‘Strengthening trust in the democratic process’
In an appeal to the German federal government, the Initiative für einen handlungsfähigen Staat (Initiative for an Effective State) calls for the increased use of citizens' assemblies. On 14 July 2025, the four initiators, Julia Jäkel, Thomas de Maizière, Peer Steinbrück and Andreas Voßkuhle, presented their final report to Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the patron of the initiative.
‘In order to strengthen trust in the democratic process, it makes sense to involve citizens more closely in the decision-making process on public affairs. Citizens' assemblies offer a good way of doing this,’ the initiative's report states.
Proposed regulation
Citizens' assemblies should be selected at random from the population. Under the guidance and supervision of experts, such mini-publics should develop proposals on the topic at hand. ‘The proposal must be debated in parliament within nine months. If a proposal is rejected, the reasons must be given,’ the initiative proposes as part of the procedure.
As in the previous coalition agreement, the current agreement also provides for the continuation of ‘dialogue-based participation formats such as citizens' assemblies’ as a supplement to representative democracy. So far, there has only been one Citizens' Assembly commissioned by the Bundestag on the topic of ‘Food in Transition.’
Criticism of citizens' assemblies understandable
Against this backdrop, the repeatedly voiced criticism that citizens' assemblies are merely ‘token gestures’ and ‘occupational therapy’, leading to disappointment among many participants, failing to truly represent the population and often being manipulated by experts, is understandable. ‘This shows how important the specific design of the process is for citizens' assemblies,’ the final report states. .
For mini-publics to be accepted and function effectively, it is essential that:
- the topics addressed by the Citizens' Assembly are of high public interest and precisely defined
- citizens' reports pursue a clearly defined purpose and have clear addressees (parliament, government, local council, etc.)
- the addressees consider the recommendations of the citizens' report and are actually able to take them into account, and submit an implementation report to the public.
The Initiative für einen handlungsfähigen Staat proposes that the convening of a Citizens' Assembly should be dependent on an initiative by the federal government, the Bundestag and the Bundesrat or on a certain quorum of citizens (e.g. 100,000 signatures for the establishment of such a mini-public). ‘From a constitutional point of view, there is nothing to prevent the introduction of citizens' assemblies, provided they are structured appropriately,’ the initiative states.
About the initiative
The Initiative für einen handlungsfähigen Staat is a joint initiative by media manager and supervisory board member Julia Jäkel, former federal ministers Thomas de Maizière and Peer Steinbrück, and constitutional law expert and long-standing president of the Federal Constitutional Court Andreas Voßkuhle. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has assumed patronage of the initiative.
The initiators, who are independent of political parties and other interest groups and work on a voluntary basis, want their work to ‘help break down blockages and self-imposed obstacles to government action.’
To develop their proposals, the four initiators debated with 54 experts in seven working groups. The participants came from different walks of life and all parts of Germany - mayors, school principals, entrepreneurs, administrative professionals, scientists and IT experts. In addition, feedback from numerous alumni of the foundations supporting the initiative has been incorporated into the final report - young practitioners from business, science and administration.