Volt Slovenia (EN) | News

Newsletter - March 2026

Volt — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 08:30:00 +0100

Photo: Let's get the party started

Welcome to our monthly newsletter! (👉 Subscribe here)

We’re late… so much is happening and we’re not even running in the elections. If you don’t know who to vote for this weekend, neither do we. What can we do? Help us build an alternative:

👉 Join us

This month’s topics:

What’s happening with Volt in Slovenia?

Are you the next Prime Minister? Play our simulator!
Founding General Assembly on 11.04.2026
Country Council retreat in Berlin
Monthly Meet&Greet
Signature Collection Update

News from Europe

Another war, where are our European leaders?
Hungary is ready for change
French local elections see extreme left and right gaining

Updates from Volt around Europe

Volt Germany is all smiles after local elections
Volt Switzerland increases votes but short of winning a seat
Volt Netherlands wins seats in municipalities across the country

What's happening in Volt Slovenia

Are you the next Prime Minister? Play our simulator!

Photo: Can you run or ruin the country?

While we don’t participate in the elections, we still wanted to contribute something: getting citizens to vote.

For our own campaign we had planned to make a simulator of running the country as prime minister. The result: Jaz, Premier(ka)

It’s a card game where you are Prime Minister of Slovenia and have to optimize popularity, risks, your mental health, your agenda and state funding by playing cards based on Slovenian politics.

Our members are quite hooked, if you can beat their high score, do sign up, we need more prime ministers

👉 Play the game here: https://jaz-premier.si and https://jaz-premierka.si
👉 The game was in LD;GD, episode 203 (~49min). Listen to it

Čeprav ne sodelujemo na volitvah, smo v tem predvolilnem obdobju vseeno želeli nekaj doprinesti: spodbuditi ljudi, da gredo volit.

Founding General Assembly on 11.04.2026

We are almost done collecting signatures and are busy preparing our founding general assembly, which will happen on 11.04. From 11h00-14h00 in Fantastični prostori.

We will welcome speakers from Volt Europa and neighbouring chapters, elect our initial leadership and adopt statutes as well as our programme to register Volt Slovenija as a political party.

If you want to help, now is the time, we need a few more signatures and would love to welcome you to our event.

👉 How to sign

Council Country meeting in Berlin

Photo: Spot Lars and Sven in the crowd

We are also starting to get active with Volt Slovenia on our international level and were happy to send Lars and Sven to the Country Council retreat in Berlin last month.

The Country Council is the instance of Volt Europa that brings together leading members from all chapters across Europe to coordinate on political positions, organisational challenges and to review the work of the European representatives.

Monthly Meet&Greet

Photo: The Volt locals at their usual spot in Sax

We also fit in our regular Meet&Greet welcome new members and discussing elections, party foundation and preparing the Ljubljana local elections. A lot to do in the upcoming months and a great moment to become part of our political adventure.

👉 Become a member

Signature update

We’re at 171 signatures. Final sprint to reach 200. If you want to help us get over the hump, now is the time.

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

Another war, where are our European leaders?

Photo: Still kowtowing? (Samuel Corum/ABACAPRESS/IMAGO)

The international order took another hit last month when the US and Israel started a war on Iran without a real justification. The implications will be felt around the globe as the Hormuz strait is a vital lifeline for the global economy - not only for oil, but all sorts of raw materials such as fertilizers.

Europe will face multiple hits: at the gas station we can already see it. But prices for many other categories are set to rise as well as our leaders have not doubled down to make Europe more independent, whether it’s for renewable energies or resilience in strategic areas.

Worse, it seems only Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez was the only head of state willing to condemn the attack. On the other end of the scale, Germany’s chancellor Friedrich Merz even sided with Donald Trump calling out Spain for speaking up for the international order. At least no EU member state is jumping to the rescue in providing military support - yet. We really need different leadership - European leadership.

👉 Read about Pedro Sanchez taking a stand and Merz not

Hungary is ready for change

Foto: Predvolilni shod Petra Magyara (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Photo: Election rally of Peter Magyar (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Closer to home, Hungary is nearing elections and for the first time, the reign of Viktor Orban seems on the brink of ending. Last weekend saw a record number of supporters take to the streets for opposition leader Peter Magyar.

A lot can happen before the elections on April 12th and if you see how opinion polls diverge whether pollsters are independent or close to the current government, you know how dire the situation in Hungary is.

Should Peter Magyar win these elections, he will have his work cut out for him to try and repair the damages done to democratic institutions. With Fidesz-close personnel across all government branches, Hungary will face a similar situation like Poland of having a hard time to do reforms, fast, efficiently and legally at the same time.

👉 Read about Peter Magyar’s government plans

French local elections see extreme left and right gaining

Photo: the 1st round of french local elections took place last week (ERIC BRONCARD / Hans Lucas via AFP)

France held local elections in its 36 000 municipalities last week. Local elections are tough in France: you need full lists, there are 2 rounds, you need 10% to advance to the runoff. The winner gets 51% of the seats AND his percentage of the remaining 49% always giving an absolute majority and making the opposition decoration.

Volt ran on joint lists in few municipalities, and although we reached the runoff in a few cities, the necessary fusions between lists eliminated all our promising candidates who were too low on lists to be included in the fusion.

Overall, the extreme-left and also the extreme-right made a lot of gains. The first in big metropoles for example scoring 50% or more in Roubaix and Saint-Denis. The second across the rural countryside, where the population votes conservative or extreme-right.

The election was not about local topics but about the 2027 presidential elections where moderate parties will face the dilemma for fielding strong candidates against Marine LePen (or Jordan Bardella) should she be illegible and Jean-Luc Melenchon - both populists and extremely popular and with the runoff election only being between the best two candidates, France risks to take a turn to the extreme-right or left if no other solid candidates appear.

News from other Volt Chapters

Volt Germany is all smiles after local elections

Volt Germany ran in local elections in Bavaria and Hessia and results were excellent. In Munich, Volt scored 4.7% and jumped from 1 to 4 seats in the local Council while across Bavaria, the party entered municipal councils in almost all cities it ran.

Last week in Hessia, Volt scored even better, keeping most of their seats and winning new ones in many cities with 9.4% in Darmstadt being by far the best result and on par with other established parties.

Volt Switzerland increases votes but short of winning a seat

Volt was running Switzerland

As a true paneuropean party, Volt is also active outside the 27 EU member states. Our Swiss chapter also ran in local elections - in some communities for the 2nd time.

While we didn’t manage to enter any local councils yet - the barriers are quite high, some teams like Zurich received over 8000 votes and are very motivated to continue their work for Switzerland moving closer to the European Union.

Volt Netherlands wins seats in municipalities across the country

Photo: The Dutch members campaigning

Finally, the Netherlands held local elections this Wednesday and Volt ran in a record 38 municipalities.

Votes are still being counted and while we lost some seats, Volt Nederland gained representation in many of the cities our Dutch chapter ran in with an overall increase in elected representatives - so another reason to celebrate.

👉 Watch the campaign spot for the Dutch local elections

As always, thanks for reading! Recommend the newsletter to friends who might be interested in Volt – and we’ll catch up again next month with news from our party foundation and the Slovenian elections.

– The Volt Slovenia Team

Jaz-Premier.ka ? Do you have what it takes?

Volt — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 20:00:00 +0100

The game is available on https://jaz-premier.si/ and https://jaz-premierka.si/. It includes a card deck of 80 cards based on Slovenian politics. Players have to manage multiple objectives over 14 parliamentary sessions by playing cards and managing time.

We believe politics needs to make much more efforts to bring across the importance to vote and to engage citizens in politics. Political programs will only reach so many people. Jaz-Premier is our contribution to make these elections accessible to a broader population.

Sven Franck, founding member of Volt Slovenija

In some EU member states, apps help to pick parties based on matching ideas (like the German Wahlomat or the Dutch StimWijzer). We wanted to try a different approach and allow players to run or ruin the country. We’re hoping the game will get traction with a younger generation often less represented in politics. If it manages to convince a few to go vote on March 22nd, we will already have achieved a lot.
Borja Ranzinger, founding member of Volt Slovenija

The game is available in Slovenian and English and is a variation of a Startup Simulator, Volt Slovenija developed over the last months. Volt Slovenija also plans to making it available beyond the elections, for example in civic education initiatives.

Contact

Špela Majcen Marušič - Press and Media - spela.majcen@volteuropa.org
Borja Ranzinger - Party Registration - borja.ranzinger@volteuropa.org

About Volt

Volt Slovenija is the local section of Volt, a paneuropean movement with 40.000 members in 34 European countries, 5 MEPs in the European Parliament and deputies in the Netherlands and Cyprus. Volt works for a more united Europe, that is not only economically integrated, but also includes a democratic and social dimension. Volt Slovenija is currently collecting signatures to register as a political party ahead of next year’s national elections. The party defined three priorities: benefiting from more European integration, decentralisation to reduce the cost of living and create opportunities throughout Slovenia and trust and transparency in politics.

Več informacij na spletu: voltslovenija.org - Facebook | X | Instagram | Bluesky

Newsletter - February 2026

Volt — Sun, 08 Feb 2026 22:24:00 +0100

(Foto: Meet&Greet Ljubljana)

Welcome to Volt Slovenia’s Monthly Newsletter (👉 Subscribe to our newsletter)

We’re already in February and after a hectic January of bad news, weather and setbacks, we are now switching up gears.

Do you also feel like it’s time to do something about politics in Slovenia and Europe?

👉 Join us

This month’s topics

What’s happening with Volt in Slovenia?

The coalition that didn’t happen
Monthly Meet&Greet
Signature Collection Update

News from Europe

Trade deals blocked: 1 Concluded: 1
Europeans want to be united.
A European Newspaper?

News from other Volt chapters

Bratislava General Assembly
Local election across Europe
Volt Italia in a multi-party coalition

What's happening with Volt in Slovenia?

The coalition that didn't happen

That went different than expected

We were busy for a large part of January to prepare our participation in the upcoming elections together with the Pirates.

However, an agreement fell through at the last minute, meaning we will have to be spectators at these elections. It’s a pity but maybe we will say at some time in the future, it was better this way.

What next: we let bygones be bygones and will focus on our party registration and start preparing the municipal elections later this year.

👉 If you want to help, now is a good time to join

Monthly Meet&Greet

As every month, the Ljubljana team met for their regular exchange with anyone interested in Volt and our work.

We discussed the first steps for our local campaign on traffic infrastructure, public transportation and parking spaces, which we hope to launch in the coming weeks visiting all suburbs of Ljubljana to listen to and collect citizens demands.

👉 Follow our campaign on social media

Signature Collection Update

We’re at 131 signatures with a lot more on the way, so we are hopefully to be able to reach the required 200 soon. If you want to help us get over the hump, do sign for 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

Trade deals blocked: 1 Concluded: 1

The EU and India after concluding a landmark trade deal (Photo: REUTERS/Altaf Hussain)

You could think that after 25 years of negotiations, we would finally accept the Mercosur deal to create an economic zone that would render the EU less dependent on the US. Think again, because the EU Parliament voted to have a judicial review which could last up to 2 years. Also, surprisingly, many MEPs from the Greens/EFA group voted for this judicial review together with the extreme-right. Our Volt MEPs didn’t, but it wasn’t enough.

The EU didn’t waste any time though and concluded another trade deal, this time with India. This time nobody complained with tractors in Brussels, so the EU could make a consolidation step, that will help stabilise the international order.

👉 Read why our Volt MEPs support the Mercosur deal
👉 See how MEPs voted on blocking Mercosur with a judicial review
👉 Learn why the trade deal is so important

Europeans want to be united

The Eurobarometer (photo: European Union)

Twice per year, the Eurobarometer surveys sentiment across the whole European Union.

In its latest report published at the beginning of February a record 89% of respondents demanded the European Union to be more united while 66% would like the EU to play a larger role in defence. Europeans are most worried about security and disinformation in online media.

👉 Read the abstract and summary across all EU member states
👉 Read the country report for Slovenia

A European Newspaper?

Ad from the Launch of the L’Express newspaper (Photo: L’Express)

The French daily newspaper is taking “a bet on Europe” by wanting to become a real European newspaper available in all European languages - starting with English and Polish before adding more languages.

The newspaper also add many European segments, such as “the Erasmus Chronicle", portraits of European companies and successful political reforms from across the European Union.

It is an important step, because a European newspaper that creates a paneuropean media space will also create a political paneuropean media space, which is essential if we want to overcome national barriers not only in news reporting.

👉 Check out the english version of l’Express
👉 Watch the intro video why the newspaper believes in European reporting

News from other Volt chapters

Bratislava General Assembly

Our next Volt Europa General Assembly will be in Bratislava

In June, we will meet for our annual European General Assembly. This year it will take place in Bratislava and include the election of our new European leadership.

Our pan-European General Assemblies are a great event to get to know the idea of Volt and why politics beyond borders are so important. The event will bring together over 1000 members from all corners of Europe. If you want to feel the Volt spirit, this is the event to attend.

👉 Join our paneuropean event
👉 Watch the teaser video featuring our Borja and Sven

Local election across Europe

The Lille team in France running with the social democrats in local elections

All across Europe, Volt posters are currently being hung up, as Volt will be running in local elections in Germany, the Netherlands, France and Switzerland.

Every country has different hurdles to qualify: in some German regions, you need citizens to sign in the townhall, in France, you need to build coalitions because it is impossible to finance a campaign alone.

Volt already has over 300 local councillors all across Europe and we hope to add many more in these upcoming elections. This will give us a great boost for our own municipal campaign which we have begun to prepare.

Volt Italia in a multi-party coalition

Not our classical purple, but a coalition Volt Italia is joining

Volt Italy has participated in the inaugural event of the Primavera Associazione, a new civic-political association aiming to rejuvenate the Italian centre-left political parties.

👉 Watch our Volt Europa Co-President Francesca Romana D’Antouno speak at the congress

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

Newsletter - January 2026

Volt — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 23:11:00 +0100

(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.

👉 How to sign for Volt

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.

👉 Read our press release

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

Volt demands Europe to unite after the military operation in Venezuela

Volt — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 08:00:00 +0100

(Photo: President Trump's Truth Social page)

After the kidnapping of Venezuelan leader Maduro and the foreseen occupation of the country to permit access to its oil industry, European leaders get a live example of the new US national security strategy, which calls for regime change to secure US interests around the globe.

European governments are also being targeted and the US is not hiding its interest to get access to Greenland’s natural resources. Volt calls for a firm response from leaders in Europe. A response that must bring member states closer together.

After the recent events, the international order is dead. Europe should not accept this new status quo, but act by launching an initiative for a reformed international order to be able to hold countries and their leaders accountable - Maduro, Putin, but also the US president.

Borja Ranzinger, Volt Slovenia

If Trump argues that Denmark cannot defend the northern route around Greenland, why doesn’t the European Union step up in support? The EU Rapid Deployment Capacity for peace-keeping and stabilisation has never been deployed - member states could propose a vote in the EU Council and set a precursor for a future European military.

Sven Franck, Volt Slovenia

The U.S. military operation in Venezuela - culminating in Nicolás Maduro’s capture, his transfer to the United States, and President Trump’s declaration that the U.S. will ‘run’ the country until an ‘orderly transition’ - is an open breach of international law and a stark return to the logic of ‘might makes right.’ If anyone still believes in a resilient ‘rules-based international order,’ Venezuela is the live demonstration that such rules are enforced only when powerful actors find it convenient. Europe must draw the only serious conclusion: to uphold our values, we must be prepared to defend them - and that requires real European economic power, military strength, autonomy, and deterrence. In the US National Security Strategy, there is the explicit discussion of using countries like Austria as a lever to divide Europe and prevent genuine European capacity to act. That is why Austria must ask, without illusions, what we will contribute to a capable, united Europe - because neutrality nostalgia is unlikely to be enough.

Karoline Adam, Volt Austria

We must understand that such an action isn’t irrelevant. This event is the return to an order where attacking its weaker neighbor is normal and where national sovereignty is constantly violated by stronger powers. Europe and European leaders cannot accept this order and have the duty to fight to keep the rule of law in the world so that our European values of democracy and liberty can once again strive.

Elliott Fontaine-Pousset, Volt France

We are under no illusions about what Maduro's regime is: an autocracy that brutally represses the opposition. But we cannot condone this undermining of the world order and the United States' predatory approach to resources.. We condemn this American aggression against Venezuela in the strongest possible terms and call on our governments to do the same!

Melvyn Kuetgens, Volt Belgium

Similar releases are being published by Volt chapters across the European Union including statements from members of Volt Slovenia, Volt Austria, Volt Hungary, Volt Belgium and Volt France.

Contact

Špela Majcen Marušič - Press and Media - spela.majcen@volteuropa.org
Borja Ranzinger - Party Registration - borja.ranzinger@volteuropa.org

About Volt

Volt, Pirates join forces for Slovenian general elections

Volt — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 23:02:00 +0100

Cooperation is in the DNA of Volt - not only when it comes to working across borders to identify best practices, but also in working with political forces close to our ideas,

Borja Ranzinger, a founding member of Volt Slovenia.

We aim to play a key role in the next Slovenian Parliament, and with the Pirates we have a partner to take that step together as new entrants.
We want to change the narrative in Slovenian politics. A stronger Europe is not a problem for Slovenia - it is part of the solution.
Volt wants to bring a fresh European voice into the Slovenian parliament. If Volt Slovenia succeeds nationally in March, we can better link Slovenia with the EU and give the country a stronger voice in Europe.

Sven Franck, another founding member of Volt Slovenia

For Volt Slovenia, it will be the first election in their project to build a new credible political alternative over time and a new step for the political movement Volt Europa running in elections across all EU member states.

Contact

Špela Majcen Marušič - Press and Media - spela.majcen@volteuropa.org
Borja Ranzinger - Party Registration - borja.ranzinger@volteuropa.org

About Volt

Več informacij na spletu: voltslovenija.org - Facebook | X | Instagram | Bluesky

Referendum on assisted dying: much ado about nothing?

Volt — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 12:51:00 +0100

The law on assisted dying was introduced after a consultative referendum in 2024 and was adopted in Parliament this June. It was only then, that the opposition organised a referendum, which it won with a 53.4% share, also surpassing the required 20% quorum of the eligible population and effectively rejecting the law. A lot of money and voter goodwill was wasted to be back at the start.

In recent years, the referendum system is being misused: on one hand, the government appears unwilling to invest political capital in certain legislation, instead calling referendums on topics like cannabis use and assisted suicide. It confuses voters announcing and calling off referendums on NATO membership and Krško 2 or asking citizens to vote twice on assisted suicide without mounting any meaningful campaign. The opposition isn’t any better calling frivolous referendums such as on the pensions for exceptional cultural achievements, a law affecting only a handful of people.

Miha Cernetic, founding member of Volt Slovenia

In Estonia, citizens vote using an app to which they can register with their e-identity. Voting is transparent, simple and does not burden the state budget with millions of euros for every referendum. Switzerland also sets a high bar for transparency explaining the vote in a neutral manner listing arguments for and against to allow citizens to form an unbiased opinion. I wonder if we would get better results on referendums in Slovenia if we took the emotion out of it and allowed citizens to make educated decisions.

Borja Ranzinger, founding member of Volt Slovenia

Deciding about one’s own life or death is a fundamental human right and freedom. It is right to allow people to make decisions about their own fate. Legal safeguards are important to ensure that this is genuinely the case and that the decision truly reflects the individual’s will. Forcing a person to prolong their own agony when they do not wish to is by no means the mark of a compassionate or progressive society.

Matic Bitenc, founding member of Volt Slovenia

Volt Slovenija is supportive of the law as originally passed.

Contact

Špela Majcen Marušič - Press and Media - spela.majcen@volteuropa.org
Borja Ranzinger - Party Registration - borja.ranzinger@volteuropa.org

About Volt

Volt Slovenija is the local section of Volt, a paneuropean movement with 40.000 members in 31 EU member states, 5 MEPs in the European Parliament and deputies in the Netherlands and Cyprus. Volt works for a more united Europe, that is not only economically integrated, but also includes a democratic and social dimension. Volt Slovenija is currently collecting signatures to register as a political party ahead of next year’s national elections. The party defined three priorities: benefiting from more European integration, decentralisation to reduce the cost of living and create opportunities throughout Slovenia and trust and transparency in politics.

The US National Security Strategy is all over the EU’s omnibus legislation - why is Slovenia supporting it?

Volt — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 13:51:00 +0100

(Photo: BBVA)

As if the EU-US trade deal was not enough, the EU Commission, led by a convinced transatlantist, seems actively working to dismantle two of the competitive advantages of the European Union: its environmental protection standards and protection of our digital rights.

Studies show that the EU’s supranational regulation means better products and prices in Europe. The Commission is not simplifying, she is deregulating. Why? Do we want to make healthcare unaffordable like in the US in addition to not having enough doctors? Do we want to eat chlorinated chicken? With this omnibus, we’re giving a free pass to industries such as oil and fast fashion on EU environmental reporting through a procedure, whose legality is still being debated. Why the haste?

Matic Bitenc, founding member of Volt Slovenia

During the referendum on culture top-up pensions, members of the government questioned the US influencing the vote and lecturing Slovenia on democracy. Elections are coming up. We are probably on the list of EU countries, the US deems in need of government change. If our current government doesn’t take a stand to protect citizens, consumers and business interests by opposing the omnibus, we should do so at the ballot box. There are alternatives between this government and the “US favorite” to run Slovenia. We will try to be one of those alternatives.

Borja Ranzinger, founding member of Volt Slovenia

Volt Slovenia is collecting signatures to register as a political party in order to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Contact

Špela Majcen Marušič - Press and Media - spela.majcen@volteuropa.org
Borja Ranzinger - Party Registration - borja.ranzinger@volteuropa.org

About Volt

Newsletter - December 2025

Volt — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 21:03:00 +0100

(Photo: Volt Europa General Assembly., © Hans-Günther Brünker)

Welcome to Volt Slovenia’s Monthly Newsletter (👉 Subscribe to our newsletter)

It’s December. That went fast. You think we may be heading for Christmas holidays, but we’re not. We must register as a party and we’re attempting to run in the upcoming elections in a coalition. You can help: we have to gather the 200 signatures to officially run as Volt, so if you want to help us, now is the time:

👉 How to sign for Volt

This month’s topics

What’s happening with Volt in Slovenia?

Our first press conference
Ljubljana petition: the aftermath
Volt Slovenija on the Volt Europa General Assembly
Monthly Meetup in Ljubljana
Signature Collection Update

News from Europe

Europe thrown under the “omni-bus”?
Can national parties still do politics?
Iceland considers climate change an existential risk

Updates from Volt around Europe

Volt Italy elects first regional representative
Volt Albania merges with Nisma
Volt Slovakia hosts the next General Assembly in Bratislava

💡 Minis discover Europe

What’s happening with Volt in Slovenia?

Our first press conference

Photo: Borja, Matic and Sven introducing Volt Slovenija to the media, Foto: © Tine Eržen/STA

Last month, we held our first press conference in front of the Parliament. The sun came out just in time as we introduced Volt to the media.

Borja did a great speech on us not wanting to deliver sandwiches to Parliament, but new and better politics. We would like to start with a clean slate and not recycle create yet another party of a famous politician - we prefer building up over the long term.

Sven spoke about Slovenia’s role in Europa and Matic introduced our priorities. We were all a bit nervous but we think we did well.

👉 Read the report on N1

Ljubljana petition: the aftermath

A tram on Ljubljana? Forget it (Photo: City of Lyon)

Last month we presented our petition against a planned road through the Štepanjsko naselje in Nove Fužine neighbourhoods.

We reached 1700 signatures in the end and the mayor of Ljubljana invited us to the townhall’s press conference to hand them over, which we did in front of the media. He repeated again that the road would not be built, but also that there would not be any tram in Ljubljana.

👉 We think otherwise - and Ljubljana Info picked it up

Volt Slovenija on the Volt Europa General Assembly

The Volt Slovenia team on the Frankfurt General Assembly

This year’s Volt Europa General Assembly was in Frankfurt. A record number of 1600 Volt members from all across Europe attended and Volt Slovenija also had a small team present on location.

We organised a great evening with members from other Central European chapters and spent two days discussing cross-border politics.

You can rewatch the live stream from Day1 and Day2 on Youtube:
👉 Day 1 Livestream
👉 Day 2 Livestream

Monthly Ljubljana meetup

Volt Ljubljana Meet+Greet

Amidst all our activities this month, we still managed to fit in a Ljubljana Meet+Greet, welcoming new members and a handful of people curious to learn more about Volt.

👉 Do you want to change things for the better? https://volt.team/simple-join/sl

Signature Collection Update

As stated earlier, we still need your help to reach 200 signatures and officially register Volt Slovenija as a political party. Using Neill Armstrong’s words: it’s a small trip to Upvrana Enota and 3€, but a big step for Slovenian politics.

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

Evropa vržena pod “omni-bus”?

Ursula von der Leyen brani “omni-bus” zakonodajo (foto: BBVA)

The European Commission is pushing to close the year with a bang. And not in a good sense. Not only is our legislative agenda apparently being dictated by Donald Trump. Ursula von der Leyen and the conservative EPP also pushed through a first omnibus law (many modifications of existing legislation) dismantling key aspects of the Green Deal together with the anti-european forces. A first in European history.

With protection against climate change weakened, the next Omnibus is already on the road: the weakening of digital regulation to give more access and freedom to US tech giants on European markets.

It is worrisome that conservatives in the European Parliament now openly seek majorities with anti-democratic forces while state leaders remain quiet not to cause the ire of Donald Trump.

👉 Read more about the weakening of Europe’s legislation on Verfassungsblog

Can national parties still do politics?

German chancellor Friedrich Merz defending the pension reform (photo © Fabian Sommer)

It’s been a month since we wrote about the French parliament trying to decide on a budget before the end of the year. Only a few weeks remain and it will be interesting to see if parties from both sides of the spectrum find a consensus.

A similar scenario plays out in Germany where chancellor Merz is trying to secure a majority - also within his own ranks - for his pension reform.

It’s worrisome to see how in both countries, the political discourse and finding majorities is no longer straightforward. Especially considering the position of the extreme-right, democratic forces are obligated to work together.

Iceland labels climate change an existential risk

Climate change in Iceland (Photo by Taras Truba on Unsplash)

In a first in Europe, the government of Iceland has declared climate change an existential risk. Recent research showed the transatlantic stream carrying warm water to Europe risks slowing down or halting by the end of the century. This would mean much colder weather in Europe all the way to northern regions such as Iceland becoming uninhabitable.

It was not the only bad climate news for Europe this month as alarms were sounded that ground water levels are shrinking at an alarming rate.

It’s a reminder, that even though we’re regulating the green deal away, a policy of “Don’t look up” will not lead to a happy end for future generations.

👉 Read more about Iceland’s declaration
👉 Read more about groundwater depletion

News from other Volt chapters

Volt Italy elects first regional representative

Davide d’Errico, newly elected regional councillor for Volt Italy

Italy held regional elections end of November and Volt Italy was participating in two regions.

In the Campana region, we managed to elect our first regional representative, Davide d’Errico, which was not only a great success for Volt Italy, but also added one more country to becoming a Europarty with elected representatives in at least 7 countries. With Italy we now have 4, let’s try and make Slovenia be the next one.

Volt Albania merges with Nisma Thurje

Volt Albania and Nisma Thurje on stage at the Volt Europa General Assembly in Frankfurt

During the recent Volt Europa General Assembly, Volt Albania announced that it will merge with Nisma Thurje. Both parties stand for a transparent, and Europe-focussed type of politics, that involves citizens.

With chapters in the UK, Switzerland, Ukraine and Albania, Volt is technically a step ahead of EU enlargement. In our General Assembly we therefore also started the discussion on how these non EU chapters can participate within our organization - just as the EU should review its treaties and decision making procedures before adding more countries to the mix.

Volt Slovakia hosts the next General Assembly in Bratislava

Teaser for the Volt Slovakia 2026 General Assembly

“After a General Assembly is also before a General Assembly” and our team is very happy, that next June we will be meeting again in Bratislava, as Volt Slovakia has won the bid to host our next European General Assembly.

The next General Assembly will take place June 13 and 14 and will be the occasion to elect a new European Board to lead us through the next three years and prepare the 2029 European elections.

👉 Watch the intro video featuring Borja and Sven from our team
👉 You can already purchase tickets

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

Volt: Launching a European party in Slovenia

Volt — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 13:00:00 +0100

(photo: STA.si)

The movement Volt, founded after the Brexit referendum today counts close to 40.000 members across Europe. Volt currently has 5 MEPs in the European Parliament (sitting with the Greens/EFA), deputies in the Dutch and Cypriote parliaments and representation in around 200 municipal councils across Europe. Volt is registered political parties in 21 member states. Volt Slovenija will become the 22th chapter of the movement.

Slovenia has tremendous potential. We excel in science, business, and sports. But we have stagnated in politics. We want to unleash our country's potential in this area as well, which is why we will be running in next year's parliamentary and local elections. We are currently collecting signatures to register the Volt Slovenia party, because politics needs a new generation of people who think and work beyond borders and bring the best ideas from across the continent to Slovenia.

Borja Ranzinger, founding member of Volt Slovenia

We focus on three themes: European integration because we want to actively co-create and benefit from the European Union. Decentralization, because Ljubljana is becoming a bottleneck for the country’s overall development. And trust, predictability, and transparency, because only through these can we reach Scandinavian levels of governance and social trust.

Matic Bitenc, founding member of Volt Slovenia

We ask Slovenians for their signatures and ask them what they would change if they could. A common response is that people want change and a positive outlook. We cannot achieve this by establishing a party with recycled personalities. We want to build something new—a space for citizens who have not had such political choices in Slovenia until now.

Sven Franck, founding member of Volt Slovenia

Instructions on the party registration can be found on the Volt Slovenia website (download)

The full programme is also available on the Volt Slovenia website (PDF - slovenian only)

Contakt

Špela Majcen Marušič - Press and Media - spela.majcen@volteuropa.org
Borja Ranzinger - Party Registration - borja.ranzinger@volteuropa.org

About Volt

Newsletter - November 2025

Volt — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 08:00:00 +0100

(Photo: Tilen and Sven postering in Štepanjsko naselje and Nove Fužine)

Welcome to our monthly Volt Slovenia newsletter (subscribe here)

The end of the year is approaching and we’re working hard to collect the signatures we require to register as a party to run in next year’s elections. Our next big event will be our official launch press conference in front of the Parliament on November 12th. Many things are happening, we’re happy about a lot of positive feedback we receive but we need to your support:

We would like to register before the end of the year to be able to collect donations already in 2025. If you want to help us make this happen, support us with a signature.

👉 How to sign for Volt

This month’s topics

What’s happening with Volt in Slovenia?

Our first petition against bad urbanism in Ljubljana
Novo Mesto - our statement
Our Top10 proposals for the elections
Monthly Meetup in Ljubljana
Signature Collection #6

News from Europe

How many French governments between two newsletters?
A pro-European Prime Minister for the Netherlands?
MyVoice MyChoice voted in the European Parliament

Updates from Volt around Europe

Volt Nederlands with 1 seat in the Dutch Parliament
Volt Belgium Academy

💡 Minis discover Europe

What’s Happening in Volt Slovenia

Our first petition against bad urbanism in Ljubljana

Last month the Ljubljana Municipality (MOL) published its new urban plan which includes a new traffic overflow road to be built through the Štepanjsko naselje and Nove Fužine neighbourhoods although this proposal was already rejected in 2010.

Our member Tilen organised a petition and, as of writing, over 700 from residents have been collected with Tilen speaking at the public hearing and organising two neighbourhood meetings. Let’s see if we manage to stop

👉 Read about it in the N1 news
👉 Read our press release
👉 Read more about why we think Ljubljana needs a new vision for urban development and our alternative proposal of a light rail system.

Novo Mesto: our statement

Photo: a tragedy which could have been avoided

Last month’s events in Novo Mesta also left our team shaken. We believe this tragedy needs to be a wake-up call for our public services and all stakeholders involved in spatial and social integration of minorities living in Slovenia - following positive examples, such as the Pušča community near Murska Sobota.

👉 Read our full statement here

Our Top10 proposals for the elections

We already introduced our three principal themes: European integration, decentralization and trust and transparency. What do we want to do concretely, if we have a chance to represent electors in the Slovenian parliament? Check our priorities for the elections next year:

Photo: Our Top10 proposals for the upcoming elections

Monthly Ljubljana meetup

Photo: Volt Ljubljana Meet+Greet

Great to have new people joining for our Meet+Greet in Sax Pub. We had plenty to talk about and discuss and are slowly increasing our circle of contacts, supporters and members in Ljubljana.

👉 Join us

Signature Collection #6

We’re starting to push a bit and would like to reach our target 200 by the end of the year. If you haven’t signed for us yet and want to help us, here is how it works:

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

How many French governments between two newsletters?

Photo: French Prime Minister Sébastian Lecornu © AFP/Thomas Samson Culiomza

Last month saw Francois Bayrou lose a motion of no confidence over his proposed 2026 budget. A new government under Sébastian Lecournu was introduced, but… he resigned after two weeks over his choice of ministers, only to be nominated again by President Macron a few days later.

Since then he has been trying to get the French budget through Parliament without also falling to a motion of no confidence. Not an easy task with the extreme right and left trying to make him fall. With all other parties needed for the budget to pass, France, which is used to govern with an absolute majority, has to learn “the art of the deal” while keeping the extreme-right and left at bay.

A pro-European Prime Minister for the Netherlands?

Photo: New Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten - © AFP

The Netherlands also went to the polls last week after right wing leader Geert Wilders blew up the government coalition with his anti-immigration plan, which even his partners would not support.

The election saw Wilders PVV being overtaken by the progressive D66 led by Rob Jetten by a hairline margin, giving Rob Jetten the mandate to try and build a new government. While the far-right remains strong, this election does hopefully mark a turning point.

👉 Learn more about Rob Jetten
👉 Watch his statement on Europe after being elected

MyVoice MyChoice voted in the European Parliament

Photo: MyVoice MyChoice booth in the European Parliament © Inštitut 8. marec

Next week, the MyChoice MyVoice initiative launched by the 8th of March Institute will face a vote in the European Parliament.

In case you forgot, their European Citizen Initiative to provide financial means for abortions was one of the few ECIs that passed the 1 million signature threshold for the European Commission to consider putting it into law.

Many Volt chapters supported the initiative and collected signatures, so we cross our fingers for the vote.

👉 Learn more about MyVoiceMyChoice and their initiative

News from other Volt chapters

Volt Nederlands with 1 seat in the Dutch Parliament

Photo: Volt Nederland election event in Amsterdam

We already wrote about the success of D66 in the Dutch election. And while we are happy to see the progressive camp come out victorious, Volt Nederland was also a victim of the success of D66 losing one of our 2 seats in the Dutch parliament.

It was a setback since a week before the elections Volt Nederland was still polling at 2 or even 3 seats, but we remain a vocal presence in the Dutch parliament and the team is already focussing on the upcoming local elections later this year.

Volt Europa General Assembly Preview

Photo: Volt General Assembly participative session

Our European general assembly is coming up in 2 weeks. The event was sold out for some time and Volt Europa thus moved to a bigger venue and is now expecting about 1500 participants from all corners of Europe.

Volt Slovenia will participate with a small delegation and we’re already looking forward to meeting up with fellow Volt members to discuss European politics and politics all over Europe.

👉 If you want to learn more about Volt, join us in Frankfurt

Minis discover Europe

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

Ljubljana: A city for people or a city for cars?

Volt — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 12:18:00 +0100

(Photo: Lyon lightrail, Source: Municipality of Lyon)

The new urban development plan is accessible via Urbinfo and shows and overflow roads to be able to handle more car traffic slicing up the residential areasŠtepanjsko naselje and Nove Fužine.

The project in question was already cancelled in 2010 because it destroyed well-designed urban neighbourhoods and recreational areas and posed a security risk by putting a high traffic road between residential areas and kindergardens and parks.

Fast forward 15 years and the same road is proposed again. It is probably not the only project pulled from the attic and strangely out of time and place.

(Photo: Overflow parking and road to city center, Source: Urbinfo MOL)

We can't breathe!

Ljubljana has changed in the last years. Not for the better. Long gone are the days of challenging for the European Green capital of Europe. We are today the only European capital without a tram or metro system and Slovenia is one of the most centralised countries in Europe. Because of the latter, everything has to happen in Ljubljana and because of the first, everything has to happen by car.

The result: motorisation increases every year from a low of 492 cars per 1000 inhabitants in Ljubljana in 2014 to now 541. Kilometers driven likewise increase every year and with it air pollution. Imagine: there are 150.000 cars running through Ljubljana daily, 97.000 commuting for work. You either accept hours stuck in traffic or you move to Ljubljana - which puts further pressure on an already tight real-estate market and housing cost.

Proposing traffic overflow roads in such a unsustainable situation feel like installing a bypass for a clogged artery. It might save you a few years, but it's a quick fix instead of long term therapy and healthier lifestyle. We should ask ourselves how many such bypasses Ljubljana can still handle before the eventual equivalent of a heart attack. The reality is even worse: a bypass will restore flow into a circulating system, whereas a traffic bypass only allows yet more cars to flow into the city center.

Also: what's the point? Where should all these additional cars park? Is Ljubljana a city for inhabitants or for commuter cars? It looks like we're copying the urban strategies of the US cities in the 80s.

(Photo: Downtown Houston - a parking lot, Source: Reddit)

What's next? Turning Tivoli into a parking spaces or maybe creating a vision and plan how our capital can join other European metropoles - creating living space for its populations rather than destroying them to make room for commuting cars and traffic.

Take Paris for example: in over 20 years the city managed to reduce air pollution significantly be redesigning traffic, removing parking spaces and making space for bike lanes and pedestrian areas.

The city did not collapse by reducing car traffic. Quite the opposite: air pollution is down and the number of cars circulating during rush hour has been reduced significantly with levels of harmful particles responsible for major health problems, including heart attacks, lung cancer, bronchitis and asthma dropping by over 50%.

(Photo: Airpollution in Paris over time, Source: Washington Post/Airparif)

Metro, Tram, Bus, or... Rail

You may have seen our petition against the planned overflow road through Štepanjsko naselje. We believe we are not the only residential area affected by reckless city planning. Space is a luxury so any additional public transport infrastructure will compete for space with existing roads. Trams and bus lanes will cannibalise space for cars.

Going under earth to build a Metro is too expensive (~50-60M€/km). Why not go above ground? And build a monorail above existing traffic roads. A project in Malta was budgeted with 18M€/km - much less than a metro and likely financed in large parts by the EU under Green Deal and sustainablity programms - whereas new roads for commuter cars would have to be paid by Ljubljana taxpayer money.

(Photo: Monorail in Australia, Source: MaltaToday)

Too gadgety? Light rail systems would fall in the same category, be eligible for EU sustainability funding and are already in use across Europe at similar cost:

City / Project (year)	Length (km)	Total cost (nominal)	Cost per km (approx.)	Notes & source
Besançon (France)	14.5	€254 m	€17.5 m / km	Low-cost French example, avoided complex civil works.
Strasbourg (France)		€304 m	~€23.5 m / km	example with significant urban renewal
Lyon T6 (France)	6.7 km	€161 m	€24 m / km	Recent French extension (includes stations & rolling stock).
Dublin Luas Cross (Ireland)	~4.8 km	~€344–368 m	~€72–77 m / km	Urban centre tunnelling/complexity

Considering the large scale parking planned at Studenec and Zaloška Cesta, which is mostly straight, a light or monorail from the highway commuter parking to the Univerzitetni klinični center Ljubljana would mean multiple advantages:

significant reduction of cars commuting into the city center
no need for additional transit roads such as the one planned to go through Štepanjsko naselje
limited cannibalisation of existing roads
Zaloška Cesta is mostly business and industry with limited residential buildings facing the street and parking spaces that could be used to widen the road, ideal for construction of a rail system

Even monorails are no longer extraordinary as cities have adopted them to save space and handle difficult terrain:

Venice has the People mover, because the city is not accessible by traffic. It transports 3500 visitors per hour from Tronchetto to Piazalla Roma.
Chongqing in China has a 500km monorail network connecting a remote and hilly city landscape with highspeed public transport.
Even Lille in the north France has parts of its Metro running overground on pillars along the principal car arteries.

Whether Lightrail or Monorail, the goal must be the same: reduce the number of cars having to commute from E57 into the city center.

This requires a larger vision of how we want Ljubljana to develop in the next 10-20 years. The city and its inhabitants deserve such a vision and plan. It would be our "therapy" to change towards a healthier and more lively city.

Let's build this city. For inhabitants, not for cars.

Novo Mesto: How to prevent further tragedies?

Volt — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 11:11:00 +0100

(Photo: Delo.si)

On Saturday, October 25, 2025, a tragedy occurred in the southeast of Slovenia. A father, husband, and man who was a key link in the local community was murdered. We express our sincere condolences to everyone who mourns the loss: his family, his children, and all those whom Aleš touched along his path.

It is natural that as a community we all feel grief and compassion. What concerns us is the wave of political reactions that followed. From calls to arms to demands for immediate elections, even to the government proposing to grant the police harsh and potentially unconstitutional powers.

Volt Slovenija asks whether it is really necessary to score political points from such a tragedy, and whether such rhetoric only increases the likelihood of further violent acts. Is it wise to make decisions in a state of such emotional tension? These are decisions that will affect all citizens for years to come.

We agree that state institutions have failed and that their functioning must be improved. But shouldn’t tragedies be the reason to question the work of public services, rather than to arm them under pressure with new and potentially dangerous competences?

More security does not mean more safety

Example: The Panoptikon project identified all surveillance cameras in Slovenia. The state spent millions of euros of taxpayers’ money on “security” and monitoring, yet no study has ever shown that installing cameras is effective or has actually reduced crime.

Even worse: this system now presents a serious risk of abuse. One does not need to watch Black Mirror to see that social credit systems and travel bans are already a realityl. Cameras could in the future be used against protests and for monitoring innocent citizens. There is also a constant risk of cyberattacks and foreign infiltration, which could compromise the personal data of all citizens.

Just as the EU Commission’s “Chat Control” proposal and scanning all private communications of half a billion Europeans under the guide of “child safety” is a disproportionate measure, Volt believes that we do not need further militarization of the police, nor the introduction of more authoritarian and repressive laws.

A wake-up call, not a call to arms

For Volt, this tragedy should be a wake-up call for public services in Novo Mesto, not a call to arms. If the local police truly fear entering Roma settlements and this has been known for some time, we must ask why reinforcement from other regions was not requested earlier (in cooperation with Roma communities and other stakeholders), and why a death was necessary to prompt action. It is important that everyone in politics and public administration takes responsibility and reflects on the consequences of their actions - but without adopting excessive repressive measures.

What we want to say is that Slovenia’s criminal law is strong enough, if state institutions enforce it properly. We are open to discussion about new measures in the social and security fields, but these must not create a legal basis for expanding authoritarian powers. Authorizing surveillance and increasing the powers of intelligence services, just like mass camera usage, will not make us safer—they will merely ease the transition to a more authoritarian regime. Today, stricter measures may target Roma communities; tomorrow, when power changes, these mechanisms could be used against anyone.

Treating symptoms instead of causes

The solutions are right in front of us: the Pušča community near Murska Sobota in Prekmurje is often cited as a positive example of integration. Dedicated preschool education, volunteer fire brigades, football clubs, and access to infrastructure show what can be achieved when all stakeholders commit to overcoming social and spatial segregation..

Given such positive examples, Volt asks: why don’t we see similar integration in the southeast of the country? And what measures must we take—at both the national and local levels—to ensure that Saturday’s tragedy is not repeated?

Specifically, we propose:

Enable members of the Roma community from Pušča and other parts of the country to participate in shaping Roma policy. Let them share best practices and help us establish a democratic model that works for all members of the Roma community.
A proposal such as abolishing child benefits for underage mothers may be promising, but only if the new law excludes those who are already young mothers or currently pregnant. Otherwise, it causes excessive suffering and risks hunger among many children. Therefore, this measure should be accompanied by improved sex education for minors and better access to contraception.
Ensure that existing legislation is effectively implemented.

We also call on all parties - left and right - to come together and not inflame further violence for political gain. It is dangerous to succumb to the atmosphere that some seek to create, in which all Roma are blamed for a horrific crime. Such dehumanization leads to terrible consequences, and at the same time we must ensure that any new legislation does not result in human rights violations.

Fighting fire with fire?

Volt Slovenia hopes that the government will not be blinded by the desire for PR points but will instead carefully choose the right measures.

First, existing legal means should be used - both against the perpetrator and against those inciting violence, hatred, or criminal acts online .
At the same time, local authorities should be required to report on past and future efforts in the areas of security and integration.

Volt Slovenia hopes that the Pušča community and representatives of local Roma communities will help calm tensions by reaching out to other communities across Slovenia, beginning a similar process of reconciliation - while the government provides municipalities with resources to build the social structures needed to prevent such tragedies in the future.

Before concluding, it must be emphasized that this issue has been smoldering for decades and that all past governments and heads of public institutions bear some responsibility for Saturday’s tragedy.

Over the past 20 years, anyone could have decided to intervene and proactively help improve the situation of the Roma community and prevent what is now happening in our country - but they did not.

And what is most worrying is that this is not the only issue that has been festering for decades - from population aging and the climate crisis to violence against women, housing problems, and the uncompetitiveness of our economy.

None of these alone will “bury” the government, but if no one acts soon, all of them together will slowly bury our country.

Volt Slovenija

Newsletter - October 2025

Volt — Sat, 04 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0200

(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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Chat Control: Why is Slovenia just abstaining?

Volt — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 07:30:00 +0200

Passing the law would be similar to episodes of Black Mirror or George Orwell's 1984. Every citizen's most private conversations will be scanned in real time against CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material): holiday photos, messages between grandparents and grandkids, every email and file stored online. It will not be done in the EU. The most intimate data will flow to US companies like Palantir to feed, train and be evaluated by AI systems.

Why not also abolish paper envelopes? If we are assumed guilty by default, letters must also be read before sending. Chat Control will violate the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 7 Protection of private and family life, and Art. 8 Protection of personal data. But like with the Data Privacy Framework that allows US companies to siphon off private data to the US, it needs to be fought in court which will take years. Should citizens be monitored in the meantime? We think not.

Tilen Drager, founding member of Volt Slovenia

Slovenia is currently gaining a lot of respect in the international community for its position and consequential steps with regards to the conflict in the Middle East. We stand up for human rights abroad. Why not at home? We want Slovenia to vote against Chat Control and, since three is a charm, Slovenia should also make sure that blanket mass surveillance will not be proposed again in the European Union.

Borja R., founding member of Volt Slovenia

Members of Volt Slovenia will participate in the protest organised by the Pirate Party on October 2nd at 11h30 in front of the Ministry of interior.

(Foto: Kamil Feczko, Unsplash)

Contact

Špela Majcen Marusic - Press & Media: spela.majcen@volteuropa.org
Borja R. - Party registration: borja.ranzinger@volteuropa.org

Volt Slovenia

Volt Slovenia is the local section of Volt, a paneuropean movement with 40.000 members in 30 EU European member states, 5 MEPs in the European Parliament and deputies in the Netherlands and Cyprus. Volt works for a more united Europe, that is not only economically integrated, but also includes a democratic and social dimension. Volt Slovenia is currently collecting signatures to register as a political party ahead of next year’s national elections. The party defined three priorities: benefiting from more European integration, decentralisation to reduce the cost of living and create opportunities throughout Slovenia and trust and transparency in politics.

Bled Strategic Forum: Smaller EU member states need to think bigger

Volt — Sun, 07 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0200

The EU needs a foreign policy doctrine - not a bus full of state leaders

Not only was the EU-US trade deal weighed down by large member states protecting their export market from German cars to French wine. Antonio Costa indirectly admitted in Bled that the US-EU trade deal was also influenced to assure US support of Ukraine. Fittingly, a bus full of state leaders with NATO and Ursula von der Leyen tried to sway the US president into actually earning his coveted Nobel peace prize.

What if all 27 state leaders wanted to participate in these negotiations? Do they all fly separately? Does the EU send around a doodle for a Zoom call? The EU is not the United States of Europe where one person calls the shots. But today’s opposite and unanimity clause is not much better, because the EU is kept in perpetual stasis.

Without a proper foreign policy doctrine defining our objectives and representation, Europe will always be subject to large member states calling the shots - while the smaller ones, such as Slovenia relegated to bystanders. We should demand more!

Leadership is not a matter of size

It was surprising that on a two day event with many European and state leaders, the largest member states were mostly absent. Considering they dominate the European foreign policy agenda, one would expect to also have high-level representatives of Germany, France and Italy participate in a conference that was heavily focussing on multilateralism and leadership.

When EU leaders do not inspire, such as Kaja Kallas on whether she thought the EU still had geopolitical weight. When principal state leaders do not participate in the discussions on how we want to make representative and democratic decisions. When they even fail to uphold the values and ideas that Europe is supposed to stand for with their ambiguity with regards to Gaza. Shouldn’t we give more of a platform to smaller member states?

Their perspective is not one of autonomy, but of cooperation. And we’ve come to a point where more cooperation is becoming essential. Also in this regard, Slovenia should not shy away from wanting to contribute to how the EU must function in this “runaway world”.

Let’s really challenge the status quo

Panels in Bled touched on a plethora of topics. The young generation was given a voice. EU Membership candidates and representatives from around the world could share their perspectives. One missing element however was how we will actually challenge the status quo.

Whether United Nations or European Union, countless panelists were contemplating a gordian-type situation with many actors still adding knots instead of trying to untangle our international institutions and render them operational again. To illustrate the dilemma, a secure and free Europe can mean that member states invest in their national defense industries instead of pushing the needle towards reforms and an actual European military that would be more than the sum of its parts (with a price tag probably also below 5% of GDP).

In today’s times, the Bled Strategic Forum should strive to also be catalysator of change by giving a platform to the voices that propose new perspectives and challenging solutions. By setting a tone that has an echo beyond Bled, Slovenia would underline its role as facilitator of European reforms and could probably quickly welcome state leaders from western Europe. Because, as in the movie “Field of dreams”, if you build it (that Europe), they will come.

Newsletter - September 2025

Volt — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0200

Welcome to our monthly Volt Slovenia newsletter (subscribe here)

If you thought you could spend a few weeks on the beach in Croatia (if you got there), while the world was on summer break, you were wrong.

Europe is on fire - not only literally in Spain and France where European cooperation means many countries sending equipment - but also on a geopolitical level, where the EU did not give the impression to be calling any shots but rather has to swallow one bullet after another.

This meant our team was also busy, coordinating with other chapters and continuing to collect signatures. As summer is slowly losing steam and everyone returns to work, we are also picking up where we left, because elections are approaching and there is a lot to do if we want to present Volt as an alternative that may merit your vote.

If you want to help, now is a good time to join:

👉 Join Volt

This month’s topics

What’s happening with Volt in Slovenia?

Monthly Meetups in Ljubljana and Koper
Participating in the Bled Strategic Forum
Signature Collection #4

News from Europe

After the deal is before the deal?
Peace in Ukraine? With or without the US?
ChatControl will soon scan our private conversations
France government facing motion of confidence over budget

Updates from Volt around Europe

Volt Portugal local elections
Volt Nederland polling at 3 seats
Volt Czechia national elections

💡 Minis discover Europe

What’s Happening with Volt Slovenia

Monthly Meetup in Ljubljana and Koper

Full house in Ljubljana

Albeit the summer holidays, we fit two Meet&Greets into August as we try to launch our second team in Koper and were happy to welcome some of our expat members visiting Slovenia.

We discussed the upcoming month, brainstormed the electoral campaign next year and how we can reach the 200 signatures required to register.

It was great seeing new faces and we’re looking forward to growing our Meet+Greet further in the months to come, ideally also launching other city teams

👉 Start Volt in your city

Participating in the Bled Strategic Forum

Discussing EU identity in Bled

Europe is at a crossroads and this year’s 20th Bled Strategic Forum dedicated its full two days on how Europe can find its geopolitical role in a changing world and what it means for the central and southeastern European member states and countries seeking to join the European Union.

Although Volt Slovenia is not yet a registered political party, we also managed to receive an invitation and spent the two days in Bled building our future network both within Slovenia and beyond.

Our principal message was that we should not underestimate the role Slovenia and other smaller EU member states can play in shaping the future of the European Union.

👉 Check out the agenda
👉 Rewatch sessions on Youtube

Signature Collection #4

It's the holiday season and this usually means one thing: the queue at Upvrana Enota is shorter compared to other months, but also not easy to find new signatories. We have over 40 signatures now and want to quickly hit 50.

If you’d like to help, you can certify your signature at the administrative office in just 5 minutes and send it to us.
If you’re in Ljubljana - let us know! We’ll gladly invite you for a coffee (or something stronger 😉)

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

After the deal is before the deal?

Photo: Donald Trump on Truth Social

If you thought the EU-US trade deal was bad, we might not have seen the end of it. It seems whenever something does not please the US president, we put everything back on the table.

The recent discussion on European digital protection (Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act) caused the US president to again threaten new tariffs should US tech companies not get preferential treatment.

We seriously wonder how long EU leadership is kowtowing to the US president. The September state of the European Union (SOTEU) address by Commission president Ursula von der Leyen better show how the EU will reduce its dependence from both the US and China in the near term with concrete steps. If not we need a new European and national leadership.

👉 Read our MEP's Reinier van Lanschot’s statement on the new tariff threats

Peace in Ukraine? With or without the US?

Photo: to appease or to make peace (Photo Georgia Today)

Last month also saw a full plane of EU leaders plus the UK, plus NATO make the trip to the US to support Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky meeting with Donald Trump.

This was after the Alaska meeting of Trump and Putin a week earlier. The result of this show of force however did not bring any breakthroughs and the European coalition consoled itself that at least things did not turn for the worst.

What does this mean for Ukraine as the country was commemorating its independence day on August 24th:

There is no clear pathway to an end of the war.
US support depends on the US president’s whims and fancies
Europe needs to speed up its efforts to create a credible military deterrent and how to support Ukraine in case the US stops its support

Chat Control will soon scan our private conversations

Photo: Chat Control support across Europe (Patrick Breyer)

The Chat Control 2.0 initiative was introduced by the European Commission in 2022 and if Germany stops opposing the initiative, a qualified majority would be reached for an October vote.

What does Chat Control mean? It means all private digital conversation whether on Facebook, Whatsapp or per mail as well as all digitally stored files will be scanned in real-time for CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material).

The regulation goes against the European Union charta of human rights article 7 and 8 but like with the US-EU data transfer agreements, once in place, it will take a few years to declare it illegal again and until then, we will likely hand over our most sensitive private conversations to large US companies to be scanned and train AI models.

👉 More information on the topic on the website of former Pirate MEP Patrick Breyer - https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/posts/chat-control/

👉 Post on the blog of our Sven Franck on Chat Control - https://svenfranck.eu/en/blog/Chat-Control-the-end-of-the-secrecy-of-correspondence.html

France government facing motion of confidence over budget

Photo: Trouble in France for Prime Minister Francois Bayrou (AFP)

The French Prime Minister announced a vote of no-confidence for September 8th over the French fiscal budget. The country will soon overtake Greece as the most indebted EU member state and with an annual debt to GDP ratio of over 6%, it is far away from the 3% hurdle for all EU member states.

The French budget thus foresees cost cuts of over 40B€ including removing two national holidays, which of course did not go over well during the summer. With nationwide protests and a general strike announced for September 10th, the Prime Minister went into the offensive, announcing a motion of confidence.

Whether this means a new government or yet again new elections less than 2 years before the new presidential elections will be up to President Macron. In any case, the vote brings new instability to a country looking for ways to manage its growing state budget.

News from other Volt chapters

Volt Portugal local elections

Volt Portugal running across the country

Portugal seems to have elections all the time and our team is not getting tired. On October 12th, municipal elections will take place and our team has been preparing for these for many months.

👉 You can follow the Portuguese team on Instagram as they try to become the next chapter to build a solid base of local elected representatives - https://www.instagram.com/voltportugal/?hl=en

Volt Nederland polling at 3 seats

Photo: Europe Elects has Volt Nederland at 3 seats (Europe Elects)

The Netherlands are also heading to snap elections on October 29th after the conservative-extreme-right coalition broke last month. Currently our Volt Nederland team is polling at 3 seats - the same level as in the last 2023 elections.

The team has published its programme - which was developed with members from across Volt Europa and has also validated their preliminary candidate list.

👉 Follow Volt Nederland on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/voltnederland/
👉 Check out the candidate running for Dutch Tweete Kammer - https://voltnederland.org/mensen/advieslijst-kandidaten-tweede-kamerverkiezingen-2025

Volt Czechia national elections

Photo: Press conference of the lead candidates (Volt Czechia)

Closer to us, Volt Czechia is also preparing for national elections on October 3rd and 4th. The Czech team is still small but managed to gather the 200 candidates necessary to run across the country.

Volt is garnering some notoriety for filing a lawsuit against two “non-coalition” lists who created new parties in order to circumvent the higher electoral threshold for coalitions - a claim also supported by academia.

👉 Likewise, to stay up to date, you can follow Volt Czechia on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/voltczechia/

Minis discover Europe

Thank you for reading!

Recommend the newsletter to friends who might be interested in Volt – and catch up again next month.

The Volt Slovenia Team

Newsletter - August 2025

Volt — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0200

Welcome to our monthly Volt Slovenia newsletter (subscribe here)

The "silly season" has long since arrived, but Volt continues its activities despite members being in more “exotic” locations than Slovenia and in a more relaxed mood.

We are of course still collecting signatures to launch our party, growing our membership, fine-tuning our programme, and responding to current topics in European and national politics. And when we catch a shooting star in the summer night sky, we wish for far-reaching and constructive European projects—rather than lukewarm reactions to the latest moves by a carrot-colored Caligula.

If you’d like to help turn our wishes into action, you can support us by signing to help us launch Volt Slovenia - or get to know us first at our monthly meetup on Wednesday, August 13 at 6 PM at Sax Pub in Ljubljana or Sunday, August 17 at 10 AM at Kavarna Kapitanija in Koper.

Thank you for your support!

Topics:

What’s happening in Volt Slovenia?

Monthly Meetup in Ljubljana and Koper
Signature Collection #3
Strengthening our social media presence

News from Europe

EU-US Trade Agreement
Proposal for new EU budget

News from other chapters

Volt protests against border controls across Europe
Volt Austria Assembly with greetings from Slovenia
Volt Europa’s General Assembly in Frankfurt might need a bigger venue

💡 Minis discover Europe

What's happening in Volt Slovenia

Monthly Meetup in Ljubljana and Koper

First Volt Meet&Greet in Koper

Before the summer break we organised two monthly meetings: our regular event in Ljubljana and a first Meet&Greet in Koper. With fresh energy back from summer vacation, we will continue with two events in August:

On Wednesday, August 13 at 6 PM, join us on the terrace of Sax Pub in Ljubljana - more info here
On Sunday, August 17 at 10am, join us on the beachfront of Kavarna Kapitanija in Koper - more info here

Everyone who’d like to chat casually about European and local politics is welcome. Of course, we’ll also talk about bold plans and what we can do to make a difference.Signatures - update #2

Signature Collection #3

The pile of signatures is growing, but we could definitely use a boost - hopefully with your help!

If you’d like to help, you can certify your signature at the administrative office in just 5 minutes and send it to us. If you’re in Ljubljana - let us know! We’ll gladly invite you for a coffee (or something stronger 😉)

👉 How can you sign?
We’ve prepared clear and simple IKEA-style instructions for everyone.

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

Strengthening our Social Media Presence

We strive to make our ideas for a more constructive and forward-looking politics heard more widely. So that the media landscape isn’t flooded only with forces of disintegration, but also with those working to build both international and local institutions for everyone’s benefit.

It might sound mundane after such a lofty intro, but you can help a lot by following Volt Slovenia on social media. With your support, we’ll soon reach 1,000 followers on Instagram.

News from Europe

EU–US Trade Agreement

Photo: U.S. Trade Representative (Instagram) - no thumbs from EU negotiators!

Given the destructive goals of the U.S. administration and chaotic implementation, there’s little hope of anything good coming from a trade agreement under current circumstances.

This deal can be seen as an attempt to limit damage to the economy, but it’s still weak and short-sighted. With such deals, the EU turns its back on the international institutions and fair trade principles we've helped build over decades.

Instead of damage control, the EU should start building a new global system of free trade with willing partners.

More U.S. imports of energy or military equipment won’t help either. Even if we know these transitions can’t happen overnight, the EU must commit to strategic autonomy:

Independent defense forces with their own industrial base
Buying U.S. equipment only when European alternatives are unavailable
Diversifying energy sources and accelerating the switch to renewables

Finally, we need a European Commission leadership with a clear democratic mandate from EU Parliament elections (Spitzenkandidaten), not one that constantly caves to the interests of a few large member states.

New EU Budget 2028-2035 Proposal

The new EU budget is up for discussion (photo: Euractiv)

Last month, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also presented the draft of the future EU Budget (MFF or Multiannual Financial Framework) which will be negotiated with the EU Council and Parliament for the next two years.

If you deduct 165B€ for Covid debt repayments, the proposed budget is only slightly larger as the last 7 years budget with 1.82T€ or 1.15% of GNI (compared to 23% federal spending in the US).

The plan also foresees wide-ranging reorganisations of the budget including a 30% spending cut for agriculture towards competitiveness, but also a reorganisation of regional cohesion plans. This would foresee the Commission dealing directly with governments without the European Parliament having its usual role to validate and control budgets would not be misspent. Worse, the draft also foreseen regional cohesion funds to be centrally handled by governments compared to regions currently in charge.

In Slovenia we can already see the negative effects of such budget reallocation changes: since Slovenia has no official regions, all cohesion funds go through Ljubljana. If they are based on the development index in Ljubljana, compared to say Murska Sobota, we would receive less budget for regional development and companies would have to work with lower funding rates in many EU programmes. Something to think about when discussing why we should or should not have regions in Slovenia.

News from other Volt chapters

Volt protests against border controls across Europe

Photo: March for open borders (Volt Luxembourg)

Since May 9th, the German government has installed internal border controls to stop illegal immigrants entering Germany from other EU member states. The Schengen agreement only allows this in national emergencies, yet the German government refuses to stop controls.

Aside from the terrible results - 400 000 hours of extra work for law enforcement to detect 350 illegal border crossings. At an estimated 30€/h, the German government spends 34.285€ of taxpayer money for every illegal entrant on rail and highway border crossings.

Volt Germany therefore called for a march for open borders and organised crossborder protests with participants from the Volt along the borders with Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Czechia and Austria.

👉 There were many reports in the news in all countries, such as this one (in German, 2m 28)

Volt Austria’s Assembly with Greetings from Slovenia

Volt Slovenia on the Volt Austria General Assembly in Salzburg

Our neighbouring chapter Volt Austria held its annual General Assembly to elect a new Board, adjust statutes and discuss the strategy for the upcoming years.

We were happy to have our Sven Franck participate for Volt Slovenija together with other invited members from Volt Germany and Volt Switzerland. We hope that all chapters will return the favor and also have representatives join for our inaugural general assembly of Volt Slovenia. Our strength is being a paneuropean movement and exchanging across borders and supporting each other.

Volt Europa General Assembly Might Need a Bigger Venue

The big annual General Assembly of Volt Europa will take place in Frankfurt am Main on November 22–23, bringing together all national and regional Volt organisations to set future goals, share best practices, and more.

The unofficial part will last a bit longer, and local bars will contribute to member cohesion too.

Preparations are on track - 65% of available tickets are already sold. Given the high demand (and expected boost after the holidays), organisers are already wondering whether a bigger venue will be needed.

👉 If you're interested in attending, now’s the time to book your tickets

👉 If you want to actively contribute and join our Slovenian delegation in Frankfurt, register as a member here

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

EU-US trade deal: Buying time for EU reforms?

Volt — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 09:47:00 +0200

(photo: US trade representative)

Last weekend, the presidents of the EU and the US met in Scotland to agree on a trade deal to avoid the 30% tariff Donald Trump threatened to impose from August 1st. Rushed by member state governments, Ursula von der Leyen returned with a deal that will see 15% tariffs applied on EU exports to the US while the EU levies 0% tariffs on US imports. In addition, the EU agreed to purchase 700B€ of energy, invest 600B€ in the US and to increase purchases of US weapons.

The price tag for refusing EU integration

The undersigning Volt Chapters regret that the EU accepted such a lopsided handshake deal putting into question our credibility and legitimacy in trade based on the international order. We question not only the urgency for this deal, but also the outcome considering the 235B$ trade deficit Trump criticized in products is offset by a US surplus and quasi monopolies in tech and financial services of 148B€. A 15% tariff without reciprocity to protect EU domestic industries or equivalent taxation of US service providers was by no means justified.

Volt fears that citizens across Europe will pay a heavy price for national governments hijacking negotiations and refusing for too long to address Europe’s structural weaknesses:

The EU still has no foreign policy doctrine remaining dependent on US protection and support in the Ukraine war, which Donald Trump is using as leverage in his deal-making.
Member states preach stronger defense but have not made significant steps to at least joint procurement with a European army and command chain nowhere on the horizon.
Governments prevent real economic integration leaving our EU market “single in name only”, with our industries less competitive and too fragile to absorb external shocks.
The Commission was rushed by national governments protecting industries with the sum of unilateral interests a far cry from a unified and forward-looking trade policy
EU decision-making thus remains woefully inadequate considering a geopolitical reality much different from when the underlying EU treaties have been concluded.

This deal is wakeup call. Mario Draghi pointed out many of these points in his report a year ago. Since then, governments now criticizing the EU for a deal they forced, have neither delegated competences to the EU nor allowed reforms. They keep the EU in its weak state and, empty promises or not, with this deal they are buying time. Volt expects this time to be finally used for EU reforms and to reduce Europe’s external dependencies.

Creating a European future instead of protecting a national past

Specifically, Volt chapters demand the EU Commission and national governments:

To treat the EU-US deal separately from the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF 2028-2035) being negotiated. The upcoming “EU budget” should neither be reduced nor diluted or diverted.
To not enter into a new energy dependency by purchasing close to the annual US LNG production and triple of current imports but instead focussing on increasing renewables as well as grid and storage capacities.
To ensure military spending beyond the 2% NATO commitment will be financed on a European level focussing on joint purchases with obligatory and increasing quotas for European defence contractors.
To advance market integration: the 28th regime, the EU public procurement reform and integrated capital markets can only be steps towards unifying 27 different bureaucracies costing us 7% of productivity according to the Draghi and IMF reports.
To reduce the monopolies of US service providers by means other than tariffs: an EU public payment provider to rival Visa and Master Card is overdue, as are interoperability requirements for social media platforms, a Buy European and a EU small business act.
To not exempt any country from Carbon Border Adjustments. We need a level playing field for our industries in Europe and beyond - by demanding other economic blocks to follow suit should they want to continue to trade with the European Union.
To demand a net positive capital flow into the EU from any public investment in the US. The US does not need development aid. Investments beyond taking over initiatives like USAid or Radio Free Europe must have a verifiable positive impact at home in Europe.

Volt expects these points to be addressed in the upcoming September State of the Union address of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen - not by the usual fluffy marketing, but by concrete steps towards EU treaty reforms aimed to render the European Union a capable geopolitical actor. These should not only include internal reforms but also initiatives to salvage the international order - including a new global economic zone and reform of the WTO.

These reforms require true leadership on a European level and standing up to member state governments to rally them towards finding a role within a stronger European Union instead of overestimating their diminishing geopolitical weight. Volt believes that a strong commitment from member states to honor the Spitzenkandidaten process will be a necessity to break with the practice of Commission Presidents depending on the Council instead of the European people and project. Volt is ready to take over responsibility should national governments continue failing to do so.

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A referendum on NATO membership - seriously?

Volt — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 19:40:00 +0200

(photo: Vlada RS/Daniel Novakovič/STA)

Do we still have responsible parties in parliament?

Last week, Levica tabled a referendum on planned NATO defense spending, which, to everyone’s surprise, was supported by SDS, SD and NSi and ended in Prime Minister Golob announcing a consultative referendum on Slovenia’s NATO membership itself (!)

Volt Slovenija wants to remind readers that faced with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and threat to peace and stability, both Finland in 2023 and Sweden in 2024 abandoned their longstanding position of neutrality to join NATO. Even Denmark is moving closer to the European Union for similar reasons, as all member states are aware that we can no longer freeride on the protection of the United States and need to take matters and expenses into our own hands - whether we like it or not.

Volt Slovenija was therefore very surprised by parties in parliament questioning NATO contributions and even membership in NATO itself - as if we had the resources or economies of scale for a credible deterrent against any aggressor. We also want to underline that a conventional war may be fought at Europe’s doorstep in Ukraine, but a hybrid conflict has long arrived in Europe, whether fought through cyberattacks or social media campaigns.

Ensuring Slovenia’s security for the future

Volt Slovenija would have rather seen our government working with our European allies in NATO, first and foremost by calling out NATO chief Mark Rutte for entering into commitments without prior consultations and then by finding workable solutions.

Internally, Volt Slovenija has done just this and contributed to the 3-point plan of Volt Europa for a European Nato. We’re calling not only for transitioning to European supreme commander of NATO, but also a joint nuclear deterrent, integration of our armed forces from procurement to a robust command chain and EU procurement of all expenses above the current NATO obligation of 2% - which Slovenia with 1.2% of GDP (as of 2023) has still not reached.

Considering Slovenia’s budget is about 42% of GDP (2025 projection), reaching the initial target of 3.5% would mean spending about 2.5 B€ on military equipment per year - instead of the projected 850 M€. It is clear from looking at the budget that there is little room for this type of spending increase. Calling a referendum on it is rather cheap when Slovenia could for example request Germany to give up its resistance to Eurobonds or at least support the introduction of a new joint debt vehicle similar to the Covid Recovery and Resilience Plan to shoulder these expenses without having to cut social security, education or pensions.

Borja, a founding member of Volt Slovenija: “We have the feeling, our government didn’t even try to find a solution that would prevent overburdening our national budget and households. Instead we will likely end up with yet another meaningless referendum and cuts to social welfare to purchase US military equipment. This is regrettable. Volt Slovenija would demand Eurobonds in return for increasing military spending to 5%. Without such possibilities, we see any amount above 2% only being justifiable and feasible through integration of our defense forces with our European partners, as we suggest in our programme.”

Abusing referendums for electoral means

Volt Slovenija also believes we need to re-evaluate the purpose of referendums. Allowing citizens to participate in democratic processes is an exemplary practice that works well in other countries such as Switzerland. Not so much in Slovenia it seems.

Matic Bitenc, founding member of Volt Slovenija: “If consultative referendums are abused for electoral gains or to undermine the parliamentary process, we should consider higher entry barriers than a simple vote in Parliament. Whether it’s the opposition calling the recent referendum on top-up cultural pensions or the government not following up on the June 2024 referendum on cannabis, assisted dying and open electoral lists, our political parties give a poor example of treating citizens and their democratic choices.”

One of Volt Slovenija’s principal objectives and reasons for working to register as a political party ahead of next year’s elections is also to provide a political voice for more trust and transparency. As part of Volt Europa with close to 35 000 members across Europe, Volt not only defends the idea of working across borders, for example by pushing together for a future EU NATO and solution on defense spending, but also to hold each other accountable for doing politics “the right way”.

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