Volt Europa: A Transnational Model of Representation in the EU Multilevel Party Field?

Alvaro Oleart and Gilles Pittoors
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Alvaro Oleart: Department of Political Science, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium / Institute for European Studies, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Gilles Pittoors: Department of Political Science, KU Leuven, Belgium

Politics and Governance, 2026, vol. 14

Abstract: Volt Europa emerged in 2017 as a transnational political party with aspirations to become the first established EU political party. Volt emerged not as a federation of national parties—as the existing “Europarties”—but as an aspiring pan-European party. In doing so, Volt challenged the pre-existing national representative logic of European politics, presenting itself as an alternative to the dominant party models in EU politics. Yet, to what extent does Volt Europa represent a genuinely alternative model? To answer this question, we identify three Europarty models in the EU: national, supranational, and transnational. While the former two express the EU’s classic representative dichotomy, the latter could be a genuine innovation if implemented. We then explore Volt’s trajectory, focusing on its ideology, discourse and organisation through extensive document analysis and semi-structured interviews. We find that, despite meaningful attempts at establishing a transnational organisation, it largely reproduces the national vs. supranational dichotomy that characterises the EU’s approach to democracy, while maintaining centrist-technocratic politics and a strong German–Dutch anchoring. Therefore, we conclude that, while Volt is an important case study of innovative political practices at the supranational level, it falls short of presenting a convincing alternative model: its combination of supranational and transnational elements rather highlights the limits of trickle-down representative innovation when faced with the European political field’s structural dynamics.

Keywords: democracy; EU; Europarties; Europeanisation; EU multilevel party field; party politics; political parties; transnational politics; Volt Europa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:poango:v14:y:2026:a:11982

DOI: 10.17645/pag.11982

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