Volt Spain

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Volt Spain
Volt España
LeaderRachele Arciulo, Cristian Castrillón [1]
Founded15 June 2018
HeadquartersMadrid
IdeologySocial liberalism
Pro-Europeanism
European federalism
European affiliationVolt Europa
Colors  Purple
Website
https://www.volteuropa.es/

Volt Spain (short name: Volt, Spanish: Volt España) is a political party in Spain. It is part of the pan-European party and movement Volt Europa, which advocates closer European and cross-border cooperation and is characterised by its supranational character.[2] As part of Volt, it has a Member of the European Parliament, Damian Boeselager, who represents the party there.

History[]

Volt Spain was officially registered as a party on 15 June 2018, as the third national section, and contested the 2019 European Parliament elections for the first time.[3] It obtained 32,291 votes (0.14%) and thus did not win a mandate.[4] In May, the party contested the municipal elections in Madrid for the first time since the European elections, but did not win a mandate.[5] During the municipal elections, representatives of the right-wing populist Vox warned against confusing Volt with their own party, as the placement of the ballot papers next to each other was, according to them, intended to cause confusion.[6] In fact, the order of the ballot papers was based on the order of the candidacies submitted.[7]

In September 2021, the party supported the referendum for the legalisation of euthanasia in Italy and collected signatures for the initiative in Spain.[8]

The average age of Volt in Spain is 35.[9] The party plans to run in the 2023 elections for the Spanish parliament and in the 2024 European elections.[5]

Ideology[]

In its programme, the party strongly advocates European federalism with the goal of a federal European state. Volt sees close European cooperation as a central necessity in order to successfully meet challenges such as digitalisation, the fight against climate change and social inequality.[2] Further demands of the party are more transparency in politics and an improvement of public administration, which is to be digitalised and built on open-source software.[9] Gender, religion or origin should have no influence on social status.[6]

Alongside this, Volt advocates an end to bullfighting in Spain, hunting restrictions and shaping a more sustainable agriculture with a common European food policy to avoid food waste and environmental damage.[9]

Catalonia[]

During the last few decades, part of the population of some regions in Europe has been calling for independence or secession of these regions, as has been notably manifested in Catalonia. In this particular situation, the political deadlock due to a lack of dialogue between all political actors has led to an entrenchment of the situation due to a lack of dialogue and proposed solutions to resolve it. This has led to numerous situations that have mainly harmed the citizens of this region, violating rights that are inherent to their condition. However, Volt Europa considers that in Catalonia there is no exceptional situation of generalised and large-scale violation of citizens' rights that would justify a unilateral declaration of independence by this region.

A commitment to dialogue

In order to resolve these situations, a strong commitment must be made to positive dialogue between all political actors to adopt solutions and joint proposals that help to resolve the situation, mainly focused on the search for improved coexistence between citizens. In this sense, Volt Europa is committed to the establishment of a transparent, public round table dialogue involving regional and state institutions and the most significant parties in both spheres.

The dialogue must be positive, loyal, with a predisposition to reach an agreement that benefits all citizens, and away from selfish and entrenched positions.

As long as there is no single European legislation on the crimes of sedition or related offences, a legal reform is considered advisable to adjust the possible penalties, limit their application and/or reformulate their wording in order to harmonise the offences in question with those of neighbouring countries.


Proposal for agreement

As a starting point to ensure the success of the dialogue, Volt Europa strongly supports the revision of the system of the regions and their competences, from a decentralising perspective, with the aim of giving more autonomy to the regions, both politically and financially, so that they can carry out policies that have a closer impact on citizens.

It is also necessary to work to improve state, regional and local politics and institutions, with the aim of increasing the quality of Spanish democracy and encouraging coexistence between citizens of all regions. To this end, among other aspects, Volt Europa promotes improving the transparency of the administration; improving the redistribution of wealth between regions, reducing imbalances; creating an adequate framework for citizen participation; and promoting and defending the different cultures of Europe.

To strengthen the link between the regions and the country in which they are integrated, encouraging States to decentralise institutions by dispersing ministries, official headquarters and other State structures to places other than administrative capitals. Current technology, communication and working tools allow for this.

Support and facilitation of regional and national elements will be sought as adding values in a process aimed at European federal integration in all possible areas. Education programmes and curricula must also be reformed so that they actively teach tolerance and intercultural dialogue, civic participation and overcoming prejudices, and promote democratic values.


Failure of dialogue

Following the current legal framework and as long as a European Constitution is not implemented to mediate and concretise these issues, the current legal framework in the state in question will be the starting point for reflections and proposals for change concerning regionalisms and their relationship with states. To this end, Volt will support legislative changes in each State to allow consultations to take place within a framework of legality if necessary.

Volt Europe will work firmly and actively to ensure that the path of dialogue achieves successful results for the benefit of all citizens. However, the possibility that the dialogue between the parties may fail cannot be overlooked. Under this possibility, mediation as a reinforcement to this path is the next step to resolve the situation.

It is important to underline that mediation is the realisation of a failure. When the two parties trying to coexist do not succeed in their dialogue processes, it is necessary to be able to establish the origin of this failure, identify the deficits in the attitude of each of the parties and offer a mediation oriented towards a mutually beneficial agreement.

Independence or secession processes

Only if the mediation process does not lead to the achievement of an agreement, and all the measures proposed in the section "Proposals for agreement" fail, would it be necessary to move on to more objective and participatory mechanisms, the population should be allowed to be consulted on the relationship of the affected region with the State as a whole, including the options involving the agreed rupture of relations, even though Volt Europa would not promote or support it for all of the above reasons.

Volt Europa defends the Constitutions of all member states as a manifestation of the will of the people, which implies that it defends the possibility of reforming the Constitutions in accordance with the mechanisms foreseen in them. This includes the possibility of reform to provide for a process of independence or secession, if appropriate by democratic majorities.

It is also necessary to point out that although Volt Europa defends respect for international norms that establish in which cases self-determination can be achieved and in which not, it should be remembered that self-determination is only possible for oppressed or colonial peoples, for which there are lists (UN) in which Catalonia in particular does not appear.

In any case, Volt Europa defends the consultation of society as a mechanism foreseen in any circumstance, for which Volt Europa will support the legislative changes of each State to allow these consultations to take place within a framework of legality and always tending to define mechanisms to guarantee veracity that allow validation of the arguments that can be used in the campaign. Thus, the establishment of tools is advocated to guarantee that, if the arguments used in these independence processes, whether European or national, have been untruthful, the result of the consultation should be frozen until it is proven whether or not there has been deception.

The procedure for independence or secession of the regions proposed by Volt Europa should consist of five phases:

First phase. - It involves a vote in the regional parliament on the organisation of a consultation of the citizens of the region. Such a vote in the regional parliament, if it obtained a large majority, would allow the organisation of a regional consultation of the citizens to ask whether or not they want to hold a binding and legal referendum on independence. To be approved, this vote would need a double majority vote in favour in the regional parliament (a majority of representatives and a majority of those represented).

Second phase. - Should the necessary double majority be obtained in the regional parliament, a second phase of regional consultation of citizens would be initiated, to find out whether the citizens of the region are in favour of a binding and legal referendum on the independence of the region. The question would have to be clear, with only YES and NO as the only possible answers. A high turnout and a large majority would be necessary for the referendum to be approved.

Third phase. - If the referendum is approved, the state and regional governments would negotiate the terms of an independence or secession agreement, which would have to be approved by the national parliament by a large majority.

Phase four. - This phase would begin in the event of a favourable outcome of the referendum and a vote in the state parliament. In this phase, a binding and legal referendum would be held for the citizens of that region to vote in favour of independence from the state or, on the contrary, in favour of remaining in the state. The question would have to be clear, with only YES and NO as the only answers. For the result of the referendum to be considered in favour of independence or secession of the region, a high turnout and a qualified majority in the referendum would be necessary, but without imposing independence on those administrative demarcations in which the majority in question had not been achieved. Each administrative demarcation would be treated independently, with its corresponding results.

In the event that the referendum does not obtain the necessary support, a limited period of time would be established in which this process could not be carried out again.

Fifth phase. - This phase would begin in the event that the result of the binding and legal referendum is in favour of independence. It would consist of negotiations between the State government and the government of the region in question for the effective separation of the two territories at all levels. If necessary, the EU would be involved as a mediating party. 

Any movement that achieves its independence or secessionist aspirations from a member state would have to go through the EU accession process that applies to any state, and where appropriate as proposed in Volt Europe's Mapping of Policies.


The leaders call for dialogue to end the political deadlock.[2]

Election results[]

Year Election Leader Votes % Seats
2019 European Parliament Bruno Sánchez-Andrade 32.291 0,14 %
0 / 55

External links[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Directiva – Volt España". www.volteuropa.es. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  2. ^ a b c "Volt, el partido que sueña con una Europa federal, despega en los Países Bajos". El Independiente (in Spanish). 2021-03-26. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  3. ^ 20minutos (2021-05-04). "Qué significa Volt, el partido paneuropeo que se presenta a las elecciones de Madrid 2021". www.20minutos.es - Últimas Noticias (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  4. ^ País, Ediciones El. "Resultados Electorales en Total España: Elecciones Europeas 2019 en EL PAÍS". EL PAÍS (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  5. ^ a b "Rachele Arciulo: «Somos de centroizquierda y en el 2023 queremos entrar en el Congreso»". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 2021-07-16. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  6. ^ a b lainformacion.com (2021-05-04). "Qué es Volt, el partido que "confunden" con Vox en las papeletas de los comicios". La Información (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  7. ^ Serna, Patricia Blázquez (2021-05-07). "Así es Volt, el partido cuyas papeletas se confundieron el 4-M: "Ha sido un error de los votantes de Vox"". COPE (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  8. ^ González, Enrique (2021-09-03). "Volt España apoyará el referéndum de eutanasia en Italia". www.gndiario.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  9. ^ a b c "Volt, un partido 'millennial', tecnológico, verde y paneuropeo para las elecciones en Madrid". Nius Diario (in European Spanish). 2021-04-27. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
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