Paris Citizens Assembly
Description
Nathan Gardels:
"The Paris Citizens’ Assembly — a permanent body institutionalized in 2021 as part of the city’s governing apparatus — pioneered a new way to work closely with the government so that citizens’ voices are not only heard but heeded. On a rotating basis, it brings together 100 residents of Paris, drawn by lot, to meet for one year in working groups facilitated by expert advice, deliberate policy choices on pressing issues and make recommendations to the elected council.
The 2023-2024 session of the assembly, which focused on homelessness and greening city streets, saw citizens, politicians from different factions and civil servants working together to draft a so-called “Citizen Bill” that was, for the first time, passed into legislation by the city council."
(https://www.noemamag.com/government-with-the-people/)
Characteristics
Nathan Gardels:
Claudia Chwalisz, who heads DemocracyNext, has spelled out the key elements of this innovative process that make it a model for others elsewhere:
“Implementation should be considered from the start, not as an afterthought. The format of the final recommendations, the process for final approval, and the time needed to ensure this part of the process does not get neglected need to be considered in the early design stages of the assembly.
Dedicated time and resources for transforming recommendations into legislation are also crucial for successful implementation. Bringing citizens, politicians, and civil servants together in the final stages can help bridge the gap between recommendations and action. While it has been more typical for citizens’ assemblies to draft recommendations that they then hand onward to elected officials and civil servants, who review them and then respond to the citizens’ assembly, the Parisian model demonstrates another way.
Collaborative workshops where consensus amongst the triad of actors is needed adds more time to the process, but ensures that there is a high level of consensus for the final output, and reduces the time that would have been needed for officials to review and respond to the citizens’ assembly’s recommendations.
Formal institutional integration of citizens’ assemblies through legal measures can help ensure their recommendations are taken seriously and ensures the assembly’s continuity regardless of shifts in government. The citizens’ assembly has become a part of Paris’s democratic architecture, as have other permanent citizens’ assemblies elsewhere. While one-off assemblies typically depend on political will at a moment in time and risk becoming politicized — i.e. in being associated with the party that initially launched the first one — an institutionalized citizens’ assembly anchored in policy and political decision-making helps to set the foundation for a new institution that can endure.
It is also important that there is regular engagement with all political parties and stakeholders throughout the process. This helps build cross-partisan support for final recommendations, as well as more sustainable support for the enduring nature of the permanent citizens assembly.”
(https://www.noemamag.com/government-with-the-people/)
Discussion
BY CLAUDIA CHWALISZ:
"In 2018, the populist yellow vest protests hit the streets of France. Initially in response to an oil and gas tax that burdened working class drivers, the protests eventually prompted President Macron to launch the “Great Debate,” a wide-ranging set of public consultations all across France. As part of that process, a group of 30 Parisians chosen by civic lottery was tasked with developing recommendations for how Paris could improve citizen participation. One of their suggestions was to create a permanent assembly representing everyday people in policy making.
The Paris City Council voted to accept this citizen proposal in September 2019. Delayed by COVID to establish it immediately, in 2021 the vice mayor responsible for citizen participation, Anouch Toranian, and her team worked together with experts (including the author of this piece) to develop the design of the permanent Paris Citizens’ Assembly. We drew on global evidence and standards of good practice. The City Council voted to institutionalize it in October 2021, along with a dedicated secretariat and an independent oversight body, expanding and enriching the city’s ecosystem of democratic institutions.
If you were to be selected as a member of the Paris Citizens’ Assembly, you would have four responsibilities. First, you would shape investment priorities by deciding on the theme of the following year’s city-wide participatory budget of 100 million euros.
Second, you would have an agenda-setting role, deciding on which issue should be put to a citizens’ jury — a smaller group of people from across the city chosen by civic lottery, who will have the time and resources over numerous months to hear from experts and stakeholders to develop proposals for ways to address this issue. These proposals will take the form of a local bill that the Citizens’ Assembly will submit to the Paris City Council to be debated and voted upon.
Third, you would be able to launch an evaluation mission to evaluate an existing policy in the city. Finally, you can also submit current affairs questions to the City Council in the same way that elected councillors can.
The City Council, according to the internal regulation that was passed to establish this Citizens’ Assembly, must respond to every recommendation of the Citizens’ Assembly and the Citizens’ Jury.
Your role as an Assembly Member is not to give your personal opinion, or to represent a political party, interest group, company or any other group or organisation. You and the other Assembly Members are asked to put yourselves in the shoes of the broader community and think about the public good, to weigh the evidence you receive, to listen to others in the room, to come to an informed public judgement and to find common ground.
Since it was established, the Assembly Members have met for one plenary session in January 2022 and have been working in smaller, self-selected working groups. Their second plenary will take place in May 2022. While this new institution arguably deserves more media attention than it has thus far garnered, it is quietly reshaping Parisian democracy."
(https://www.noemamag.com/a-movement-thats-quietly-reshaping-democracy-for-the-better/?)