I SUPPORT VOLT WITH Choose your amount
With your support, we can lead a successful campaign, be visible in the city and reach out to more people.
SUPPORT VOLT MAASTRICHT
It’s time for a
mestreech made in EUrope.
Five plans for a European Maastricht
Maastricht is located at a crossroads of Europe. It is situated between the political weight of Brussels, the technological hub of Brainport Eindhoven and the innovative industries of Germany’s NRW. Europe is changing rapidly: its geopolitics is moving forward, its economies are being rebuilt and innovation is speeding up. Precisely in the middle of that, we can build a future in Maastricht. Volt wants our city and our cross-border region to embrace that position and to make sure that we keep talented Europeans here. We are a place where the forces of Europe’s future can meet. We can be an innovative intersection and a place for everyone who wants to make Maastricht their home. Together, we build a Maastricht made in Europe and a Europe made in Maastricht.
How do we plan to achieve these goals? We'll explain in our videos below!
Read our election programme (in English!)
This is what it means to be a
european Maastricht
Our people
Our candidates are people like you and me - students, teachers, refugees, retirees, directors and health care workers. But, most of all, they are European democrats. They differ in background, but they all stand for a fairer, greener and more European Maastricht.
#1 Jules ortjens
FASoS Teacher of European integration and political history, Maastricht University
#2 Romy Frijters
Project Leader of Team and Leadership Development, MUMC+ Hospital
#3 Ryan Wilmes
Assistant manager, local optician
#4 Lore Eckelmans
Medicine student, Maastricht University
#5 Jannis Besuijen
Teacher at the School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University
#6 Gerianne Jacobi
Student Facility Management, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences
#7 Bjorn Kusters
Student of European Studies, Maastricht University
#8 Ankie Hoefnagels
Professor, Zuyd University of Applied Science
#9 Hans van Wageningen
Specialist of reporting effects on the environment, TenneT
#10 Irene Bovy
Former Librarian
#11 Jordy Geurts
Strategic policy advisor, Public Affairs at the Municipality of Sittard-Geleen
#12 Mara Hermse
Student of Technology Governance
#13 Muhammed Hasim Yilmaz
Judicial advisor, Vluchtelingenwerk (Refugee Work)
#14 Mirte van den Boogaard
Advisor of Environmental Management in Water Quality, WML
#15 Arjen Hosper
Director of Performing Arts (Maastricht’s Theatre Academy & the Conservatoire of Maastricht)
#16 Lucia de Koning
Student Liberal Arts & Sciences (UCM), Maastricht University
#17 Paul Duijkers
Caregiver/nurse, guidance counselor and student coach, Sevagram (Healthcare)
#18 Josefien Segers
Student of European Studies, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences
#19 Nick Dohmen
Trainee RichtingZuid (Province of Limburg)
#20 Bibi Straatman
Director of research “Being Political in Art and Design” (Hanze University of Applied Sciences)
#21 Mart den Heijer
Strategic communication adviser
Volt in the newspapers
Volt is already making a difference in the city council. Here are just a few examples:
Young people can get a higher loan to buy a house in Maastricht
Thanks to a proposal of Volt, it is getting easier for young people to get a loan for buying a house or apartment in Maastricht (the Starterslening). In December, the Maastricht City Council voted in favour of increasing the maximum loan for young people, below the age of 35. Volt proposed this bill because Maastricht has relatively strict rules regarding getting this special loan in comparison to neighbouring municipalities, whereas the average housing prices in Maastricht are the highest of the region. The Starterslening is now increased to a maximum of 56,000 euros.
Read more >
Maastricht is going to regulate mass tourism better
Maastricht should not become the “Venice of the Netherlands”. Our city should make sure that tourists actually help making our city more livable and green. That’s the main point of the proposal of Volt leader Jules Ortjens. In November, he presented the bill - which was based on a similar project in Copenhague, called CopenPay. The Council approved. Ortjens warned that Maastricht may no longer be able to cope the high amount of tourists entering our city throughout the year. He showed that Maastricht is, at this very moment, receiving as many tourists as Venice was receiving in the 1990s. Not coincidentally, that decade is often perceived as the negative turning point for Venetian mass tourism. For this reason, Volt Maastricht prepared the proposal together with Volt Venice and Volt Florence, as those cities have similar experiences with regulating mass tourism today.
Read more >Maastricht has become the only city where international students received energy funding:
During the 2022 energy crisis, as a direct result of the war in Ukraine, students Maastricht could receive an energy funding up to 1,300 euros. Under the pressure of a council proposal by Volt, the City Board finally agreed (against the Dutch national guidelines) to give this energy funding to all students who were in need - not just Dutch students, but also internationals both from the EU and outside of the EU. This made us a unique city in the Netherlands.
Read more >Maastricht established a pilot Citizens’ Council
Random, but representative, samples of citizens received an invitation to join the Citizens’ Council, in which they were to co-decide on the future city planning of Maastricht. The pilot may lead to a Permanent Citizens’ Council for the city. Based on the existing Citizens’ Councils of Eupen and Brussel, citizens are working together on the frameworks for a city planning vision.
Read more >
Volt makes sure that Maastricht’s children’s newspaper, Jong 043, financially survives
The city budget of 2025 could count on a majority of the council. In the political gathering of the council, Volt proposed to establish structural financial support for the children’s newspaper of Jong 043. This regional initiative boosts literacy among kids and motivates young Maastrichtians to read more. While the Board was initially reluctant, the final bill was approved by a raizor thin majority.
Southern Dutch lobby for more national funding of cultural institutions, like Opera Zuid
The Hague has proposed a new cultural policy that unfairly privileges cultural institutions in the Western part of the country - particularly the urban region surrounding Amsterdam (the Randstad). By doing so, Opera Zuid was at risk of going bankrupt. For this reason, Volt successfully passed a bill in the Maastricht city council, in which the local government is assigned to build a strong lobby for Limburg and Brabant based municipalities and provinces (i.e., local and regional governments in the Southern Netherlands) to protect and defend their interests and opportunities for the cultural industry.
Read more >FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Share our message with friends and family, or become active as a volunteer!
