Capable of restoring citizens' trust in their institutions, deliberative democracy ‘strengthens representative democracy, but does not replace it’, as demonstrated by the conference ‘Resilient Europe through deliberative democracy: Cities and regions in action!’ organised by the Congress on 26 November in Strasbourg. Rich in concrete examples, it also addressed the conditions necessary for its success, as it is now rapidly developing across Europe.

In 2022, the Congress adopted a Recommendation aimed at promoting deliberative democracy at local and regional level, which led to the drafting of a guide for local and regional authorities. This work made it clear from the outset that deliberative democracy cannot be improvised and that its organisation requires precise rules and genuine consideration of the decisions that result from it. Yves Dejaeghere, Executive Director of the Federation for Innovation in Democracy (Belgium), presented some of the mechanisms involved, particularly with regard to the selection of participants in assemblies, before reminding elected representatives of a fundamental principle: "If you launch a deliberative democracy process at the local or regional level, you will strengthen your citizens' trust in your institutions, but if you do not respect the opinions and decisions taken within this framework, you will lose that trust even more quickly."

What tools are available for deliberative democracy?

Tolosa in Spain, Zviahel in Ukraine and Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina live in very different contexts, but all three have recently set up structures and assemblies for deliberative democracy. Their mayors or representatives, who were present at the event, shared a number of procedures and principles for action, first and foremost the search for topics that lend themselves well to this type of debate: they must be concrete and directly relevant to the local or regional level at which they are organised. In Tolosa, the first topic was the promotion of mental health in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, which participants discussed over five Saturdays. Between October and November 2024, the residents of Zviahel spent six days focusing on their living environment, including planting tree-lined avenues and creating a relaxation area around a pond, with an emphasis on improving the reception and rehabilitation of war veterans. Mostar, for its part, focused on better involving citizens in waste collection, management and recovery, and 90% of their recommendations were subsequently taken into account by the city. The city is also working with its citizens on how to distribute tourist flows more evenly throughout the year.

In all three cases, the participants in the assemblies were selected at random, a model of participation considered to be the most equitable, even if it is not perfect. Indeed, despite the random selection, some groups remain under-represented, especially when their members do not wish to participate in the work. Balancing the participants remains a difficult challenge, and efforts must be made to avoid, as far as possible, the under-representation of some groups and the over-representation of others. Given the time involved, cities that are able to do so offer financial compensation to the members of these assemblies. This is an incentive at the beginning, but it becomes secondary later on, as interest and motivation for this activity take over, notes the mayor of Tolosa, Angel Martinez de Rituerto Arregui.

Very concrete testimonials about experiences that are multiplying

Summing up his experience, the mayor of Mostar, Dani Rahimic, notes that in a country with complex and divided institutions such as his own, citizens' associations are better than political parties at overcoming divisions to make concrete progress on issues considered priorities by the population, but not always by politicians.

The host city of the Congress, Strasbourg, launched a broad ‘Citizens' Convention’ in 2024 on the route of a future tram line to the north of the city, which had been the subject of heated debate in previous years. This Convention helped to calm the heated climate surrounding the issue. Around 100 Strasbourg residents were randomly selected to participate, and real debates replaced confrontations. Its conclusions ultimately led the municipality to review its project. As a member of this Convention, Chris Bernard shared his experience and expressed his pride in having participated: at the beginning, he said, no one believed we would achieve anything, but in the end, we were able to build a solid, well-documented consensus. He also returned to the principle of paying participants in the assemblies: "We should not talk about remuneration, as our opponents have sometimes suggested, because it is more a question of compensation for the time spent, and if we count our hours, we quickly realise that it represents a much lower amount than what any salaried employee or worker could earn!".