Our vision for a United Europe
Volt has defined 5+1 fundamental challenges that need to be tackled in each European country and in Europe as a whole.
Why 5+1 Challenges?
Together we have identified 5+1 challenges that are crucial for a strong Europe of our time. These are also our main issues of particular focus.
The first 5 challenges are those that are basically the same in each country, but can be implemented differently - taking into account the respective local realities and circumstances of the regions. The +1 challenge is identical for all countries: its goal is to reform and strengthen the European Union.
Governments should provide state-of -the-art public services for the benefit of their citizens and residents. This includes:
- digitalising public services to reduce waste and to improve efficiency and service quality,
- modernising education systems,
- making high-quality healthcare available to everyone,
- providing a fair and transparent legal system, effective law enforcement, and fighting corruption and tax evasion,
- guaranteeing digital rights and freedom,
- strongly supporting research.
European economies must be the engine of society’s progress and allow for a decent living standard for everyone. With this in mind we want to:
- aim for leadership in innovation,
- tackle unemployment by innovative working schemes, a European labour platform, and by easing the setting-up of small businesses,
- rebuild economically challenged areas
- push for a circular economy,
- foster a European Artificial Intelligence Initiative,
- introduce a Europe-wide corporate tax,
- create a unified European social and fiscal system.
Every person in Europe must be guaranteed equal rights and opportunities. To achieve this we want to introduce policies that
- stop inequalities and discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, national origin, descent, or skin colour,
- alleviate poverty and homelessness, e.g. by social housing, accessibility to social benefits, and free healthcare for everybody,
- guarantee free education to all, from pre-primary to higher and vocational education,
- emphasize a person’s right to their own body by Europe-wide harmonized rules concerning reproductive rights, sex-work, and ending life with dignity.
We want to establish policies in line with the Sustainable Development Goals in areas such as
- climate change,
- international fair trade,
- sustainable farming,
- food security,
- biodiversity,
- international development cooperation.
In the area of migration we advocate
- a new “burden-sharing” refugee system,
- removing existing legal barriers for labour migration,
- setting-up an international system to prevent and address refugee crises,
- putting an end to statelessness in Europe.
Europeans should be empowered to
- take informed political decisions,
- be able to influence politics beyond elections alone,
- exercise their democratic rights within vibrant, resilient and highly deliberative democracies.
Our policies are based on best practices regarding the fostering of a pluralistic information and media landscape, tools & technologies for political engagement and empowerment, and ways in which democracies can be made to thrive.
- The European Union is our common project: we have managed to come together and build a Union that has ensured peace and prosperity for over sixty years.
- Yet, it has its shortcomings, which is why we want to reform and strengthen EU governance and institutions for
- a more democratic, more transparent and stronger Europe,
- a federal Europe.
- We propose concrete policies for more efficient EU action to promote and protect the interests of all European citizens.