‘A terrible signal’
In the last week of November 2025, it became widely known that Bundestag President Julia Klöckner had already dissolved the Citizens' Assembly staff unit in the summer. The unit's task was to organise the citizens' assemblies commissioned by the Bundestag. The first such mini-public was the Citizens' Assembly on ‘Nutrition in Transition’. Among many other media outlets, the Frankfurter Rundschau reported extensively on this.
The CDU/CSU and SPD had actually agreed in their coalition agreement to hold further citizens' assemblies. However, this does not seem to be the case at present.
Citizens' assemblies are booming everywhere
The abolition of the administrative office has been criticised by many. Claudine Nierth, spokesperson for the federal executive committee of Mehr Demokratie (More Democracy), said in a press statement: "Citizens' assemblies are booming everywhere: in our municipalities, in the federal states, worldwide. Only the Bundestag spurns them. The CDU/CSU and SPD are putting the axe to citizen participation. This is a fatal signal, especially in view of the rise of right-wing extremism. The first Citizens' Assembly set up by the Bundestag, “Nutrition in Transition”, was a complete success, as the scientific evaluation shows. It gave politicians important impetus - which the new parliamentary majority has so far ignored.‘
In an FAZ article, journalist Jannis Koltermann calls the decision a ‘wrong signal’. He quotes a study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, according to which two-thirds of Germans want more opportunities for participation between elections. Just as many consider citizens' assemblies to be a sensible proposal.
Involving people in political processes
The idea that democracy must always look the same as it has in the Federal Republic since 1949 is a completely ahistorical view. ‘Athenian democracy, for example, with its mixture of referendums, elected experts and randomly selected assemblies, functioned completely differently from its modern “descendants”,’ explains Koltermann.
Citizens' assemblies are therefore not a fantasy of the traffic light coalition government, but an attempt to involve people in political processes who would otherwise often feel excluded, and to allow them to find compromises through mutual exchange where party disputes tend to promote polarisation.
‘Citizens' assemblies can provide guidance’
The Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) in Potsdam comes to a different conclusion regarding the argument that citizens' assemblies lead to a loss of power for parliament: ‘Citizens' assemblies can provide guidance precisely where political decision-making processes have become deadlocked because of seemingly insurmountable differences.’
As part of its research focus on democratic governance and action, the institute has accompanied numerous mini-public processes and conducted interviews with citizens, administrative staff and political decision-makers. The result: ‘We have come to the conclusion that citizens' assemblies, as advisory, issue-oriented bodies, expand the scope of action of political actors - rather than restricting it,’ according to a statement.
Lack of interest in citizen participation
In a press release, the civil rights organisation Humanistische Union criticises the departure from the coalition agreement. ‘The dissolution of the administrative office and, above all, the failure to convene further citizens' assemblies not only sends the wrong signal to the growing number of supporters of such participatory formats in civil society. It also demonstrates a lack of interest in involving citizens in political processes in a way that goes beyond the election of representatives,’ the association said.
The Humanist Union is calling for parliaments to be obliged to consider the recommendations of citizens' assemblies. In addition, citizens' assemblies could be useful in preparing referendums, thereby enabling citizens to exercise their right to vote at the federal level as well.
‘Citizens' councils are not a sure-fire success’
Münster-based political scientist Prof. Norbert Kersting currently sees more scope for citizens' assemblies at local and state level: "Citizens' assemblies are not a sure-fire success. You need to lobby for this instrument. With the current federal government, and in particular the CDU, strongly opposed to it, this is an instrument that may first have to develop from the bottom up.
If citizens' assemblies achieve good results at the local or state level, they can also be used again at the federal level - but then institutionalised," said Kersting in an interview with Der Spiegel.
Is there more to come?
Claudine Nierth and Dr Ademir Karamehmedovic explain in an interview how citizens' assemblies can be strengthened not only at the federal level.