Citizens' Dialogue in East Belgium with impact

27. September 2024

The randomly selected Citizens' Dialogue in the German-speaking Community of East Belgium is celebrating its 5th birthday. A report shows the impact that the use of sortition has there.

The Citizens‘ Dialogue, introduced by law in 2019 enjoys a great deal of independence. The topics can be determined just as independently as the organisation of the assemblies of the randomly selected citizens. This and the procedure for dealing with the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assemblies, are regulated by law. This makes the Citizens’ Dialogue a pioneer and role model worldwide, which many visitors have already come to see in order to imitate.

Decisions by consensus

The decisions of the Citizens’ Assemblies are usually made by consensus. A Citizens’ Council drawn from former participants in the Citizens‘ Assemblies meets annually to determine the topics to be discussed in Citizens’ Assemblies over the next twelve months.

When selecting the topics, the Citizens‘ Council can draw on proposals submitted to it by at least two of its members, by a parliamentary faction, by the government or by citizens. The citizens‘ assembly itself decides on the wording of the question and the selection of the experts to be heard. It can also demand further working sessions and organise the collection of further information by the members of the citizens’ assembly.

How to deal with recommendations

The Citizens‘ Dialogue Act also regulates how the recommendations of the mini-publics are dealt with in parliament. All members of the Citizens' Assembly are invited to present their proposals and discuss the response of the relevant parliamentary committee.

The Citizens‘ Council follows up on the recommendations to be implemented on the basis of the committee's opinion. To this end, the permanent secretariat presents regular reports on the status of implementation of the recommendations. If it deems it necessary, the Citizens’ Council will inform the members of the Citizens' Assembly concerned about the state of play. Parliament's rules of procedure require the government to report on the status of implementation of citizens' recommendations.

Conclusion in parliament

Within one year of the meeting to discuss the parliamentary statement on the recommendations of the Citizens‘ Assembly, a further public meeting of the relevant parliamentary committee will be held to present and discuss the status of implementation. All members of the Citizens’ Assembly concerned will also be invited to this meeting.

Since 2020, five Citizens‘ Assemblies have formulated their recommendations to politicians. The topics discussed were care, inclusion in education, affordable housing, digitalisation and the integration of immigrants. The sixth Citizens’ Assembly on the topic of student skills has just begun its work.

41 effective recommendations

The so-called implementation year has already been completed at the first four Citizens‘ Assemblies. The corresponding implementation of the recommendations has therefore already been discussed between citizens and politicians. No fewer than 41 recommendations were adopted by parliament in whole or in modified form and implemented or reflected in its decisions. The results were described in a final report by the responsible committee.

At the first Citizens’ Assembly on the topic of care, 14 recommendations were developed. Seven of them had an impact. For example, in response to the recommendation to reduce training costs for nursing students, the German-speaking Community has since set up a scholarship system for occupations with too few staff. Students in occupation such as nursing have access to the scholarship under certain conditions, but must repay their funding if they choose to pursue the learned occupation elsewhere than in East Belgium after their training. The scholarship system is being further expanded.

Better working conditions in the care sector

Thanks to the Citizens‘ Assembly, there are now also relatives’ councils in all residential and care centres, as well as ombudspersons in all care facilities. The recommendation to ensure attractive working conditions in the care sector has led the government to set staffing standards for care. This allows care facilities to deploy staff in a more targeted manner and to distribute tasks across more shoulders. The job description of ‘everyday companion’ was also introduced. In addition, the government increased salaries in the care sector by an average of around 12 per cent.

In 2022, following the Citizens' Assembly's recommendation on inclusive education, the Parliament of the German-speaking Community passed a law creating an advisory board for people with disabilities. In April 2023, the members of this advisory board were appointed by the government. The established advisory board has the status of a public organisation. Other recommendations adopted dealt with topics such as special education and an inclusive composition of parents‘ councils.

20 proposals for affordable housing implemented

The Citizens’ Assembly on affordable housing adopted recommendations on a needs assessment for housing, financial support for young people looking for accommodation and the promotion of alternative forms of housing. A total of 20 proposals from this assembly have led to changes.

On 25 March 2024, the government of the German-speaking Community presented its digital strategy at the Citizens‘ Assembly on the topic of digitalisation. The Citizens’ Dialogue is explicitly mentioned several times in the strategy, which also takes up several citizens‘ recommendations. These include, among other things, extra-curricular information events for parents, accessible offers for senior citizens and digital and analogue participation in public administration.

’Citizens felt taken seriously"

‘The first five years of the Citizens‘ Dialogue in East Belgium have shown that the project is beginning to have an impact in terms of its goals: the participating citizens felt that politicians took them seriously because the committees seriously considered the relevant recommendations,’ says Anna Stuers, secretary of the permanent Citizens‘ Dialogue. The members of the government responsible also took the members of the Citizens’ Dialogue seriously in discussions on following up the recommendations.

If a recommendation had not been implemented, the reasons were given in a ‘transparent, detailed and comprehensible’ manner in the corresponding final report of the responsible parliamentary committee. ‘This contributes significantly to a better understanding of politics among citizens,’ says Stuers.

Council of Europe and OECD recommend model

These and other advantages of the East Belgian model of democracy by sortition have also been recognised by institutions such as the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). They recommend that mini-publics be designed elsewhere based on this model. The cities of Aachen, Brussels, Lüneburg and Paris have already followed suit in a modified form.