Meeting in Paris on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 November, the Volt pan-European citizens’ movement adopted its electoral manifesto, which will serve as a basis for the lists that will be running in around fifteen Member States in the European elections in June 2024.
Entitled the ‘Electoral Moonshot Programme’, it sets out proposals to strengthen respect for the fundamental values of the European Union and to make the EU more transparent and democratic, in particular by giving European citizens a real say in the European decision-making process. A permanent citizens’ assembly would be set up, with citizens chosen at random from representative panels, to establish dialogue on issues of cross-border importance.
In the Council of the EU, the possibility of a veto for Member States would be abolished.
Volt’s economic programme aims to place quality of life and social cohesion as high on the agenda as wealth generation. It suggests authorising the EU to levy its own taxes, in particular to penalise unsustainable consumption. There would also be a permanent European loan, modelled on the ‘Recovery and Resilience Facility’, the budgetary arm of the European Recovery Plan, Next Generation EU. The financial resources would be allocated primarily to strengthening the EU’s strategic autonomy. The fight against tax evasion and fraud is another of the pan-European movement’s core concerns, alongside ensuring that human rights clauses in trade agreements are strictly respected.
On the climate front, Volt advocates raising the EU’s ambitions, with climate neutrality as early as 2040, or even 2035 for energy production, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2030 (compared with 2019).
To see the Volt manifesto, go to https://aeur.eu/f/9rz
Spitzenkandidat. The movement, inspired by federalist principles, is still considering whether to appoint a candidate to head a list to represent it at pan-European elections.
During the current European legislative cycle, Volt will have one MEP, the German representative Damian Boeselager, who sits in the Greens/EFA group. Dutch MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld, a member of the Renew Europe group, has announced that she will lead the Flemish Volt list in Belgium in June. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)