Newsletter - October 2025

(Photo: Protesting with the Pirates in front of the Interior Ministry)

Welcome to our monthly Volt Slovenia newsletter (subscribe here)

Last month we were still contemplating the holidays. Fast forward a month and winter is coming. So are the elections. Meaning it’s time to get back into the “groove”, collect signatures and start being visible on the political scene. Which we did.

If you want to put the groove back in politics, join us:

👉 Join Volt

This month’s topics

What’s happening with Volt in Slovenia?

• Playing our part in making Slovenia vote against ChatControl

• Stick it to the Ljubljana bus tariff increase

• Internal democracy: European member motions

• Monthly meeting

• Signature Collection #5

News from Europe

• Europe dodged a bullet in Moldovan elections

• Another EU summit of smiles and no results

• 35th anniversary of German reunification 

Updates from Volt around Europe

• Volt Germany won 76 seats in local elections

• Volt Czechia participates in first national elections

• Volt Poland talks European defense

💡 Minis discover Europe

What’s Happening with Volt Slovenia

Playing our part in making Slovenia vote against ChatControl

Last week, Slovenia announced it would no longer abstain in the October 14th EU Council vote but to vote against the equivalent of mass surveillance of all private communication.

A few hours before, Volt together with the Pirate Party demonstrated in front of the Interieur Ministry for this to happen. It was our 2nd effort after an earlier article in Delo, where we outlined the risks associated with Chat Control.

👉 Read the article in Delo
👉 Read about our protest

Stick it to the Ljubljana bus price increase

Photo: Higher prices and less service. We don’t like it

If you live in Ljubljana you have probably heard or noticed the price increase LPP introduced at the beginning of October. Considering that bus services have decreased by 30% over the past years, allocating the city budget to tourist boats instead of public transports shows how much the municipality values public services for its inhabitants. 

We made a collection of stickers to inform about the topic. Spot them at one of the Ljubljana bus stations and learn more about Volt

Internal democracy: European member motions

Photo: A first member motion across the European Union

Sven, one of our members, has launched the first Volt Europa member motion to put an item on the upcoming general assembly agenda. He would like to strengthen our internal checks and balances by increasing accountability of our European Board towards our Council of co-presidents.

Sven managed to collect signatures from 1% of all Volt members (~400) and we’re happy that Volt Slovenija is the first chapter to actually use this means of internal democracy. Stay tuned for the results after our European General Assembly in Frankfurt.

Monthly meetup

Volt Ljubljana after the rain.

This month’s regular meeting was drenched in rain. But we did have members from Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia attending making for an interesting mix of perspectives and ideas.

👉  Join us for our upcoming to learn more about Volt
👉  Join us

Signature Collection #5

Photo: We’ve got mail

We’re back to collecting signatures and are approaching 50/200. Please help us register Volt Slovenija as a party. Good things may happen.

How can you sign?

We’ve prepared clear and simple IKEA-style instructions for everyone.

What does signing to found the party 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

Europe dodged a bullet in Moldovan elections

Photo: Moldovan President Maia Sandu © REUTERS - Vladislav Culiomza

Moldova took the polls last week giving citizens a say whether the country should continue its path towards EU membership. There was a lot of election interference with several pro-Russian parties being excluded from the ballot. 

The pro-Russian block finished with 24% of the vote, far behind the 50% secured by incumbent President Maia Sandu. We should not forget how much countries strive to join the European Union - especially when anti-European sentiment is instrumentalised in our own elections.

Another EU summit of smiles and no results

Photo: All smiles at the Copenhagen Summit - © euneighbourseast.eu

EU state leaders met for their latest summit in Copenhagen last week and albeit the urgency - Trump, Ukraine, the Middle East, there was a lot of talk and no action. 

Without a weak European Commission not driving the agenda, the EU will only meet to take a group photo - as French Senator Claude Malhuret criticized in his recent speech “What happened to Europe?"

👉 Read the analysis on the EU summit and lack of concrete actions

Germany celebrates its 35th reunification day

Photo: Reunification day celebration © Gilles Leimdorger/AFP

On October 3rd, Germany celebrated its 35th reunification day. A reason to celebrate on the one hand, but also to acknowledge, that even after 35 years and transfers of close to a billion Euros, there remains a cultural, economic and political divide, which national politics so far has not been able to properly address.

👉 Read more about the reunification day and west-east divide

News from other Volt chapters

Volt Germany won 76 seats in local elections
Photo: Für mehr Eis - for more ice cream and climate protection 

Volt Germany participated in the North-Rhein Westfalia elections in September and managed to win 80 Mandates in local and district councils across the region. 

We hope to be able to follow in the footsteps of Volt Germany next year and elect our first local councillors in Slovenia as well.

Volt Česko participates in first national elections

Photo: Đỗ duy Hoàng, Volt Česko © Seznam.cz

Czechia also had elections last week and Volt Czechia was participating for the first time. The party gained a lot of visibility for transparency, filing a lawsuit against other parties creating unofficial coalitions to dodge the electoral threshold. Although the lawsuits were dismissed or will be decided after the election date, feedback on the streets was positive that a party tried to stand up for doing politics differently

The result of 0.1% was a real success considering no media visibility during the campaign and the first step for Volt to becoming a political alternative.

Volt Poland talks European defense

Photo: Volt Polska © A Rejman

Volt Polska organised a debate on European defense with our Volt MEP Reinier van Lanschot, Ukrainian political leader Lesia Orobets and Polish MP Maciej Konieczny. 

In light of recent violations of European airspace, drone sightings and the on-going Russian war against Ukraine, the polish team organised an open debate to reflect on the future of Europe’s security and defense.

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 Volt Slovenia’s website.

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