Together with our very own Anita Bastiaans, executive councilor for Maastricht, Volt is trying to pave the way for a social and inclusive society based on equity. We want to make sure that everyone living in Maastricht, regardless of their background or who they are, feels at home in our city. Amongst others we want to achieve this by making sure the “social domain” is transparent, digital and accessible to all. Equality is at the very base of a healthy democracy. Next to this, Volt is working hard to combat discrimination within the city to ensure everyone feels not just welcome, but also safe – wherever they may be in the city. Lastly, Volt wants to invest in better cooperation between the city and its higher education institutes (Zuyd & Maastricht University). This way we ensure that whenever someone is new to the city, they are well taken care of and made to feel at home. And we also mean this in the literal sense. Currently there is a severe housing shortage in Maastricht. To improve on this situation, Volt wants to champion the construction of a full-fledged campus, with affordable housing for (international) students and young professionals.

“Mekaar kinne verstaon” as they say here in the local dialect loosely translates to “understanding one another” both in the literal sense of the word and as a figure of speech. For a multilingual city, such as Maastricht, this is crucial. Generations of people grew up with the local dialect, Mestreechs. On the other hand, a large proportion of the city communicates in Dutch and a sizeable majority of (University) students communicate in English as their lingua franca. This is why we view linguistics as an essential part of successful and inclusive (local) politics. As such, we want to make sure that Dutch language courses are free for students studying in Maastricht, provide a course in Mestreechs or Limburgs via the municipality and break way for additional German and French language courses. To make this a success, the city should partner with Zuyd and Maastricht University. Last but certainly not least, the municipality also has some improvements to make itself. We want to make sure that communication in both Dutch and English will be the norm.

French president, Macron, already said it in 2017: make our planet green again! Although we are not (yet) in the Élysée, we did start putting down roots in Maastricht’s municipal council. Because going green doesn't have to wait for us to take a seat in France's presidential palace. We can do so by starting locally and looking at our own (EU) region. Together with the Greens, we support the closure of Maastricht Aachen Airport, and together with the Social Democrats we are advocating [DJ(EG1] for an improved connectivity when it comes to public transportation – both nationally and abroad. Because in the end, as long as it’s cheaper, quicker and more efficient to use pollutive ways of transportation a large chunk of people will not be enticed to move to more sustainable means of transportation. Additionally, we want to look at the city itself. Together with a variety of progressive parties we are looking into finally introducing a car free inner-city to improve the quality of life of people living in and visiting our beautiful and historic city.

It’s time for democracy 2.0. Luckily, we don’t even need to go that far to pick up on some best practices. If needed, we can just take the proverbial bike (let’s keep it green!) to Eupen or Aachen. In part due to our party members of Volt Aachen, a randomized yet representative selection of citizens will be given the opportunity to discuss various topics with their elected city council members. In Maastricht, we will also introduce this topic as a pilot - called a “citizen’s council”. But we do not want to stop there. We also want to introduce a registry for lobbyists and lobbying, like the ones already introduced across Europe. By doing so, we will increase transparency for all citizens, so that if people want there is a fully transparent overview of which interests’ group are meeting with our executive councilors and the senior management of our civil service.

As long as national politics see Maastricht an appendix or an outskirt of the Netherlands, our city needs a movement like Volt that transcends borders and puts our city back on the map. Maastricht has the potential to become the beating heart of the European continent by being only 30 minutes away from other (foreign) cities such as Liège, Aachen or Heerlen and only an hour away from cities such as Eindhoven, Cologne and Brussels. But we can’t reap before we sow. As such, we need to invest as a city to cooperate with our neighbors, both nationally and internationally. Whether it’s regarding international public transportation, investing in linguistic education, protection of our cross-border workers or an improved cooperation with the Euregion: Maastricht is a European city and therefore deserves a (pro-)European voice in the municipal council.