Moving Forward in 2023

It’s important to us at Volt that the priorities of our members are at the heart of every policy that we make. Now as we prepare our electoral programme for the 2024 European Elections, we’re inviting Volters to help shape the vision that we will present to the whole of Europe.

In October 2022, Volt members from across Europe were asked to rank their 10 political priorities from a list of more than 30 supplied by the Policy Team. Their ranking gave us a key insight into what Volters feel are the most important issues facing Europe today and what Volt should tackle in its 2024 Electoral Policy Programme. 

More than 600 of our members voted for a policy programme based on these 10 priorities:

1. A more democratic union
2. Energy transition and safety
3. Climate change mitigation
4. Common European defence
5. Equal opportunities
6. Common migration policy
7. Tax justice
8. European infrastructure and connectivity
9. Sustainable prosperity
10. The future of education

Fast forward to 2023, and Volt’s Policy Team is working hard to translate the members’ priorities into an exciting Policy Programme for upcoming European Elections. We have gone through a major restructuring process, building a professional team and working with experts to build a programme that captures our vision for Europe. We are committed to working with diverse voices and listening to our members as we work towards 2024.

Creating our Electoral Policy Programme

Putting our vision for Europe on paper is a massive task, requiring hours of hard work, dedication from our team, volunteers and members, and valuable insights from policy experts. We want to invite the entire Volt community to take part in this process to create a ground-breaking Political Programme to present at the November General Assembly.

Our policy team is currently working on defining our vision for Europe in 2040 based on our members’ priorities and drafting our policy proposals. They are working to produce two main documents, our Policy Aspirations and Policy Proposals:

Policy Aspirations

This is our inspiration at Volt. An achievable vision for the future of Europe written out on paper. Envisaged by our team of Policy Shapers, Policy Aspirations take our political priorities and answer the question of exactly what we want to achieve.

Policy Shapers meet at the European Parliament to discuss the Policy Aspirations, ahead of the Bucharest General Assembly.

Take the example of Sustainable Prosperity, which was voted as a key goal by our members. Creating an aspiration around this theme, the team will write a visionary 500-word text about the future that Volt wants to build 15 years down the line. This gives us something concrete to work towards with the Policy Proposals.

We look forward to presenting the Policy Aspirations at the General Assembly in June.

Policy Proposals 

Aspirations in hand, it is time to add the detail. The Policy Proposals are what we intend to do to achieve the vision of Europe drawn up by the Policy Shapers. Each Policy Proposal will include:

• Why it’s important for the future of Europe
• How we will pursue its implementation in Parliament 
• How we will fund that implementation

The Campaign Programme

Finally, we will collate our Policy Programme into a comprehensive Campaign Programme, highlighting our most important policies for the 2024 EU elections. This will be an updated version of the Amsterdam Declaration (our 2019 manifesto) which takes into account recent changes in Europe, new challenges facing the Union and the current priorities of our members.

Have Your Voice Heard

Volters are at the heart of everything we do and the main inspiration for our Electoral Programme. We have already worked hard to implement our members’ feedback and priorities into our work through the vote in Prague and ongoing dialogues between Volters and their National Teams. As we continue to work on our programme for 2024, there are a number of ways that you can have your voice heard.

Join the Policy Community

If you have got relevant knowledge and experience in European policy, you are welcome to join the Policy Community. This is a group of Volt Members who support the Policy Shapers at the sharp end of drafting our Aspirations and Proposals. 

If you would like to join the Policy Community, just fill out this form and tell us which area you would like to support. Do not forget to add your CV and summarise your relevant knowledge and expertise.

Join us at the General Assembly 

Volt is hosting two in person General Assemblies in 2023, the first of which took place in Bucharest in June. The second one will take place in Paris in November: this is an excellent opportunity to attend workshops, Q&A sessions and speak directly to our Policy Teams as we get ready for the 2024 European Elections.