Volt Europa, 2022 Country Council Retreat

As usual, the Volt Europa Country Council met the two days before the General Assembly in Prague! This time Volt Austria was represented by Jessica Sommer and Konstantin Fragenheim.

The council is composed of the co-chairs of all Volt chapters. It oversees the work of the Bureau and the platform for coordination between countries.

During the two days, the country council discussed the draft Memorandum of Understanding, a document setting out the guidelines that each chapter should follow, from the composition of the bureau to the publication of annual reports. Germany and the Netherlands gave an overview of their ongoing campaign preparations, organisational structure and back-planning for the Europeans, before we discussed how chapters should approach coalitions in case it is not possible to stand alone for financial or technical reasons.

On the second day, the European Co-Presidents presented their quarterly review and objectives for the next three months, before the chapters shared their successes and failures and their perspectives until the end of the year. The day ended with the discussion and finalisation of the Council's expectations of the European Office for the future, including for example a clear roadmap for the European elections. The Council also decided to devote at least half of its bi-weekly meetings to the preparation of the campaign and to look for more opportunities for collaboration.