PRESS RELEASE

Dane wants to be party chairman in Volt Europe

43-year-old Thor Larholm was born and raised close to the Danish-German border, but after a working life that has so far taken him to California and Berlin, he now works through Volt for a borderless Europe and an EU with a single European government.

Thor Larholm has been politically motivated since he was a teenager, but he never found a party that matched his views. Not until 2018, when he found the Volt movement, today a political party with more than 20,000 members and 135 elected representatives in Europe.

Volt is not yet very visible in the political forums in Scandinavia, but the party expects additional seats in the EP elections next year for some of the candidates in the 14 countries where Volt is running. This election will be of great importance to Thor Larholm, who is running for the position of party chairman in Volt Europe, which he will share with a female party colleague. The election will be decided at Volt’s European Congress in Paris on the weekend of November 25-26.

“In Volt, we work for a borderless Europe that goes beyond the EU. The erasure of the current borders is the only way forward if we are to solve the problems of social inequality, immigration, climate and war that challenge all Europeans. With more open borders, we can also better learn from each other’s experiences, such as Holland’s efforts to curb nitrogen emissions that are killing marine life, or galloping rent prices in big cities. The latter has mostly been solved in Vienna, for example,” says 43-year-old Thor Larholm, who lives in Copenhagen.

“I grew up in a family of 4 siblings in Vojens, close to the Danish-German border. Just as 30% of the European population currently resides in a border area. If I am elected as chairman of Volt Europa, border issues will be high on my list. For example, I believe that the Danish Parliament is failing “Udkantsdanmark” by insisting on a policy that blocks development and job creation across the border. We see the same thing in many of the other 30 countries where Volt is also active,” says Thor Larholm.

Thor Larholm joined Volt in 2018, the year after the party was founded. He has been party chairman for Denmark and has held positions of trust and political posts in Volt Europe since 2019, making him a familiar face in the party, where he is currently a member of the European Board. Thor Larholm is known among Volt members for his progressive and pragmatic approach to politics, but his ambitions go beyond everyday dilemmas.

Volt is not yet eligible to stand for election to the European Parliament in Denmark, but as chairman, Thor Larholm will have influence through his fellow party members who are elected to the European Parliament:

“I will work to reform the EU and create a real European democracy that is transparent and relevant. Volt will introduce citizen-driven political value creation from city councils to border regions to the national parliaments. The foundation for a European democracy must be created through locally anchored solutions with exchange of experience from other countries and a strong coordinating role from a European government”, says Thor Larholm.

If elected at the congress on November 25-26, he will spend the first six months in Brussels due to the European Parliament elections. After that, he will move to either Germany or Greece for six months to spread the word about Volt.

FACTS: Thor Larholm attended Rejsby European Boarding School for 1 year after elementary school. At the age of 19, he was hired as a developer at Jubii and is one of the developers of Jubii Chat. He also worked with Martin Thorborg, among others, on the development of Spamfighter before traveling to California and working on finding security holes at Microsoft, Sony and Boeing. After 6 years as a software developer at Nokia and others in Berlin, he returned to Denmark in 2013, where he has worked as a freelancer (CTO) developing apps for companies such as the Danish Broadcasting Corporation and NemID.

For further information, please contact Thor Larholm on +45 27511600 or [email protected]