Sophie in ‘t Veld, a politician from the Netherlands, has joined a party in Belgium.

Sophie in ‘t Veld, a prominent Dutch politician, will run as a candidate for Volt in Belgium for the upcoming European elections, aiming to extend her 20-year tenure in the European Parliament.

In June, ‘t Veld left her Dutch political party D66 due to differences in policies and joined Volt, a movement advocating for a federal Europe with branches in all EU nations. However, after switching parties, Volt did not approve her as a candidate for the 2024 European election. This was because she required special permission to be considered as a Volt candidate since she had not been a member of the party for the required three months before being nominated.

It appeared to mark the conclusion of her tenure at the European Parliament. However, ‘t Veld recently revealed on Tuesday that she has joined Volt Belgium. If she is chosen as a candidate at the party’s congress later this month, she will have the opportunity to run for office once more.

“I am a politician who truly embraces European values, and Volt is a party that embodies this as well,” stated ‘in t Veld. She believes that parliamentary democracy requires significant improvements, which can be achieved from the ground up through a grassroots movement like Volt.

The press release states that a European election candidate in Belgium is not required to have Belgian citizenship, as long as they are a citizen of the EU. It was also mentioned that in ‘t Veld has resided in Belgium for nearly 30 years.

In ‘t Veld has been vocal in defending the rule of law in Hungary and Poland, criticizing illegal use of spyware by EU governments, and championing the so-called Spitzenkandidaten process to give the directly elected Parliament a greater say over who runs the European Commission, the EU’s executive.

Being a native of the Netherlands, in ‘t Veld has occasionally appeared on Dutch-speaking Belgian television shows, but is not well-known to the larger Belgian audience.