Volt wants to be climate neutral by 2040: ‘The European Green Deal is not ambitious enough’

The Green Deal was launched in 2019 and Frans Timmermans, leader of the Joint List of PvdA and GroenLinks, was responsible for it as European Commissioner. But he should have gone much further, Dasen says. “What I see is that there is a counter movement happening,” he says. He hopes that the COP28 climate conference, which will be held in Dubai in 2028, will result in more ambitious plans.

United States of Europe

Volt prides itself on being the only European party present “in every European country”. In practice, in addition to two seats in the Netherlands, Volt has only two seats in Bulgaria. The party has one seat in the European Parliament, representing Germany.

Dassen hopes that other European parties will also emerge. The party wants a “United States of Europe”: “We want a European parliamentary democracy. A European parliament with a European government, just as we did in the Netherlands,” he says. The European government could then respond very quickly to the challenges facing Europe. According to him, “ All the important issues of this campaign can be addressed and resolved in Europe.

If the new nation, the United States of Europe, were established, it would not be necessary to dissolve the Netherlands. “I hear that often, but it’s not necessary,” Dasen says. “We will have to arrange a lot together in Holland.” It mentions education and housing. He compares the situation to the provinces and municipalities in the Netherlands, which are also in charge of matters, while there is also a national government.

Government participation

Dasen states that Volt is open to participating in government. The Volt leader said, “If there is a need for us to form a coalition, we will face this challenge, but we will simply present proposals. It does not matter the opposition or the coalition.”