Newsletter - July 2025

Welcome to our monthly Volt Slovenia newsletter (subscribe here)

Last month we were still waiting for summer. This month it feels like it arrived with way too much heat than anticipated, especially writing from the Ljubljana Stipolis comic store without AC. It’s a bit similar with our signature collection, which is starting to fill the mailbox including signatures of citizens we did not recruit ourselves. If you also want to help us launch Slovenia with your signature, here is how:

👉 Let’s get the party started

Thank you for your support!

Topics:

What’s happening in Volt Slovenia?

• Volt on the Ljubljana Pride

• Signatures update #2

• Monthly meetup in Ljubljana

News from Europe

• A poem from Mark Rutte for 5% defense spending

• Denmark takes over the EU Council presidency

• Snap elections in Netherlands

News from other chapters

• Volt on the Pride in Budapest

• Schengen Picnic

• Dutch-German Borderball

💡 Minis discover Europe

What's happening in Volt Slovenia

Volt on the Ljubljana Pride

It’s Pride month and Volt is present on Pride parades throughout the European Union. We’re still too small of a team to have our own truck like in Cologne or Amsterdam, but we were happy to have been able to participate - and were only asked a couple of times if we were the delivery company with a similar name to which we replied: no, we’re delivering a better democracy.

Signatures - update #2

We’ve reached 30 signatures! Let’s get to 60. It’s not easy without famous or established political actors, but maybe this is just what Slovenia needs today. 

If you want to help, it’s a quick trip to Upravna Enota and the post office. If you’re in Ljubljana, let us know and we’ll meet you for a coffee ☕

How can you sign? IKEA shows the way.

Photo: How to sign. Ikea-style

What does it mean to sign to found a party?

• You will be able to vote for the initial party leadership and adopt our Statutes and Programme on the inaugural General Assembly. 

• After registration, we ask everyone to become an ordinary member by signing up on Volt.team - you don’t have to, so if you do not want to, you will have only helped us register the party Volt Slovenija with your signature. It is perfectly okay if you don’t want to go further.

👉 You can find more information and an FAQ on our signature website

Monthly meetup in Ljubljana

Photo: New kids on the block of politics

Like every month we met at Sax Pub on the terrace to discuss local politics, our advancing programme and participating in next year’s election as a political party with a strong European DNA - to help Slovenia play a more important role in the European Union and hold each other accountable for doing politics the right way and being transparent. Maybe just what Slovenia needs today.

If you also want to see Volt on the ballot box next year and help shape our programme, join us whether in Ljubljana or elsewhere in Slovenia.

👉 Become a member

News from Europe

A poem from Mark Rutte for 5% defense spending

Mark Rutte pretending to be Commission President (AP Photo/Alex Brandon - The Associated Press)

Last week we witnessed a NATO summit of a different kind. Not that there weren’t any important topics to talk about, but everyone was afraid the US president would leave early like at the recent G7 summit, so the agenda was reduced to one item: defence spending.

NATO president Mark Rutte didn’t even wait for a discussion and confirmed to Donald Trump that all member states would commit to 5% defense spending until 2035 - up from the 2% NATO goal and a lot more than the current 1.6%. Mind you this is 5% of GDP and with EU member states spending on average 49% of GDP, this means that actually 10% of every country's spending will go into defense. Except for Spain who negotiated an exception (and will have a hard time should it need solidarity to handle immigrants coming from North Africa) and except for the United States who force terms on everyone they do not comply with themselves.

👉 What to spend this money on? Listen to our MEP Reinier von Lanschot in the European Parliament

👉 We also have a plan - here it is

Denmark takes over the EU Council presidency

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (Photo by Ida Marie Odgaard / Ritzau Scanpix via AFP)

On July 1st Denmark took over the rotating EU Council Presidency until the end of the year. The rotating presidency allows every country to define the Council agenda for six months. Denmark's motto is “A strong Europe in a changing world” as the country has shifted considerably from its stance towards the European Union courtesy of the US presidents threats with regards to Greenland. 

The country seemingly also is more actions than words after recently announcing that the Danish government will move away from using Microsoft towards open source Linux - all but understandable after the International Count of Justice chief investigator Microsoft email accounts where blocked on request of Donald Trump. Reducing dependencies on foreign technologies will be a key topic in the months and years to come and it is good that it is a high-priority item for Denmark leading the EU Council.

👉 Learn more about the Danish EU Council Presidency

👉 Read more about the alleged blocking of ICC chief investigators

Snap elections in Netherlands

Volt Nederland lead candidate Laurens Dassens

The Dutch government fell last month after the extreme right PVV left the ruling coalition that did not want their effective shutdown of the possibility to request asylum in the Netherlands.

The country will head to the polls on October 29th and our largest chapter, Volt Nederland is facing a the double challenge of local and national elections at the same time.

Volt will again be led by Volt’s parliamentary group leader Laurens Dassens who last week called out Trump's authoritarian style in NATO and at home as well as other government not willing to stand up for Europe.

👉 Read more on why the government fell

👉 Volt is currently polling at 3% almost double than in the previous elections with 3-4 seats in parliament expected - follow Volt Nederland

News from other Volt chapters

Volt on the Pride in Budapest

Volt Hungary and team in Budapest

Last month also saw the culmination of Victor Orban’s attempts to prohibit the Budapest Pride. And what a Pride it was: covered by the Budapest mayor declaring it a municipal event, more than 200 000 participants colored the streets of the Hungarian capital in rainbow 🌈.

In the crowd was our Volt Hungary team and supporters who made the way to Budapest from across the continent to support them - including our Volt Europa Co-President herself. It was a great sign of paneuropean support and we hope to have also made a small contribution towards getting Hungary back into the European family.

Schengen Picnic

Three Volt chapters meeting at the border for picnic

In case you missed, last month was also the anniversary of the Schengen zone which - in theory - allows frictionless travel within the European Union. 

To celebrate the occasion, Volt Austria, Volt Slovakia and Volt Hungary met at their border intersection in Rajka for a celebratory picnic, to discuss future joint projects and how to work together among the Central European Volt chapters.

Dutch-German Borderball

Borderball 2025 Photo: Spot the Volt Slovenija participant

End of June is the traditional Border Ball in the Euregio region between Germany and the Netherlands. For 3 years now, Volters from Enschede, Osnabrück, Münster and all across Europe join for a weekend of camping and politics.

From crossborder water management to defense and AI, experts moderated discussions on many topics before participants went to a border crossing to block it (officially allowed) demonstrating for open borders and distributing cheese to cars passing by.

Minis discover Europe

As usual, we finish with the adventures of Hedge and the Professor as they explore the European Institutions - our monthly comic by Izar Lunaček. You can find the previous episodes on our website

Thank you for reading, please recommend our newsletter to friends that might be interested in Volt and see you again in a month.

The team
from Volt Slovenia