPower, which campaigns against corruption and for the rule of law, as well as the

European citizens' initiative The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) is a European Union (EU) mechanism aimed at increasing direct democracy by enabling "EU citizens to participate directly in the development of EU policies", introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007. The ...

EUrotrain. In the federal election on 26 September 2021, Volt received 0,2 % of the first votes and 0,4 % of the second votes and thus did not win a mandate.

Political classification

Party researcher Uwe Jun of the

University of Trier The University of Trier (german: Universität Trier), in the German city of Trier, was founded in 1473. Closed in 1798 by order of the then French administration in Trier, the university was re-established in 1970 after a hiatus of some 172 y ...

assigns Volt to the left-liberal spectrum: "Above all conservative positions are missing." The party is described as " federal-European,

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

and

". Prof. de Nève, a political scientist at the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von L ...

, attests that Volt appeals in particular to a younger and educated electorate to whom Europe is important. However, the party does not only want to appeal to a young, urban and educated clientele, but underpins its ambitions to reach as broad a spectrum of people as possible with its programs. With its pragmatic and evidence-based approach, Volt also appeals to people who are less concerned with arguing about ideologies and criticize the lack of effectiveness of politics in dealing with crises, according to Prof. Zittel of Goethe University in Frankfurt. With its program and the focus on the topic of Europe, Volt is stepping into a political gap, according to Prof. Edgar Grande, a political scientist from Berlin. Up until now, Europe has been the subject of EU skeptics in particular. The rest of the program, too, is a "very serious attempt to draw up a catalog of values for a progressive movement in the 21st century."

Organisation

The organizational structure of Volt Germany follows that of classical parties. Special features of the organisational structure can be traced back to the pan-European character, which results in a transnational participation and organisational structure, which comes into play especially in the formulation of political positions and programmes. The federal association is made up of the federal executive committee and a federal finance council. Both, the executive committee and a court of arbitration, and an auditor are elected at the federal party conference. The party subdivides itself into state associations and for the first time contested in the 2021 federal election in all federal states with state lists.

Volt Europa

Volt Germany is officially subordinate to the European parent organisation Volt Europa. Volt Europa consists of national organisations and parties from a total of 29 countries and entered the 2019 EU election with a unified election programme.

Party Executive Committee

Volt Germany's federal executive committee, elected in 2019, currently consists of a dual leadership with Friederike Schier and Paul Loeper, four vice-chairpeople (Caroline Flohr, Sophie Griesbacher, Paulo Alexandre, Konstantin Feist) and treasurer Leo Lüddecke. At the December Party Congress 2021,

Rebekka Müller Rebekka (minor planet designation: 572 Rebekka) is a minor planet orbiting the Sun, which was discovered on September 19, 1905, by a German astronomer Paul Götz in Heidelberg. It was named after a young lady from Heidelberg, and may have been in ...

and Connor Geiger were elected as the new designated chairpeople with four vice-chairpeople (Carina Beckmann, Jennifer Scharpenberg, Maximilian Ochs, Jens Többen). Likewise, the re-election of the incumbent treasurer Leo Lüdecke took place.

Members

Volt Germany's party members are often "younger and middle-aged, well-educated

s well as S, or s, is the nineteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphab ...

internationally connected", with most members (~70%) not having been politically active before joining Volt Germany. The party says it currently has around 3,000 members in Germany.

Finances

Volt's accounts for 2018 show income of around 53,056 euros. This consisted of 16.5% from membership fees, 60% from donations from

natural persons In jurisprudence, a natural person (also physical person in some Commonwealth countries, or natural entity) is a person (in legal meaning, i.e., one who has its own legal personality) that is an individual human being, distinguished from the broad ...

, 11.3% from

legal entities In law, a legal person is any person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any legal entity) that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on. The reason for ...

as well as 12.2% from events, distribution of printed material and publications and other income-related activity. There was no donation that exceeded 4,000 euros. In 2019, the statement of accounts shows income of around 584,830 euros. 14,1 % of this came from membership fees, 62,2 % from donations from individuals, 7,1 % from legal entities and 7,3 % from income from events, distribution of printed matter and publications and other income-related activities. In addition, for the first time, there is income from state funds, which accounts for 8,9%. In total, the party received 5 donations over 10.000 euros in 2019, including for the first time a major donation from the entrepreneur Christian Burchard Max Oldendorff for 95.000 euros. This was the first time the party appeared in the statistics for major donors. In 2020, according to the statement of accounts, membership fees accounted for 21,5 %. 30,9 % were donations from individuals, 3 % from legal entities, 0,7 % from contributions from elected representatives, 0,6 % from income from events, distribution of printed material and publications and other income-related activities. 43% of the income came from state funds. In total, the party's income amounted to around 877.133 euros.

Donations

In accordance with its donation and transparency guidelines, Volt Germany publishes all donations over 3.000 euros, as a single donation or in the form of several donations added up over the year, on its website within 15 working days. So far (as of 25 January 2022), there have been 43 such donations over 3.000 euros in the party's history.

Regional associations

Volt Germany is organized nationwide in numerous local teams which, with the exception of a few spun-off district associations, do not form legally independent organizational units. The local teams are assigned to the respective state association.

Electoral results

2019 European Parliament election

The

2019 European Parliament election in Germany The 2019 European Parliament election in Germany was held on 26 May 2019, electing the 96 members of the national Germany constituency to the European Parliament. Both the CDU/CSU and SPD suffered major losses, while the Greens became the seco ...

was the first election in which Volt took part. The party obtained 0,7% of all votes in Germany and won one seat in the

2021 German federal election

In the

2021 German federal election Federal elections in Germany, Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the List of members of the 20th Bundestag, 20th Bundestag. States of Germany, State elections in 2021 Berlin state election, Berli ...

Volt Germany reached 0.4% in the second votes. Due to a threshold of 5% Volt Germany is not represented in the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

Result timeline

Prominent members

(MEP since 2019) * Reinier van Lanschot (CO-President Volt Europa since 2019)

External links

Volt Deutschland Website

Federal election 2021: Volt Germany

Federal Agency for Civic Education The Federal Agency for Civic Education (FACE, german: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (''bpb'')) is a German federal government agency responsible for promoting civic education. It is subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, B ...

References

{{Volt Europa Political parties in Germany Pro-European political parties in Germany Social liberal parties Political parties established in 2018 2018 establishments in Germany