Newsletter - April 2026
Our monthly newsletter with news from Volt Slovenia and from across Europe.
(Photo: Mankica Kranjec Ducheyne / Volt Slovenija)
Welcome to our monthly newsletter! (👉 Subscribe here)
We’re a bit late again, still rubbing our eyes from the past elections and after holding our inaugural General Assembly to launch Volt Slovenija. The timing for a new political voice seemingly couldn’t be better.
👉 If you want to help, now is the time: join us
This month’s topics:
What’s happening with Volt in Slovenia?
Our founding General Assembly
Meet your Volt Slovenija elected leadership
Monthly Meet&Greet
Ljubljana local discussions: urban planning
News from Europe
Orban is gone! What’s next?
The war in Iran and its consequences
8th elections in Bulgaria in 5 years
Updates from Volt around Europe
Volt Germany General Assembly
Volt Switzerland elects a new Board
Volt Europa Board elections in Bratislava
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What's happening in Volt Slovenia
Our founding General Assembly
Our founding General Assembly (photo: Mankica Kranjec Ducheyne / Volt Slovenija)
We made it! On April 11th, we held our founding General Assembly - the last step to register Volt Slovenija as a political party.
We were very happy to welcome representatives of Volt Europa and Volt Austria, as we elected our first leadership, adopted our Statutes, and political programme and officially decided to create Volt Slovenija.
This is not the end of something, but for us it is the beginning. We need a new political voice in Slovenia, especially after these elections, that questions the status quo and views politics with a Slovenian and European angle. This will be our goal with Volt Slovenija going forward.
👉 Read about our General Assembly
👉 See us in the news
👉 Read about Volt in Mladina
Meet your Volt Slovenija elected leadership
(The elected leadership of Volt Slovenija (Photo: Mankica Kranjec Ducheyne / Volt Slovenija)
We are very happy to have elected our first Board of Volt Slovenija and would like to present our members who have been elected:
Executive Board:
Borja Ranzinger (Co-President)
Tilen Dragar (Treasurer)
Špela Majcen Marušič (Board member)
Matic Bitenc (Board member)
Eva Šmid (Board member)
Supervisory Board:
Rožle Kaučič
Nejc Arnol (not pictured)
Miha Černetič (not pictured)
General Secretary (interim)
Lars Podkrajšek
The second co-president position has not been filled. We will try in our next General Assembly.
Monthly »Meet&Greet«
(Photo: »Meet&Greet« in Ljubljana)
Considering all our preparations, we only had time for a small Meet&Greet but nevertheless used it to collect the remaining signatures and plan our upcoming events. We will continue to organise our monthly meeting for everyone interested in Volt to pass by, get to know us and ask questions.
Ljubljana local discussions: urban planning
(Photo: Our first meeting to develop ideas for local elections)
We also began the preparation for local elections with our first event to discuss urban development. We were very happy to welcome Ljubljanska Kolesarska Mreža (LKM) to our event in Štepanjsko Naselje and discuss ideas for improving the local traffic, transportation and parking situation.
Our plan is to hold these meetings across all of Ljubljana over the coming months to collect ideas for our municipal programm.
👉 Want to participate? Join us
News from Europe
Orban is gone! What’s next?
(Opposition leader and election winner Peter Magyar - Photo: Balint Szentgallay-Getty Images)
Could you hear the sigh of relief in Hungary and across Europe? In a landslide victory, the opposition leader won the Hungarian parliamentary elections winning 141 of 199 seats in Parliament.
With this supermajority, he has the possibility to undo much of the damage to democratic institutions done in 16 years of Orbán. If you look at Poland and the difficulty of the Tusk government to rebuild democratic institutions, it will not be an easy task.
Peter Maygar’s victory however already opens doors: Hungary is no longer the leading blocker in the EU Council for a number of reforms. Heads of state now need to show color whether they really support EU reforms and Volt should hold them accountable to do so. It requires one country to propose treaty changes, 14 to open to treaties. Let’s see who is European.
👉 Read up on why Hungary needs as redemocratisation plan
The war in Iran and its consequences
(War in Iran, Photo: Leo Correa/AP/SIPA)
The last month also saw the United States and Israel attack Iran without a valid justification and in violation of the international order. The result: the straight of Hormuz is blocked for maritime traffic.
It sounds far away, but we are already paying the price at gas stations. And not only there. The strait is a vital connection for a lot of raw materials, from components for pesticides which will impact agricultural output and food prices to plastics necessary in all kinds of technical and raw materials for medical products.
A prolonged conflict may very likely have a significant impact on the global economy, so we expect our European leaders to take a clear stand with regards to the conflict and position the European Union as a facilitator for peace and mediation.
👉 Read about the consequences of the blocked Hormuz strait
8th elections in Bulgaria in 5 years
(Rumen Radev, leader of progressive Bulgaria (SPASIYANA SERGIEVA / REUTERS)
Bulgaria went to the polls for the 8th time in 5 years to elect a new Parliament and after 60% of ballots have been counted, Rumen Radev leading a left-leading Progressive Bulgaria movement is close to having an absolute majority in the 240 seat Parliament.
The country is making strides with regards to European integration - joining the Schengen zone and introducing the Euro at the beginning of this year. The new President, who ran on an anti-corruption platform, will likely take a more critical stance towards the European project - most notably to the war and support of Ukraine.
Volt Bulgaria also participated in these elections with the Siyanie coalition, but failed to reach the 4% threshold to enter Parliament.
News from other Volt chapters
Volt Germany General Assembly
(Volt Germany General Assembly (Photo: Volt Deutschland 2025)
Volt Germany met for their 16th General Assembly in Berlin this week to elect new Board members, adopt their strategy until 2029 and professionalize their organisation.
With over 10 000 members, Volt Germany is working with a delegate assembly of 600 delegates elected from members in regional associations to represent them at the General Assembly with all members having the possibility to submit motions provided they collect the required amount of member endorsements to table them.
Volt Slovenia attended the Assembly within the European Guest programm and it was interesting to follow such an organised and formalized event.
Volt Switzerland elects a new Board
(Volt Switzerland elected a new Board this weekend)
Our Swiss neighbors are growing (we have a couple of Volt Slovenia members also active in Switzerland) and elected their new Board last weekend.
In Switzerland there is currently a growing anti-immigration campaign that aims to limit the population in Switzerland to 10 million inhabitants by 2050 and review international treaties with regards to this upper cap, putting in question Switzerland's role and relations with neighboring EU countries as a large part of immigrants are Italian and German citizens.
Volt Europa Board elections in Bratislava
(Volt General Assembly in Frankfurt (Photo: Volt Slovakia)
Our European General Assembly is fast approaching and the official campaign for the next European Leadership will begin on March 1st with over 35 candidates applying to lead our roof association and 40 000 members towards the 2029 European elections. The General Assembly will also bring together members from all corners of Europe and is one of the events, where you can experience Volt’s European spirit for a full weekend.
👉 Join our Slovenian delegation for this landmark event
As always, thanks for reading! Recommend the newsletter to friends who might be interested in Volt. After these elections, the time is now!
– The Volt Slovenia Team