Newsletter - January 2026
Our monthly newsletter with news from Volt Slovenia, across Europe and our web comic.
(Photo: Xmas @Sax Pub)
Welcome to Volt Slovenia’s Monthly Newsletter (👉 Subscribe to our newsletter)
Happy new year! We wish you all the best for a year that started already turbulent and even had our newsletter stuck in the snow for the last couple of days.
We have a lot planned for 2026 starting with our party registration - hopefully beginning of February and then running in the March elections - if all things work out we will run together with the Pirates, since we believe cooperation is important and we should not split votes on too many good options.
If you want to help us reach our January goal of 200 signatures, now is the time. Head to Upravna and send us your signature.
This month’s topics
What’s happening with Volt in Slovenia?
Referendum on assisted dying
Participating in the Pirate congress
End of the year party
Signature Collection Update
News from Europe
What the Trump?
EU Council on Security and Mercosur
The US National Security Strategy
News from other Volt chapters
Petition for the United States of Europe
Volt Germany gearing up for local elections
Volt Netherlands as well
And Volt France
💡 Minis discover Europe - back soon
What's happening in Volt Slovenia
Referendum on assisted dying
Abusing referendums is not our style (Photo: Unsplash)
We did not actively participate in the campaign for the referendum on assisted dying but were surprised at the lackluster effort of the government to defend its law as well as to the tone of the opposition campaign.
In the end, a lot of effort, citizen goodwill and taxpayer money was wasted, which is why we believe we need to look at how referendums can be used better.
👉 Read our position on the referendum outcome
Participating in the Pirate congress
Photo: Spending an evening with the Pirates
If you follow us on social media, you probably saw that we’ve been cooperating with the Pirates on certain topics (like Chat Control) and we were happy to also attend the recent Pirate Congress.
It was a first step for us to try to align and run together in the elections. We will keep you updated but we are hopeful to have found a partner we can support towards reaching the threshold to enter Parliament - with a chance to also elect someone ourselves.
End of the year party
Photo: Celebrating year 1 of Volt in Slovenija
Before heading into the holidays we had our End of the Year party to reflect on the last… to celebrate a successful year for Volt in Slovenia!
We were happy to see many old and new faces discussing the months ahead and projects for 2026. We’re just getting started.
Signature Collection Update
January has to be the month to finish. We have over 70 signatures in our collection box and another 50-60 to collect from friends and family in the next couple of weeks. The missing ones to reach 200? You can help us!
How can you sign?
We’ve prepared clear and simple IKEA-style instructions:
What does signing mean?
You’ll be able to vote for the party leadership and approve the statutes and programme at the founding assembly.
After registration, everyone’s welcome to become full members via Volt.team—but it’s not mandatory. Even if you don’t want to join, you can still help register Volt Slovenia with a single signature. It’s completely fine to leave it at that.
👉 More info and FAQs on our website about signatures
News from Europe
What the Trump?
Kidnapping presidents you don’t like is very 2026 (Photo: Truth Social)
Not the start of the year we imagined with the United States kidnapping the president of Venezuela. We all agree he was holding his country hostage, but the US going against international law, ruling another country and threatening to do the same to Columbia, Mexico and Greenland was a rude awakening.
Worse, our national leaders failed to find a common voice, mostly resorting to docile statements we’d normally not expect from the leaders of the likes of France, Germany, Italy and the UK. Maybe we need better leadership. Before things turn for the worse.
👉 Read our press release on the kidnapping of Maduro
EU Council on Security and Mercorsur
European Council President António Costa talking support for Ukraine (photo: © Alexandros MICHAILIDIS)
In December, the European Council met to find a solution for financing Ukraine and adopting the Mercorsur agreement.
And the Council of the heads of state showed why it is “European” in name only - not agreeing on the use of frozen Russian assets to fund the defense and reconstruction of Ukraine. Instead, joint European debt is going to be used with Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary also not participating in this alternative effort.
The Mercorsur free trade agreement between the EU and South America was also kicked down the road into the new year. Considering it would give the EU access to rare earths and minerals and the current geopolitical climate, we would have hoped for a qualified majority to pass the agreement. However, Italy changed its position at the last minute and blocked the adoption.
The two day Council showed how the EU will never speak with one voice, if all 27 member states want to decide according to their particular interests. We have some way to go to reform the EU.
The US National Security Strategy
President Trump no longer sees Europe as an ally (Photo: picture alliance / ZUMAPRESS.com | Daniel Torok/White House ©)
The US also published its National Security Strategy. Contrary to its name, its not national, but spells out the US foreign policy.
And Europe suddenly finds itself as the principal obstacle to US dominance. The US wants to see the EU gone and far right governments in power - think the German AfD, LePen in France, but also Jansa in Slovenia.
Faced with opponents in the east and west, what other choice do we have than to unite? A strong Europe can play a role globally, while a divided Europe can be controlled and turned into vassal states.
👉 Read David Keating’s analysis on what’s in store for Europe
News from other Volt chapters
Petition for the United States of Europe
Like the name or not: sign the petition!
Our MEPs in the meantime launched a petition for a United States of Europe. You don’t need to like the name, but if you also believe it’s time that member states stop blocking European integration, join us!
👉 Sign our petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/united-states-of-europe-now-national-leaders-unlock-our-potential
👉 Read the Politico coverage: https://www.politico.eu/article/united-states-of-europe-online-propaganda-social-media-memes/
Volt Germany preparing for local elections
Bavaria will head to the polls in March and Volt is coloring Bavaria purple
Not only Slovenia is heading to the polls in March. Bavaria is also holding local elections and Volt is trying to run in a number of municipalities.
Participating in the elections is not so easy, since it requires 300-400 citizens to physically go to the town hall to sign for you. Sounds familiar? Yes, Germany is also a country also progressing very slowly with digitalisation of public administration, meaning you can currently find Volt tents in front of town halls in most larger municipalities.
Volt Netherlands is also running in local elections
The Netherlands is also holding local elections
Volt Nederlands is also ramping up preparations for the March local elections. Five years ago, Volt got its first local councilors in the principal Dutch cities. This time, our Dutch chapter is presenting candidates throughout the country.
And Volt France!
Volt Lille will run in a large coalition in March’s elections
Finally, France is holding municipal elections in March as well. So far, only the team in Lille and surrounding communities is participating.
French local elections are tough: 2 rounds, 10% to advance, the winner gets half the seats as a bonus and you have to pay all voting bulletins.
In practice it means you need coalitions. Volt Lille ran with the Greens in 2019 and next spring will be in a coalition with the ruling Social Democrats and 7 other parties. Fingers crossed to get our first local councillors in France.
👉 Check out the web site of the coalition - https://toutpourlille.fr/
Minis discover Europe - back soon
The Minis are taking a break after a successful season 1. We won funding for our comic strip in 2025 and have reapplied for 2026. We hope to be back soon, but also have another project which we will launch shortly. Stay tuned.
Thanks for reading! Recommend the newsletter to friends who might be interested in Volt – and we’ll catch up again next month.
– The Volt Slovenia Team