We are the first pan-European party - we make policy for a federal Europe across borders. In 31 countries, we encourage citizens to rethink and help shape politics at local, national and European level.

We are pan-European, pragmatic and progressive. Against the backdrop of shared values and goals, we ask bold questions and make realisable proposals to solve pan-European grievances.

2016: Brexit, Trump and populism

In 2016, the Brexit vote and the rise of right-wing populism in Europe prompted two young Europeans to stop standing idly by.

With Volt, Italian Andrea Venzon, Frenchwoman Colombe Cahen-Salvador and German Damian Boeselager created a cross-border political approach for Europe in order to find new, pragmatic and progressive answers to the challenges of our time.

Volt wants to make policy at local, national and European level.

In 2019, Volt contested the 2019 European elections in various EU countries for the first time and ran a cross-border election campaign with a European election programme, in which Damian Boeselager was elected as Volt's first MEP.

It is positive news in the progressive democratic camp: in only its second European election, Volt achieved an election result of 2.6 per cent of all votes cast in Germany. The young party thus significantly exceeded its 2019 election result. Volt now has five seats in the European Parliament.

In addition to Damian Boeselager, co-founder and so far the only MEP from Volt Europa, Nela Riehl, the first German Black lead candidate in a European election, and Kai Tegethoff, a committed local politician and member of Braunschweig City Council, have also made it into the European Parliament. Two other MEPs, Anna Strolenberg and Reinier van Lanschot, come from the Netherlands, where Volt achieved 4.9 per cent of the vote.