Volt Denmark — Denmark's European Party (), known simply as Volt Denmark, is a

social liberal Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited g ...

political party in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, and the Danish chapter of the pan-European political movement

Volt Europa Volt Europa (known mononymously as Volt) is a transnational pro-European and Federalisation of the European Union, federalist European political alliances, European political movement. It operates as a Pan-European identity, pan-European umbrell ...

Policies

Security policy

In order to combat cross-border crime, Volt supports a closer integration of Denmark into the

Europol Europol, officially the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, is the law enforcement agency of the European Union (EU). Established in 1998, it is based in The Hague, Netherlands, and serves as the central hub for coordinating c ...

structures and criticises in an open letter the previous Danish policy, which instead relied on bilateral agreements with neighbouring states. By abolishing border controls and closer European cooperation of police authorities, freed resources should be used to better fight

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

, illegal migration and international crime. The party supported the lifting of the defence opt-out in June 2022, cautioning against relying solely on the US for security, with reference to

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, and campaigned for more European cooperation and the development of a Danish vision for the European Union.

Climate protection and energy policy

Volt calls for the expansion of the European

electricity grid An electrical grid (or electricity network) is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids consist of power stations, electrical substations to step voltage up or down, electric power trans ...

to strengthen the exchange of

renewable A renewable resource (also known as a flow resource) is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of ti ...

wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

and

solar energy Solar energy is the radiant energy from the Sun's sunlight, light and heat, which can be harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating) and solar architecture. It is a ...

. The party supported the inclusion of

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...

in the EU's green taxonomy, but criticised the fact that fossil

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

was also classified as sustainable and that European energy policy is oriented towards national interests. The party, on the other hand, sees the need for a common European strategy in moving away from

fossil fuels A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geologica ...

. Denmark should lift the ban on building nuclear power plants on Danish soil and participate in research on modern nuclear technology. Danish shipping is to become

climate neutral Global net-zero emissions is reached when greenhouse gas emissions and removals due to human activities are in balance. It is often called simply net zero. ''Emissions'' can refer to all greenhouse gases or only carbon dioxide (). Reaching net ze ...

by 2030 and global influence in the shipping industry is to be used to advance the goals agreed at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. To this end, public-private partnerships are to be formed to also reduce emissions in

supply chains A supply chain is a complex logistics system that consists of facilities that convert raw materials into finished products and distribute them to end consumers or end customers, while supply chain management deals with the flow of goods in distr ...

Rule of law

To protect the

rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...

, ensure that the government acts lawfully and that new laws do not violate the constitution, Volt calls for the establishment of a permanent, impartial judicial body modelled on Germany's

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

Human rights

The party supports the protests of women in Iran against the Iranian regime and for freedom and democracy.

Economic policy

The party is committed to targeting

foreign workers Foreign workers or guest workers are people who work in a country other than one of which they are a citizen. Some foreign workers use a guest worker program in a country with more preferred job prospects than in their home country. Guest worke ...

to meet labour needs and drive the green transformation of the economy. To this end, cities should not only be made attractive places to live and work for international workers, but jobs should also be advertised on the pan-European job portal EURES.

History

The party was formed in May 2018 and incorporated on 21 July 2018. Inna Hoogeland and Frederik Larsen are party leaders and Mathieu Pouletty is treasurer. In the run-up to the 2019 European elections, Volt failed to meet the signature hurdle and did not collect enough supporting signatures to be eligible for the election. In November 2021, the party contested an election for the first time in the municipal elections in

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the region of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of less tha ...

. It did not achieve a mandate. To qualify for national elections, which will take place in 2023 at the latest, the party needs 21,000 digital signatures. To participate in the European elections in 2024, the party needs to collect 71,000 digital signatures.

Local elections 2021

In the course of the municipal elections, the party advocated a House of Democracy and citizens' dialogues and assemblies along the lines of

deliberative democracy Deliberative democracy or discursive democracy is a form of democracy in which deliberation is central to decision-making. Deliberative democracy seeks quality over quantity by limiting decision-makers to a smaller but more representative sample ...

as described by the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

, in order to address current challenges such as a

mobility transition Mobility transition is a set of social, technological and political processes of converting traffic (including freight transport) and mobilities, mobility to sustainable transport with renewable energy resources, and an integration of several diff ...

and the design of a new city district. The candidates deliberately talk a lot about visions and ideas for the EU, as much of the work of municipalities is determined by EU legislation and municipalities also increasingly work on an international level. Volt therefore wants to strengthen the European dimension and the international network in Frederiksberg. The party's goal is a green, socially responsible and future-oriented municipality. Volt's candidate Mathieu Pouletty was the first time a

Frenchman French people () are a nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially the native speakers of langues d'oïl from nort ...

stood in the Danish municipal elections. Volt received 0.2% of the vote.

External links

*
Official website
(danish)

References

{{Danish political parties

Political parties in Denmark Pro-European political parties in Denmark 2018 establishments in Denmark Political parties established in 2018 Organizations based in Copenhagen