Volt Europa

Volt Europa (frequently abbreviated as Volt) is a pro-European and European federalist political party (often self-referring as a "movement"), which is organized as a pan-European umbrella for subsidiary parties of the same name and branding in all EU member states and several non-EU states (such as the UK, Switzerland, and Ukraine). Volt sets out to align its members' political positions across Europe; as such, it presented a common, pan-European manifesto for eight member states to the European Parliament elections in May 2019. The organisation aims to find European, supranational solutions on issues such as climate change, defense, energy, migration, economic inequality, terrorism and the impact of the technological revolution on the labour market. As such, the party is strongly in favor of European integration, with the stated goal of creating a European state. Further, it endorses a European army, joint European debt and taxes, as well as stronger economic solidarity between the member states. While using the slogan "Neither left, nor right" in its early days, Volt can be considered as centrist or centre-left in the general European context, with a strong focus on European unity and integration. In local and national elections, Volt ran on a platform of "evidence-based policy" and the sharing of best practice between EU member states and municipalities. Volt was officially founded on 29 March 2017. In March 2018, the first national subsidiary party was founded in Hamburg, Germany. Volt has since established local teams in all EU member states, as well as in Albania, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom, and is registered as a legal party in most of these countries. 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 TEU. According to their own statement, Volt's foundation was a reaction to growing populism in the world as well as to Brexit.