Hi Fediverse!👋 We're Volt Europa, a pan-European political party building a federal, green, and progressive Europe. 🇪🇺

We believe in digital sovereignty, transparency, and putting people before platforms. Sound familiar? That's precisely why we're here.

We're not just looking for another channel to broadcast on. We chose this space because it reflects what we stand for: open, decentralised, and community-driven. We want to be part of this, not just present on it.

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#introduction #newhere

Now, let's be honest. We know what it looks like when organisations show up, cross-post for two weeks, and disappear. We don't want to be that. But we're a small team with limited resources, so we need this to work both ways.

Engage with us. Challenge us. Tell us what you want to see from a European political party in this space. Help us make this worth it, for all of us.

This is the start of a conversation, not a campaign. Let's talk. 💜

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#introduction #newhere

@VoltEuropa Welcome.

And let’s get started then:

• What is your position on Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza?

• Ditto on the unlawful war of aggression being waged by the US and Israel?

• What’s your take on Frontex and the EU’s inhumane refugee policies. Will these continue as business as usual with you or will you reform them?

• What’s your position on Chat Control and Age Verification?

• Does your sovereign tech strategy rely on recreating Silicon Valley in the EU (with VC-funded startups, etc.) or do you favour a commons-based tech stack funded from and designed to serve the commons?

• If we created a United States of Europe, how do we ensure it doesn’t turn into the United States of America (but with different people at the helm?)

• In your vision, is the European Parliament still a toy parliament that can’t legislate or will it have legislative powers like every other parliament?

• Related to the above: Do you see a future for an unelected European Commission and what’s your stance on proportional representation?

Thanks + regardless of your answers good to see a group engaging here instead of avoiding it completely (*waves at Diem25*) or just broadcasting.

@aral @VoltEuropa what Aral said! :)

I mean, bem-vindas!

@aral @VoltEuropa yes, I'm also interested in your response to these questions.

@VoltEuropa Hi and welcome! What do you see as the best strategy for a willing & good-faith UK government (let's just imagine) to approach closer ties/re-entry to the EU?
tbf the current govt does seem to be inching in that direction.

@aral @VoltEuropa Good call @aral Seconded

@aral @VoltEuropa Interesting questions, indeed.

@VoltEuropa Welcome! I gave you a follow. I met the team of Volt Paris at an event earlier this year, and looked for them on Mastodon, but didn't find them. Maybe you can tell them to join too.

So. That went well.

We asked you to engage, challenge us, and tell us what you want. You absolutely did. Thank you. 💜

We've bookmarked every question and reply. No one is being ignored. We're working through them one by one, and we'd rather give you good answers than fast ones.

Keep them coming. More to come.

Hey @Enea90 - thanks for following. Make sure to add https://mstdn.social/@VoltFrance@piaille.fr to your list, too.

@VoltEuropa Thanks for the tip, I gave them a follow.

@VoltEuropa

Welcome.
At the risk of being partisan, I am curious, if this is your pitch, how you would differentiate yourself from the Greens, who already seem to be in that space.

@neil Please bear with us. We're on it! https://mstdn.social/@VoltEuropa/116262076213957365

RT: https://mstdn.social/ap/users/116245469667909390/statuses/116262076213957365

@VoltEuropa
Moin

@VoltEuropa that's interesting. I still have to answer a MEP from Volt who answered one of my e-mails to #LeaveX.

It would be great if members of the party came here! Mainly after leaving X.

@VoltEuropa
Welcome ☀️

@dotmavriq Thanks for asking! The "Shine 29" strategy is our roadmap for 2024 to 2029: https://volteuropa.org/shine-2029-our-plan-for-the-next-5-years

We focus on transforming the EU into a truly democratic federal state.:
1. Smart State: Digitalising public services and investing in education.
2. Economic Renaissance: A circular, green, and innovative economy.
3. Social Equality: Ending discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities.
4. Global Balance: Promoting peace, security, and climate justice globally.

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5. Citizen Empowerment: Using citizen assemblies to give you a direct voice.
+1: EU Reform: Building a federal democracy with an elected government and a European Army.

Regarding "not at all costs": Volt advocates for the **principle of subsidiarity**. Decisions should be made at the most local level possible. We also propose a **European Constitution** to protect member states from democratic backsliding and ensure clear safeguards for national identities within the federation.

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@VoltEuropa @immersfer Welcome! Curious to see and hear more about your party, there’s definitely room for a party looking to build a more sustainable future for the whole planet, not just humans.

@VoltEuropa Plushtodon looks badass with the cap.

@VoltEuropa Welcome to the #Fediverse !
What is your position on #ChatControl ?

#EUPol

@VoltEuropa Hola! I only found you just now. May I suggest to use the #EUpol tag? Not for everything, but I have it bookmarked, but don't use the various national parties/national politics tags so I haven't come across your posts until someone reposted it on my timeline.
That said, my actual question is: why are pro 🇪🇺 parties (broad spectrum) so passive and letting the EPP walk all over us? Where is the public outreach campaign for the EU budget battle to #EndRebates ? #MFFbutNotTheFunKind

@VoltEuropa

1. Follow @bert_hubert and tell us your ideas in digital sovereignty.

2. Given your limited resources, what frequency did you have in mind for checking in and engaging with us?

@hlangeveld We definitely plan to check in daily. To take part in Fediverse discussions and post content that we think might be of interest to our followers (something we need to find out). But this project is purely volunteer-driven. We need to find out how this works for us and if the efforts are beneficial for the community.

@chiefbongo Thank you for the warm welcome and for sharing these critical points. Your concerns regarding digital rights and transparency are central to our vision for a reformed Europe. Volt opposes Chat Control. We advocate for the right to encryption and anonymity online. We also push for the "Public Money, Public Code" principle to prioritize Open Source software.

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On accountability: we propose a stronger EU Ethics Body and stricter lobby controls to combat corruption. We want an EU that leads by example, protecting citizens from both corporate overreach and state surveillance.
We hear your skepticism. Our goal is a federal Europe that is truly democratic and held accountable by its citizens.

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So, this should be simple: why do your Finnish chapter communicate (apparently) exclusively on Instagram?
@VoltEuropa

@VoltEuropa Thanks for joining! What I would like to see is well exemplified by Zack Polanski's Green Party in England and Wales. Namely:

1) Authenticity - no posturing
2) Pointed, clear answers with 0% waffle
3) Resharing of current articles or posts that you have policy-related opinions on, stating how you align/differ
4) When all those are done well, a bit of levity is very welcome (especially with a history of #1 behind you)

Besides that, everything @aral asked you. In detail please!

oh well, I'll join in with my own questions then, just to get an idea:

1) How can the EU achieve Digital Sovereignty when every CPU and GPU need to be bought from US companies?

2) Is a green agenda that respects the planet's finite ressources compatible with an economic system that relies on constant growth?

3) Should there be a EU-wide minimum wage?

4) Do you consider "Social Discrimination" the fact that workers pay proportionaly more taxes than private companies?

@VoltEuropa

@aral @VoltEuropa I am curious about all this also.

Thanks @aral

@aral @VoltEuropa good questions. Curious IF you will get answers….

@aral @VoltEuropa good questions, looking forward to the reply

@aral I know that @voltnederland is at least in favour of the European ICE, #Frontex. Don't know about @VoltEuropa .

@aral @VoltEuropa
Great questions
I would also like to know,
What their standpoints are on digital id?

@VoltEuropa @hlangeveld On the volunteer front, one way to distribute the work is to encourage people in the org to participate as individuals *without* necessarily being required to stick solely to approved official positions (although giving everyone some basic PR training can help avoid starting *too* many fires that need to be put out). If folks are already participating, give them explicit permission to be open about the affiliation (and if those things are already happening, nice work).

@aral
at Bremen, DE we have a bigger Volt community. Online I tried to speak to @voltbremen here years ago. I never got any response. I was on their meetings and saw or felt they only address younger voters. So I left 😳
@VoltEuropa

@joenepraat @voltnederland @VoltEuropa Right, well, that’s not good.

@VoltEuropa What I would really want from a European party: give me the right to vote in the country I live in (work, pay taxes, buy a house, send my kids to school, ...)! That would be way more meaningful for me than voting in my country of origin.

@VoltEuropa Random question, do you know if there’s were any Volt members running in the French municipal elections today / any list endorsed by Volt ?

@Sobex Hey @VoltFrance - can you answer this question, please?

@VoltEuropa
Hi Volt, I wondered if this would be a good place. You're not big in the UK?

For grins, here's some options:
https://m.ai6yr.org/@ai6yr/116162440169165718
😁

@A_J_Millar Volt UK is real and active! 💜 It's campaigning for the UK to rejoin the EU. Smaller than our chapters on the continent, for sure, but growing. The Fediverse feels like exactly the right place for people who think Europe is better together.

@neil@co.uk To us, digital sovereignty means exactly this: the ability of individuals, organisations, and governments to maintain real control over their own data, infrastructure, and technology.

Not a vague aspiration. An actual capacity. Right now, too many of our institutions depend on a handful of corporations or foreign states for critical systems. That dependency is a political vulnerability. We think Europe can and should fix it.

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Concretely, three steps:
1. Public funds, public code: Software built with tax money must be published under a free and open-source licence.
2. Open standards, not walled gardens: Procurement rules should require open standards, so no vendor can hold governments or users captive.
3. European jurisdiction: Critical data and infrastructure must be governed by European law, with real accountability.

What would you prioritise?

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@VoltEuropa A lesson I learned from the folks who worked out in Africa and the like bringing technology. You are missing 4)

4) Maintainable and replicable entirely within the EU by EU citizens

It's no good publishing something you can't maintain or that depends on some piece of US or Chinese specific hardware in a way you can't trivially fix.

If it's not maintainable and replicable you are not materially improving the situation.

@s1m0n4 Our position on ChatControl is clear: we oppose it. Protecting children from online abuse is a priority. But mass scanning of every private message is not the solution. Encryption is essential to online privacy, and citizens must never accept mass surveillance as the norm. Evidence shows mass scanning floods investigators with false positives, undermining rather than supporting effective child protection. This is not a plan. It is a false promise.

Read more: https://volteuropa.org/news/chat-control-wont-protect-children

@VoltEuropa thank you!

@wiebiwetter
You work here. You pay taxes here. You send your kids to school here. But you still can't vote here.That's not democracy, that's a relic.

Volt wants to change that: extend voting rights from municipal level to regional, national and presidential elections. Because where you live is where politics affects you.

@ancoghlan @hlangeveld Thanks! We are encouraging all members to participate in Fediverse discussions. Many of them clearly state they are Volters. Nobody has been gagged. At the same time, we are trying to extend the team that manages this account

@VoltEuropa The walled gardens of #2 do also count for #1. With public funds, we want real public public code. Not a walled garden that you can look at but cannot interact with. If the public community cannot do PR's, or they are not accepted then the code is only audit-able, nothing more.

@VoltEuropa FUCKING WELCOME, I WAS WAITING FOR YOU!!

@VoltEuropa If Volt Spain and Volt Italy are also here I would gladly follow too

@rafa_font
This way: @VoltItalia ☺️

@VoltEuropa I'm all for frequent replies (participation in discussions for example). But at least speaking for myself (don't know about others) I prefer to follow accounts which are not super high volume in terms of posts which show up in my feed (top level posts and boosts, although in the latter case I have the option to not look at boosts per-account). @hlangeveld

@osma We have asked our Finnish chapter and were informed that this is only temporary as the new board is settling.

@VoltEuropa What are the concrete steps you do in that direction?

@VoltEuropa And a few things I want :
- The end of the border control that cause train delays inside Schengen
- EU to purchase less American military equipment but instead build its own, and rationalise the hundreds of competing weapon systems we have.
- Have we got a EU analysis of the defense and security threats and of the collective EU military needs ? (i.e. a European equivalent to the French Livre Blanc de la Défense Nationale).

@Sobex All three are on our list. On Schengen theatre: agreed. As for the White Book: we don't have it, but there is the 2016 EU Global Strategy, and we have asked the EU to update it yearly, providing clear security strategies with actual threat assessments, prioritisation, and concrete capability needs. Ursula vdL recently announced that she would do exactly that. We agree with you, we need a strategic security culture in Europe, not a Christmas tree that makes everyone happy by being vague.

@wiebiwetter Fair question. Honest caveat: Volt does not hold legislative power. What we do: campaign hard for this. It's in our programme, written by members living exactly this reality across 30+ countries. That is precisely why a genuinely European party matters. Every other European 'party' is actually a coalition of national parties with different programmes. We are one party. One programme. Everywhere. And we are making this case in every member state at once.

@jejollyroger @aral Digital ID done right means freedom, not surveillance. Volt backs a full roll-out of the EU Digital Identity Wallet: one secure wallet storing your EU ID, national ID, and public certificates across all Member States. User-controlled. Decentralised. Privacy-first. Because seamless public services shouldn't come at the cost of your data.

@aral These questions deserve proper answers, so we looped in several policy teams. Thanks for bearing with us, @aral. We'll tackle each one in its own thread. The exception is Tech strategy, which needs a bit more time: that thread will follow later.

@aral 1. On occupied Palestine: Volt demands the EU suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement, halt trade from occupied territories, and sanction settler organisations and the politicians enabling them. This isn't politics. It's compliance with international law.

https://volteuropa.org/news/stop-settler-terrorism-displacement-and-annexation-in-occupied-palestine

@aral 2. On military action outside the UN framework and international law: our position is consistent, whoever is acting. Bypassing the UN weakens the rules-based order and sets dangerous precedents.

https://volteuropa.org/news/iranians-deserve-a-legitimate-intervention-from-the-international-community

@aral 3. This is a statement from our MEP Anna Strolenberg:

"Conservative and far-right parties formed a majority and voted yes to a new return regulation. Expanding deportation centres outside EU borders.

I visited an existing center in Albania myself. What I saw made a deep impression on me. This wasn't a reception centre; it was a prison. Now imagine a prison like this, but further away. In Uganda for example. With zero oversight from the European countries sending people there.

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This isn't just a human rights issue. The more Europe outsources its responsibilities, the more dependent and vulnerable we become in an increasingly unstable world.

The Netherlands is pushing for these hubs. Germany, Austria, Denmark and Greece are too.

We do not accept this outcome. We will challenge this decision.
Because the Europe I believe in does not offshore its values, it lives by them."

@aral 4. On Chat Control and age verification: A clear no. Mass surveillance is not an acceptable trade-off, from states or corporations. We support end-to-end encryption and oppose any proposal that breaks it. Age verification requiring mass data collection poses unacceptable privacy risks. Citizens should never accept surveillance as the default.

@aral 6. On a Federal Europe that doesn't replicate US-style power concentration: design matters. We call for a citizen-driven constitutional convention, subsidiarity embedded in law, enforceable social rights, and an independent judiciary. Democratic legitimacy at every level, not power concentration with a European flag on it.

@aral 7. On the EP: it should be a real parliament. We call for full legislative initiative rights for MEPs, co-decision on all EU legislation, and qualified majority replacing national vetoes. The EP should not need to politely ask the Commission to consider proposing a law. That is a structural flaw we intend to fix.

@aral 8. On the Commission and proportional representation: we want a directly elected EU Prime Minister from the EP, a cabinet accountable via confidence votes. For EP elections: a mixed local and proportional system, one person one vote. An unelected executive answerable to no one is not our vision for Europe.

@aral And finally #5: We stand for pragmatic synthesis. One of Europe's biggest weaknesses is that startups are forced to go to the US to find the capital they need to scale, as the EU VC market is fragmented (money is plenty, but stuck in national silos). This is why we advocate for the EU Inc so that it is easy to open a company for any European, as well as for an investor to invest. Said this, we defend commons-based infrastructure, making data and platforms interoperable. No walled gardens.

@annehargreaves Great question, and a genuinely complex one! Our colleagues at Volt UK are better placed to speak to UK domestic strategy, but here's our take.

It's clear that Brexit has failed. Economically, it's been a catastrophe for the UK, with so many sectors on their knees. And with what's happening with the US and Russia, Britain needs the EU and the EU needs Britain more than ever.

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What's needed is a bipartisan coalition of the willing to push for a new referendum on EU membership, to test whether the appetite has truly shifted in the direction polling suggests: back toward the EU.

Crucially, that campaign would need bipartisan agreement on what implementing the result actually means, to avoid repeating the post-Brexit-vote negotiation mess of 2017 to 2020.

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The UK would need to submit a membership application under Article 49 TEU. Not a fast-track process, but the UK's existing alignment with many EU laws could streamline some technical steps.

We as Volt, as a pan-European party, would want to be in a position to push for this to be accelerated. The door should be open. 🇪🇺

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@VoltEuropa Thanks for your response!

@aral @VoltEuropa to add one of my own, how do you propose to address regulatory capture and malicious compliance, especially in sectors with corporations of exceptional size, wealth and influence.

@qwazix @aral Regulatory capture and malicious compliance are real problems, especially where corporations have the scale to outlast and outspend their regulators. Volt treats this as a structural design flaw, not an exception. Here is what we actually propose to do about it:

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On regulatory capture: Volt wants a mandatory EU lobbying register with real sanctions for officials who meet unregistered lobbyists. The "cooling off" period before officials move into industry roles would double to 12 months minimum. An independent EU Ethics Body, with genuine sanctioning powers, not advisory ones, would replace the current patchwork.

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On malicious compliance: strong independent enforcers matter as much as the rules themselves. Volt supports expanding OLAF's investigative powers, strengthening whistleblower protection for those who expose corporate rule-gaming, and extending due diligence obligations across entire supply chains. Loopholes are a design flaw. Fix the design.

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@Veza85UE Thanks for your suggestion! You might have noticed that we already adopted it and are using the EUpol tag where it is fitting.

Now, let's get to your question:
When the EU budget is carved up behind closed doors, silence from pro-European forces is striking. Rebates are a relic of "what's in it for me" politics, and they actively undermine European solidarity.

Our answer: give the EU genuine tax revenue of its own, from digital, carbon and corporate taxes, so we stop haggling over national contributions and rebates entirely. A budget built for shared challenges: climate, defence, cohesion. Not a bargaining chip for net-payer vetoes.
You are right that pro-EU voices need to be louder on this. Volt chapters across Europe are pushing exactly this agenda. Cross-border conversations like this one are precisely what a genuinely European party is here for. 💜

@VoltEuropa I have, that's why you pop up in my timeline now, thanks.

True, but as an ex-normie, I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say there's no way half of sentient, adult Europeans who vote know wtf rebates are, this is an obvious bubble where half of voters know because I follow them. I'd be shocked if 10% of Dutch, Germans, Austrians, Swedes and Danes have ever heard of rebates. So maybe a possible starting point is to explain their Thatcher origin story?

https://eupolicy.social/@Veza85UE/116256703474391108

RT: https://eupolicy.social/users/Veza85UE/statuses/116256703474391108

@VoltEuropa Cool, your German wing is here, looking forward to seeing talk of #EndRebates especially in the languages of the countries still asking for them. Don't be shy about memeing it up. Some of the passivity, imo, comes from this notion that talking about money is a bit gauche (very bougie) and that the EU budget is hopelessly boooring and unexciting, unlike rubbernecking at Y'allQaeda's shitshow from a safe distance. Then you have people asking for 🇪🇺 ARTE, Ukraine aid, etc from "the EU".

@joenepraat @aral @voltnederland I got a response for you from @voltnederland, based on their electoral programme:
"The European Border and Coast Guard, Frontex, will be fundamentally reformed, become independent from national governments, and be accountable to the European Parliament. Volt calls for a common EU search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean, in line with calls from the European Parliament.

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We want inspectors at the borders so that countries guilty of pushing back refugees can be brought before the courts. Volt believes that countries engaging in so-called pushbacks should no longer receive support to control their external borders.

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To ensure broad EU oversight and to combat pushbacks and human rights violations, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Frontex’s fundamental rights office, national independent monitoring mechanisms, and complaints offices must cooperate. They must be accessible to migrants.
The return of rejected asylum seekers via Frontex or national law enforcement authorities must take place in a humane manner to the country of origin, under the supervision of independent observers."

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@pevinkinel Thanks for your questions! We are sorry that it took so long to get back to you, but here are our thoughts:

1. Digital sovereignty doesn’t mean you have to do everything yourself, rather it means that you need to have alternatives.
Currently, the chip powering basically every mobile device are ARM CPUs. ARM is a UK company. Likewise, the only company on the whole planet that is able to build the machines that produce the most advanced chips, ASML, is Dutch.

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More generally speaking, the EU has a plan called the EuroStack, which is essentially Europe's attempt to build its own technology ecosystem so we don't have to rely on US "Big Tech". It includes building local semiconductor and hardware capabilities, developing secure, EU-based cloud storage and computing that follow European data laws, federated data sharing, AI models trained on European data and values, and the Digital Euro.

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2. Of course, it is not. 😄 GDP alone is the wrong measure: it was never designed to track planetary health. In the 2024 programme we talked about "sustainable prosperity" because we wanted to move away from the idea of growth but also don't lean into the idea that then we should all just be poor and live in a cave. The goal is a "Green Net GDP": decouple material throughput from prosperity, price carbon fairly, build a real circular economy. Redefine what we grow, not just how fast. 🌍

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3. In our 2024 Moonshot Programme (https://volteuropa.org/european-election-electoral-programme) we defend creating a European Basic Income (EBI), modelled after a negative tax system, where people earning below a certain income threshold receive payments instead of paying taxes. Further, we suggest defining and enforcing, in coordination with Member States, regionally adjusted minimum wage standards or a high level of union coverage, which ensures the European Basic Income cannot be exploited.

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4. Absolutely yes! Volt calls this a structural injustice. We have tax justice as a priority in our 2024 electoral programme. Workers are taxed on every euro earned, while many multinationals pay a fraction, legally. The fix: a minimum effective corporate tax rate of 22% EU-wide, a Common Corporate Tax Base, and progressive wealth taxes. Everyone contributes their fair share.

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@VoltEuropa @joenepraat @aral @voltnederland
What you should want is open borders for any civilian and investments clauses against too much capital being invested in the wrong kind of economy (((post)neoliberal) capitalist economy).
Freedom of movement for people, not for money

@VoltEuropa
Great! But rather than mstdn.social which is over-used creating another centralized instance, please set up your own branded server/instance to claim your own federated space.

@goodenough For our experiment, we opted for mstdn.social because Volt Germany is already there and it's a well-run instance. If the test yields positive results, having our own instance is definitely on the table.

@iaruffell Fair question. But which Greens? The Greens are a coalition of national parties, each responding to its own voters. They share a name and a colour, not a single European programme. That fragmentation is precisely the gap Volt fills: one party, 30+ countries, one platform. When we say "European", we mean it structurally, not just as a slogan.

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Volt's priorities are built around European-level governance by design: federalism, defence integration, AI policy, a single labour market, electoral reform. Every position comes with a concrete, implementable plan.
We're close enough that our MEPs sit within the Greens/EFA group, and 87% of our members voted to stay there. But Volt is notably pro-market and pro-innovation: we see opportunities, not obstacles, in decarbonisation, entrepreneurship, and digitalisation.

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@VoltEuropa @iaruffell Yeah, there are Greens whose top MEPs invite antivaxer charlatan supreme Andrew Wakefield to the European Parliament and write blog posts comparing Covid vaccines to Dr. Mengele's experiments (he's been since elected back to where he belongs in his country, but still... a Green MEP during the pandemic) and Greens who are sane about vaccines. And Greens who are sane in their support for Ukraine and others who invite Varoufakis to their events, so structurally 🇪🇺 sounds good.

@VoltEuropa

Thanks for the response, and I see the distinction you are trying to draw. I would disagree about the lack of a common platform or shared philosophy, but there is no denying some vigorous discussions and some disagreements. Greens aren't against innovation, but it depends what you really mean by that. There is scepticism about growth as currently measured and about the ability of unconstrained business intrests to tackle the climate and energy crises, certainly

.