Deliberative Committees: When parliament and citizens work together
Interview with Magali Plovie, President of the Francophone Brussels Parliament
What are Deliberative Committees and how did they come about?
Deliberative Committees are the first mixed committees, comprised of 45 randomly selected citizens and 15 MPs, which take place on a permanent basis within the Francophone Brussels Parliament. The regulations of how parliament functions were changed in 2019, the structure of Deliberative Comittees was formalised in July 2020, with the first Committee taking place in 2021. Deliberative Committees were inspired by various ambitious experiments throughout Europe and in Belgium, where deliberative democracy experiments have been getting bigger and bolder, from the G1000 in 2011, to the implementation of a permanent Citizens’ Council by our German-speaking colleagues in Ostbelgien.
How do the Deliberative Committees work?
A Committee can be called in two ways: either MPs decide that a citizen contribution to a certain public issue could be valuable, or the initiative comes from citizens, as a citizen suggestion.
By using the democratie.brussels digital platform, citizens who have collected over one hundred signatures can post their suggestions online and campaign to obtain a thousand signatures. Once one thousand signatures have been collected using the digital platform, these suggestions are then considered as a potential subject for an upcoming Deliberative Committee. Although these suggestions are not binding, clear arguments should be provided by the parliament if it does not choose to set up a Committee on a certain suggestion.
The Deliberative Committees are overseen by a Support Committee — a panel of eight members, tasked with structuring and organising the process. Four of them, chosen every two years, are experts in deliberative democracy, participatory democracy, or in inclusion of those most vulnerable. The other two are members of the administrative services, one from the Brussels Regional Parliament and one from the French-speaking Brussels Parliament. The last two members are experts in the chosen subject of the Deliberative Committee. The Support Committee can also decide to add criteria to the civic lottery (random selection of participants), depending on the issue.
Will citizens feel comfortable discussing issues on equal footing with MPs?
As both citizens and MPs participate in Deliberative Committees, we’re very wary of the power dynamics that operate in these kinds of situations. To counter this dynamic, we set the ratio of politicians to citizens three to one, hoping to put additional pressure on MPs to listen to what citizens have to say and make these dialogues citizen-led, rather than the other way around.
Are there any specific criteria for participants of Deliberative Committees?
To participate, one must be a resident of Brussels and at least 16 years old. There is no time limit linked to residency, nor is there a nationality requirement. Citizens are chosen by two separate random draws: 10,000 invitations are sent to Brussels’ residents, inviting them to participate in the Deliberative Committee. Amongst those who answer positively, 45 participants are selected, based on socio-demographic and geographic aspects, as well as any additional criteria that can be added by the Support Committee, depending on the deliberative committee’s subject. Only those who currently hold a position in public office are excluded from participating.
The MPs present are those who sit on the relevant Parliamentary Committee.
Are there any particular measures in place to ensure inclusion and participation?
Inclusion is a major focus of Deliberative Committees, so once the participants have been chosen, different preparatory sessions are organised with specific target groups in mind to accompany those who rarely participate and equip them with the confidence and tools they need to contribute fully.
The participants of Deliberative Committees are remunerated, and day care is provided for children aged 0–12, so that single parents are encouraged to participate. The Committees happen on weekends to facilitate attendance. Complementary letters are sent out to participants aged 16 to 18 that explain the process to their parents or their teachers, and an extra preparatory session is organised for this age group.
We’ve also implemented some measures to facilitate a multilingual approach and to ensure that being fluent in French or Dutch is not a requirement to participate in talks. The initial 10,000 letters that are sent out will be available in French and Flemish, as well as in English and the other five most spoken languages in Brussels, such as Italian and Arabic. We’ve designed a buddy system that will pair up participants of a same language so that one can help the other follow talks.
How do deliberation and the decision-making process unfold within Deliberative Committees?
There are three phases to it. During the first phase, experts from various backgrounds — selected either by the Support Committee or by the participants themselves — address the Committee as a whole to ensure that all members have an equal amount of knowledge on the subject and can enter discussions informed. The second phase is deliberation, followed by the third and final phase of producing recommendations for parliament.
Citizens and MPs then vote on each of the individual recommendations. As the Belgian Constitution does not allow for a citizens’ vote to have the same weight as an MP’s vote, we came up with a different system. We made citizens’ votes secret, but the MPs’ votes are public to hold them accountable. This means that if their votes differ from those of citizens’, they have to explain their decision. We hope that this will put pressure on MPs to work collaboratively with citizens and not undermine the process.
Finally, if some or all of the recommendations are accepted, MPs that participated in the Committee are then required to follow up on these recommendations within six months in Parliament with the rest of the plenary to stimulate the tabling of a motion. We’ve also engaged government officials in the follow-up process, so that accountability is spread beyond the Parliament and citizen recommendations are taken into account by the executive and legislative bodies.
Will Deliberative Committees be evaluated and monitored?
We plan to evaluate this initiative every two years, as it is key to ensuring it works well and can be improved. Throughout the processes, the participants will be asked to fill out evaluation forms to help us assess different aspects and the structure that regulates the process. The evaluation will be done on the basis of this feedback, following the OECD’s Good Practice Principles for Deliberative Processes.
Why did you decide to make Deliberative Committees permanent?
Institutionalising citizen deliberation will contribute to building lasting trust between citizens and the parliament. There are also huge challenges headed our way — from climate change to lasting social injustices that increase every year — and we need to adapt our decision-making processes to this reality. Citizens need to contribute to these decisions, as they will be impacted first and foremost.
For more details on the use of representative deliberative processes for public decision making please consult the OECD international report: Catching the Deliberative Wave: Innovative Citizen Participation and New Democratic Institutions.
This post is part of the New Democratic Institutions series. Read the other articles:
Introducing the New Democratic Institutions series
The New Democratic Institutions Participo series will take a closer look at how some of the institutionalised representative deliberative processes came about, how they function, and what lessons can be drawn from their implementation so far.
How Ostbelgien became a trailblazer in deliberative democracy
An interview with Yves Dejaeghere, one of the key people involved in designing the permanent Citizens’ Council in Ostbelgien, the German-speaking Community of Belgium.
Citizens’ Initiative Review: Helping citizens make better informed voting choices
An interview with Linn Davis, programme manager at Healthy Democracy responsible for the Citizens’ Initiative Review.
Citizens’ Councils in Vorarlberg: Building a culture of participation
Interview with Michael Lederer, Head of the Office for Future Affairs in Vorarlberg, Austria.
How can Citizens’ Assemblies open up parliament?
Interview with Pepijn Kennis, Member of the Brussels-Capital Regional Parliament and Chairperson of the Agora.Brussels parliamentary group
Building political trust for deliberative processes
Interview with Graham Allen, Convener of The Citizens’ Convention on UK Democracy, former Chair of the UK Parliamentary Select Committee on Political and Constitutional Reform, and Member of the UK Parliament 1987–2017
