Page 217 - Enabling National Initiatives to Take Democracy Beyond Elections

Belgium Ostbelgien Model The German-speaking region of Belgium has become the first region to institute a permanent role for everyday citizens selected in a Civic Lottery as part of how they do democracy. The citizens’role is divided into two separate,independently- operating parts. One body of 24 randomly-selected citizens will set the agenda of topics to be considered by a second body. The bureaucracy will then produce an information kit of starting point materials and available experts to assist the second group: 25-50 people in randomly selected ‘juries’ of citizens brought together to find common ground on one of the issues. It is anticipated that up to three such assemblies will be conducted each year. The Parliament of the German-speaking region has committed itself to implement these recommendations in their policymaking process. During its plenary session on the 25th of February 2019, the Parliament of the German speaking region of Belgium in Eupen voted unanimously to institutionalise citizens selected by civic lottery in political decision-making. The German Speaking region of Belgium had already experimented with a Citizen Dialogue on childcare. The results were so encouraging that several political parties started looking for ways of making this citizens’ dialogue permanent. This appears to demonstrate the value of project trials as a means to enable subsequent structural implementations. 215