"The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities advocates for a wider use of deliberative democracy by public authorities, notably through citizens' assemblies, referendums, or other forms of direct citizen participation where permitted. This is the model that broke the local deadlock in the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina," said Karl Heinz Lambertz (Belgium, SOC/G/PD), Vice-President of the Congress, during the January Forum Talk of the World Forum for Democracy on " Giving a louder voice to citizens beyond the ballot box" on 19 January 2021.
"The Congress Governance Committee is currently preparing a report on ‘Deliberative Democracy at Local and Regional Level’, for which I am the rapporteur. This report will provide feedback on the implementation of deliberative democracy models by local authorities and aims to share good practices and encourage citizen participation at a time when people are distrustful of public authorities' action," stressed the Vice-President, explaining that the defence and use of local democracy is one of the foundations of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and its additional protocol on the right to participate in the affairs of local authorities.
"The use of citizens' assemblies makes it possible to deal with divisive societal issues and to involve citizens in decision-making through the way in which they are selected; randomly, reinforces the legitimacy of the process" underlined Mr Lambertz by presenting the example of his German-speaking Community of Belgium, which ceded, in February 2019, part of its powers to a citizens' assembly. "However, citizens' assemblies and other deliberative methods are not intended to replace representative democracy at local and regional level, but should be seen as a complementary mechanism to involve and inform citizens on conflicting issues and thereby strengthen the confidence of the population in the actions of their representatives", he said.
"There are many successful examples of the direct involvement of citizens in political decision-making in Europe. Strengthening local democracy by involving citizens in the decision-making process helps to build consensus in the creation of their common future" concluded the Congress Vice-President.
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The Forum Talk "Deliberative Democracy for Climate" is an opportunity to present several experiences of citizens' assemblies at the national level and to examine more generally what are their main advantages in the decision-making process and why they can play a crucial role in tackling both the climate crisis and the crisis of confidence in democratic institutions.
