A transnational campaign - Pt 4

This is the cut short stage of my campaign, as the Electoral Commission asked everyone to halt activities. In this newsletter, I’ll write about my transnational listening tour, the political situation in the countries and cities I’m visiting, how Volt is doing and traveling across the continent. If you want to know more about my campaign and programme, check out my website, a bit more about myself and my resume.

Stories from the transnational trail: Cut short

Zurich, Switzerland 🇨🇭

After sitting idle for a week, I was ready to kick off my campaign on May 1st passing by Zurich to see family and say hi to Lars from our Slovenian team. A few Volters from Volt Switzerland also joined as we discussed the ongoing referendum to limit the Swiss population to 10 million (today 9.0 million).

It's a textbook populist campaign even sending brochures to households claiming that more immigration meant more green space had to be built on, more roads for cars were needed etc. etc. We argued, that Switzerland was already "mittendrin in nid dübii" - in the heart of Europe but not participating.

With this referendum, the country would isolate itself even more. How should Europe respond? Should a country only benefit from trade while excluding other aspects? Should Switzerland in return still be permitted to participate in Eurovision, Erasmus or Horizon funding? After all, there are always two sides to a coin.

Volt Switzerland is supporting the campaign against the referendum advocating for the country to grow its links with the European Union rather than cutting them. Of course our team is small, so this would be an opportunity for Volt Europa to take a stand. No other country is doing so. Why should they, they only think national and are not really thinking European beyond their borders.

Thank you for the evening and Rösti 💜

Lille, France 🇫🇷

From Zurich I took another night bus to Lille. because I couldn't miss May 1st and "La Louche d'Or" (the golden ladle): the traditional soup festival, on which associations and political parties cook soup for a few thousand visitors to try. We've been participating with @volt.lille for many years with a purple soup, because it's a great opportunity to talk politics over a gobelet and a flyer.

I was happy to see my former Lille team becoming a staple for visitors with our booth next to the social democrats with whom we ran in the recent municipal elections. It shows how continuous work and presence slowly builds our brand 💜. We of course discussed politics, next year's presidential elections and the parliamentary elections right after. It's always a challenge to field good candidates and a year is a good timespan to prepare a strong local team. It was also great to meet fellow Board candidate Oliver Forberich, another German running for Volt France like myself, and talk our respective ideas.

I could only stay a few hours, but of course fit in a Welsh - after living 15 years in Lille, my quasi-typical french dish, which made my sprint to the train station to catch my connection to Strasbourg ... a bit more challenging.

Strasbourg, France 🇫🇷

May 1st, I had not only Lille on my route, but also Strasbourg to kick off my campaign. I arrived in time to shoot videos in front of the Parliament before meeting with the @voltstrasbourgortenau team "Tartes flambées". I was happy, Camille Marteau, our recently elected official in France, was also able to join as I learned about the first steps of being municipal councillor as well as the challenges of trying to have an impact across various domains as lone Volt councillor.

We discussed the campaign of the Strasbourg team and the importance of focused actions and network building with other political forces, which can also serve as a best practice elsewhere in France and even beyond. Fundraising was another topic, as Volt Europa only received a handful of large donations over the course of a year. We agreed it was key to have compelling stories and projects that people will want to support and contribute to and to be consistent in building up a small donor network.

It was great to exchange with another one of our active french teams. Getting elected in France is a tough for small political parties and I'm very proud the team in Strasbourg pulled it off - as will @volt.lille eventually.

As if Zurich to Brussels to Lille to Strasbourg wasn't enough for a day, I continued to Karlsruhe were @fabsi_volt was so kind to offer me a night owl couch.

Karlsruhe, Germany 🇩🇪

I only had a half a day in Karlsruhe but was in good hands with Fabian showing me the city, municipal projects and challenges as a city councilor.

Praise where praise is due: the Volt Karlsruhe team is participating in all public events where city representatives should be present. I believe that this "political" work is an essential complement to the "legislative" work. Being accessible and exchanging with citizens, participating in events and growing our network are key if we want to grow Volt from a niche to a party that can also play a bigger role. Not only in local politics.

Thanks for the couch and Käsespätzle 😌

Luxembourg, Luxembourg 🇱🇺

From Karlsruhe I went to Luxembourg to meet with the local team for dinner. It was a few days after Volt Luxembourg made it into the national polls, so I was eager to discuss politics.

I learned that it's common practice to have celebrities "pulling" lists and, after getting elected, getting swapped out for whoever will actually take the post. It was also very hard to field a full list for parliamentary elections because only Luxembourg citizens living in Luxembourg can run as candidates. The country has one of the highest ratios of EU citizens (47%) so voting rights for EU citizens is a real topic that continues to get blocked.

Also to note, in Luxembourg, May 9th 🇪🇺 is a public holiday. First time that I heard a member state having implemented one of the things essential to make Europe more visible to the general example. Leading by example. It was great to discuss with the team, thank you for organizing and see you soon if all works out.

Wiesbaden, Germany 🇩🇪

After a few sleepless nights traveling in and out of Luxembourg I had one more day before a well deserved night train from Stuttgart to Ljubljana. First up though: meeting Volt Wiesbaden for brunch.

The team picked me up from the train station, which opens into a park (best practice!). I learned about the city history, the spas and water sources (which we also tasted) as well as the decline of local hotels, now slowly being transformed into apartments. Brunch was also great. I had a chance to discuss my plans for the co-presidency and learned a lot about the need for our Volt infrastructure to keep pace with our growth and reducing dependencies to non-European providers.

It was great that so many members showed up for an early brunch and I appreciated the feedback and recommendations. With lots of ideas I left for Stuttgart with a short stop in Pforzheim to say hello to the local Volt Pforzheim team. We should really visualize all events on a map so it's easier to find a Volt team organising something close by.

Stuttgart, Germany 🇩🇪

The last stop on this leg was Stuttgart. The Volt Stuttgart team picked me up at the Stuttgart 21 train station, still far from finished but now with its official 1.3km hiking trail to get from the entrance to the train tracks.

We toured the city with the local team and councilors and I learned about plans to uplift the area around the train station, creating more lively spaces and reanimating blocks that have been standing empty - all against budget cuts due to a sharp drop in income from a struggling car industry. We discussed how more visibility of our national and European level could also give a boost to the local teams and ideas to get build momentum for the elections to come.

I couldn't stay too long to not miss my train, did half of the hiking trail to catch my train and more or less slept until arriving in Ljubljana. An overdue rest before the next leg, which I'm currently on.

This was a short but taxing trip and the next one was even longer. Good I had a couple of days to recharge in Ljubljana, before I began touring the Netherlands and more of Germany. Stay tuned and thank you for reading.

Purple regards 💜

Sven