Colombe Cahen-Salvador is driven by the vision to create a turning point in the near future: to reform not only the European Union to make it stronger, more federal, and above all more democratic, but to create a global political movement. Oh, and she is also standing to become secretary general of the United Nations. This is not megalomania, but tactic, she explains. It is not about being elected, but about making a statement about the democratisation of an institution that is no longer fit for purpose. To effect the changes she is pursuing, she has co-founded Volt, the first pan-European political party, and almost impossible enterprise, she says, and Atlas, a global movement for progressive politics that is operating not only in Europe, but also on other continents. Colombe’s analysis of Europe, the old Left, and the project of the liberal West is as scathing as it is compelling and we had plenty to discuss.

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