Francesca Romana D'Antuono | |
|---|---|
 D'Antuono in 2023 | |
| Co-President of Volt Europa | |
| In office October 2021 –November 2023 | |
| In office November 2023 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 29 August 1987 Vico Equense,Italy |
| Political party | Volt (since 2019) |
| Children | 1 |
| Education |
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| Alma mater | Sapienza University of Rome University of Geneva |
| Occupation | Pharmaceutical company executive |
D'Antuono was born in the Italian region of Campania and grew up in Rome. [1] She studied pharmacy at Sapienza University of Rome from 2006 to 2010,then continued her studies at the University of Geneva,later specializing in marketing,management,and health policy in 2014-2015. In subsequent years,she worked in marketing for AstraZeneca in Milan,Menarini in Florence,and Berlin-Chemie in Berlin.
In 2021,after being elected Co-President of Volt,D'Antuono decided to put her professional career on hold to focus entirely on activism and politics.
Francesca Romana D'Antuono is currently the co-president of Volt Europa alongside Mels Klabbers.
Francesca Romana D'Antuono began her political career in 2019 when she became involved with Volt Italia's campaign for the European elections and decided to join the Volt Florence group. Just a few months later,she was elected local coordinator,a role she held from 2019 to 2020. [2]
Upon moving to Berlin,D'Antuono relinquished her role as local coordinator of Volt Florence,later becoming the coordinator of public relations for Volt Italia.
In October 2021,she was elected co-president of Volt Europa alongside Reinier van Lanschot. During her tenure,she has supported various national elections for local Volt representatives [3] [4] and promoted the establishment of new local chapters of the party. [5]
In November 2023,D'Antuono was re-elected as co-president of Volt Europa,alongside Mels Klabbers from Volt Netherlands. [6]
In 2024,D'Antuono led the party during the campaign for the European elections. In these elections,Volt Europa contested in 15 European countries,running under its own list and symbol in 10 of them (Belgium,Cyprus,Germany,Luxembourg,Malta,Netherlands,Portugal,Slovakia,Spain,and Sweden). In Bulgaria,France,Greece,Italy,and the Czech Republic,Volt candidates joined politically aligned lists instead. [7] This marked a significant increase compared to the 2019 elections,where Volt was represented in only 8 EU countries (Belgium,Bulgaria,Germany,Luxembourg,Netherlands,Spain,and Sweden). For these elections,Volt also created its first symbolic transnational list for the 2024 European elections,including non-EU countries like Albania and the UK. [8]
After the elections,Volt Europa increased its MEP count from 1 (Damian Boeselager,elected in Germany in 2019) to 5 (Anna Strolenberg and Reinier van Lanschot,elected in the Netherlands,and Damian Boeselager,Nela Riehl,and Kai Tegethoff,elected in Germany). [9]
D'Antuono's presidency was marked by significant growth for Volt Europa across the continent,with the party's full-time staff increasing from 3 to 13,peaking at over 20 during the European election campaign. During her leadership,D’Antuono also focused on establishing new national chapters and strengthening smaller ones,particularly in Southern and Eastern Europe:
In Cyprus,where Volt is the only party on the island that includes both Greek and Turkish community members in its leadership and founding committee. [10] ;In Greece,where Volt elected one of Athens' deputy mayors (Olga Dorou) just one year after its founding. [11] ;In Slovakia. [12] [13] ;In Romania,where Volt elected councilors in two local administrations during the 2024 municipal elections,securing over 20% of the votes. [14] .
Francesca Romanda d'Antuono's political vision aligns with progressivism,social democracy,and environmentalism.
D'Antuono's views on immigration are among the most progressive in the political spectrum. In her statements,she points to the requirement that asylum policies are based on international treaties and,most importantly,on respect for human dignity. [15] D'Antuono has strongly criticized both European and Italian asylum and migration policies,advocating for a continent-wide harmonization of asylum procedures,reestablishing an official Search and Rescue system not delegated to NGOs,and increasing EU resources for reception and integration. [16]
In November 2024,D'Antuono visited the asylum seekers’center in Gjader,Albania,together with MEPs from Volt Europa and a delegation of Italian and Albanian Volt members. This center was strongly promoted by the Giorgia Meloni government but has been criticized for its state of semi-abandonment,which D’Antuono commented on the press. [17] [18]
The visit to the detention center in Albania also served as an opportunity for D’Antuono to protest,alongside the Network Against Migrant Detention,of which she is a member,against current Italian and European migration policies.
The fight against economic inequalities is one of D’Antuono’s core themes. She has often criticized center-left parties for their general lack of support to these issues,which she argues is the main reason for their declining support among working-class voters. [19]
For D’Antuono,reducing inequalities starts with a profound revision of the taxation system. Her goal is to enhance fiscal justice by making taxation genuinely progressive and reducing opportunities for evasion. In line with Volt's Europeanist approach,D’Antuono advocates for accelerating European unity to end the “race to the bottom”that benefits large multinationals. She proposes tax harmonization,imposing a minimum effective tax rate,creating a European Ministry of Finance to facilitate mandatory automatic information exchange among EU Member States,and implementing a central wealth registry by merging data from national sources. [20]
Broadening her perspective,D’Antuono also supports the establishment of a universal European minimum wage as a key measure to reduce poverty and economic disparities. [21]
D’Antuono has also been particularly critical of the Meloni government regarding its lack of commitment to fighting poverty and inequalities. [22]
She frequently emphasizes the strong link between social justice and climate justice,highlighting their intrinsic connection. [23]
In line with Volt Europa's pan-Europeanism,D’Antuono advocates for a radical revision of European institutions to develop a true European democracy capable of decisively addressing global challenges. [24]
D’Antuono has also spoken out about the structural rigidity of the Italian political system toward new political entities,especially compared to other European countries like Germany and the Netherlands. She argues that the combination of laws and regulations governing political participation in Italy creates a system favoring personality-driven parties with substantial financial resources. [25]
To address this,D’Antuono supports the proposal for a European electoral law to standardize the regulations for European elections across all EU countries. Under this proposal,citizens would vote not only for their national candidates but also for transnational lists. The plan includes lowering the voting age to 16 and mandating gender alternation in electoral lists. [26]
D’Antuono has taken a firm stance on climate change,demanding more effective and radical action from politicians and governments. [27]
She aligns with the positions of major climate activism groups like Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future. Specifically,D’Antuono has expressed strong support for climate activism and has defended activists in the media. [28]
While engaged on the issue institutionally,D’Antuono sympathizes with activist movements,including those employing civil disobedience that has sparked wide media and public debate. [29]
Regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine,D’Antuono has aligned with Volt Europa’s position,advocating strong and clear support for Ukraine and an acceleration of its EU accession process. [30]
On the recent escalation of the Arab-Israeli conflict,D’Antuono has called for an immediate ceasefire,recognized signs of potential genocide in Gaza,and stressed the importance of a united and strong European Union in foreign policy. [31]
Sophia Helena "Sophie" in 't Veld is a Dutch politician. She was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2004,and reelected in 2009,2014 and 2019. She was D66's top candidate for the three elections and was its leader in the European Parliament since her first election.
Giorgia Meloni is an Italian politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Italy since October 2022,the first woman to hold this position. A member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2006,she has led the right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) political party since 2014 and has been the president of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party since 2020. In 2024,Forbes ranked Meloni as the third most powerful woman in the world and she was listed among the most influential people in the world by Time magazine,while Politico ranked her as the 2025 most powerful person in Europe.
Brothers of Italy is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Italy,that is currently the country's ruling party. After becoming the largest party in the 2022 Italian general election,it consolidated as one of the two major political parties in Italy during the 2020s along with the Democratic Party. The party is led by Giorgia Meloni,the incumbent Prime Minister of Italy. Meloni's tenure has been described as the "most right-wing" republican government in Italy since World War II,whilst her time in government is frequently described as a shift towards the far-right in Italian politics.
Kati Piri is a Hungarian-born Dutch politician serving as a member of the House of Representatives since 2021. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA),she previously was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) within the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats from 2014 until 2021.
Volt Europa is a pro-European and federalist European political alliance. It operates as a pan-European umbrella for subsidiary parties sharing the same name and branding. Despite its organisation and being referred to as a "European party" or "transnational party",Volt does not yet meet the requirements to register as a European political party.
Damian Hieronymus Johannes Freiherr von Boeselager is a German business consultant,journalist and politician of Volt Europa. He is member of European Parliament in The Greens/EFA Group since his election in 2019.
Reinier van Lanschot is a Dutch politician and one of Volt Netherlands Members of the European Parliament alongside Anna Strolenberg. In 2018,he co-founded Volt Netherlands with Laurens Dassen and served as its chairman during the party's first year. He was the party's top candidate for the European Parliament in the 2019 election and again in the 2024 election. Van Lanschot was elected to the co-presidency of Volt Europa at the 2019 General Assembly in Sofia,and re-elected for a second mandate at the 2021 Lisbon General Assembly.
The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979,and the first European Parliament election after Brexit. A total of 720 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent more than 450 million people from 27 member states. This election also coincided with a number of other elections in some European Union member states.
Volt Netherlands is a political party in the Netherlands. It is the Dutch chapter of Volt Europa,a political movement that operates on a European level.
Marieke Koekkoek is a Dutch lawyer and politician for the pro-European party Volt Netherlands. She was elected to the House of Representatives in the 2021 general election owing to the number of preference votes she received. Prior to being a member of parliament,she studied law and worked as a legal intern.
Volt United Kingdom,commonly known as Volt UK,is a pro-European political party in the United Kingdom. It is the British branch of Volt Europa,a political movement that operates on a European level.
Volt Germany is a social-liberal pro-European,eurofederalist political party in Germany. It is the German branch of Volt Europa,a political movement that operates on a European level.
Volt Luxembourg is a political party in Luxembourg. It is an internal section of Volt Europa and was founded in 2018. It received 2.11% of the vote in the 2019 European elections,which meant that the party did not win a mandate.
Volt Spain is a political party in Spain. It is part of the pan-European party and movement Volt Europa,which advocates for closer European and cross-border cooperation and is characterised by its supranational character. As part of Volt,it has a Member of the European Parliament,Damian Boeselager,who represents the party there.
Volt Portugal is a Eurofederalist party in Portugal. It is affiliated with Volt Europa and was officially registered in June 2020 as the 25th party in the country. Volt has contested several local elections and participated in the 2022 national parliamentary elections.
Volt Belgium is a political party in Belgium. It is part of the pan-European party Volt Europa.
Volt Austria is a social liberal political party in Austria and the Austrian chapter of Volt Europa a progressive and Eurofederalist pan-European political party and movement.
Volt Albania is a political party in Albania and the Albanian branch of Volt Europa,a political movement that operates on a European level.
Volt Greece is a social liberal political party in Greece and the Greek branch of Volt Europa.
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