Native European youth in action? Participatory and communicative practices of Volt party

The article analyzes the pan-European party Volt in the context of the political shifts surrounding the 2024 European elections. The empirical analysis focuses, in particular, on two “national chapters”: the Italian and the Spanish. Our premise is that Volt represents an interesting example of the regained protagonism of young Europeans, as an innovative and resilient response to the multiple crises they face. It was founded by young people, it is led and it is largely voted by young people. Volt gives voice to the “European natives” and “Post-democracy native”, who experienced their political socialization in a context of the full Europeanization of everyday life, but also in a context of multiple crises, followed by the rise of anti-European and populist movements, with respect to which Volt stands at the antipodes. After framing the birth, evolution, and organization of Volt, the article explores the distinctive features that define it: its strongly pro-European orientation, its party-movement, and its evidencebased orientation-as well as its distinct youth characterization. The combination of these features gives the project a marked originality. We conclude that Volt is the political expression of native Europeans, particularly of an èlite (or perhaps a vanguard) of university-educated, reformist and pragmatic young people, accustomed to interacting in transnational structures and who see the European Union as a political and social sphere that requires specific everyday participation, beyond strictly national perspectives. Indeed, as a pan-European party, Volt promotes transnational networks of public debate as alternative and resilient spaces with respect to the contested movements and practices of “fringe democracy”. We also stress the difficulties of thinking and acting as a pan-European party in a context highly framed by national political organizations and contexts.