Everything you ever wanted to know about Wallonia’s first Deliberative Committee: A promising democratic innovation

The first Deliberative Committee of Wallonia’s Parliament met between October 2023 and February 2024. Over a total of 5 days of deliberation, 10 MPs and 30 citizens chosen by lot sought to answer together the following question: “How can Wallonia’s citizens be involved in decision-making on a permanent basis, drawing inspiration from the permanent citizen dialogue that exists in the German-speaking community, which proceeds by drawing lots?

This first deliberative committee in Wallonia was triggered by a petition initiated by the Cap Démocratie movement. Although deliberative committees have existed in the Brussels region since 2019, this was the first time that MPs and citizens were working hand-in-hand, on an equal footing in the Walloon Parliament. Their recommendations, in reply to the question put to them, were adopted on 24 February 2024. 

In their recommendations, the members proposed in particular the establishment of a permanent joint council inspired by the permanent citizen dialogue in the German-speaking community, which would be a major democratic innovation for Wallonia. This proposal is accompanied by around thirty others that provide strong responses to the challenges of participation. These include lowering the signature threshold to make it easier to trigger Popular Consultations, and initiating a debate on opening up referendums at regional level, with the aim of sparking debate on this subject, despite its unconstitutionality.

These recommendations were examined by the parliament’s Standing Committee and then by the plenary session on 8 and 24 April 2024. They are the subject of a favourable report on the action envisaged by the parliamentarians for each of the recommendations. As the parliamentary term came to an end in mid-2024, the actual implementation of these recommendations will depend on the parliamentarians newly elected after June 2024.

Deliberative committees are a mixed model of citizen participation in which parliamentarians and citizens chosen by lot deliberate to produce recommendations on a given subject. They were launched in 2019 in the Brussels region before Wallonia’s first Deliberative committee was launched in October 2023.

Deliberative committees can be initiated either by Members of Parliament or by petition. 

This first deliberative committee in Wallonia was initiated by a citizens’ petition, supported by the Cap Démocratie collective, which received more than 2,000 signatures.

The subject submitted to this Walloon Deliberative committee was: “How can Wallonia’s citizens be involved in decision-making on a permanent basis, taking inspiration from the permanent citizen dialogue that exists in the German-speaking community, which proceeds by drawing lots?

As provided for in the rules governing the deliberative committees, this final wording was decided by the Conference of Presidents of the Walloon Parliament on the basis of the petition submitted by Cap Démocratie, the initiator of this deliberative committee. 

The issue of the crisis in representativeness and the distance between citizens and representatives is a hot topic. Against this backdrop, the first Walloon Deliberative committee appears to be a valuable and necessary forum for taking a step back and enabling an informed and calm discussion between citizens and elected representatives.

The composition, procedures and monitoring of the deliberative committees of the Walloon Parliament are laid down in two texts: 

• Article 130a of the Rules of Procedure of the Walloon Parliament
• The vade-mecum attached to article 130 bis, which sets out the procedures for setting up deliberative committees.

The Walloon deliberative committees are made up of 30 members of the public and 10 members of parliament: 

• The 30 citizens involved in the process were chosen at random to best represent the diversity of the Walloon population in terms of age, gender, geographical distribution and level of education.
• The 10 MPs working alongside citizens represent the political balance within the Walloon Parliament. For this first Walloon Deliberative committee: Gaëtan Bangisa (PS), Eric Lomba (PS), Mourad Sahli (PS), Charles Gardier (MR), Nicolas Janssen (MR), Olivier Maroy (MR), Rodrigue Demeuse (Ecolo), Hélène Ryckmans (Ecolo), Marie-Martine Schyns (Les Engagés), Jori Dupont (PTB).

The drawing by random selection (by lot) of the members of Wallonia’s Deliberative committee – as with the traditional drawing of lots for citizens’ panels and mini-publics – takes place in two stages:

To begin with: 

• 3,000 citizens are drawn at random from the National Register on condition that they meet the electoral requirements for the Walloon Parliament, which therefore covers Belgian citizens resident in Wallonia who have reached the age of 18. 
• A letter with an explanatory brochure was sent to the 3,000 people selected at random, inviting them to take part in the deliberative committee. 
• Interested members of the public should respond positively to the invitation or via the pre-stamped envelope enclosed with the letter, or by e-mail.

Secondly: 

• A second draw is made from among the citizens who have indicated their interest in taking part in the deliberative committee. 
• The aim was to put together a group of 30 citizens to best represent the diversity of the Walloon population in terms of age, gender, geographical distribution and level of education. 
• 30 alternates are also drawn by lot using the same procedure.
• The participants selected at random will then be informed by post and by telephone. Entrants who ultimately reply in the negative or who cannot be contacted will be replaced by their alternates. 

The rules governing the deliberative committees stipulate that if the first draw does not result in the selection of 30 effective participants and 30 substitute participants, a new draw of 3,000 citizens will be made. In the case of this first Walloon Deliberative committee, the citizens’ panel was constituted from the first draw. 

The draw was carried out by political scientist Christoph Niessen

The latest Iweps barometer painted a gloomy picture: a 30% fall in the confidence of Walloon citizens in their institutions. However, the signal sent out at the launch of this Walloon deliberative committee suggested the exact opposite: more than 12% of the citizens asked to take part responded favourably. That’s more than the overwhelming majority of other initiatives to recruit citizens’ panels. The Citizens’ Climate Convention in France, for example, barely managed 4%. 

The Walloon exception does not stop there. Once they had entered the process, only one citizen left the adventure. A remarkable level of involvement given the investment expected. “As a political scientist who usually studies disinterest and conflict, I can see when I leave here that there is still evidence to the contrary, evidence of interest on the part of citizens and of the search for consensus”, said academic Christoph Niessen when he was interviewed by the participants in the Deliberative committee.

This Walloon deliberative committee took place over 5 one-day sessions on Sundays, plus an optional half-day session at the beginning of the process: 

• Session 0: Optional information session on the process 
• Session 1: finding out about and clarifying the subject under discussion 
• Session 2: Identifying the first possible solutions
• Session 3: Exploring and formulating recommendations
• Session 4: Finalising the recommendations
• Session 5: Examining amendments and voting on recommendations

Registry of Parliament 

The parliamentary clerk’s office played a key role, in partnership with Dreamocracy, an external service provider, in preparing the sessions and ensuring that the project ran smoothly. Within the parliamentary administration, the Deliberative committee was managed by Olivier Mahieux. 

Advisory committee 

The process was guided and evaluated by an Advisory Committee made up of experts in citizen participation: Benoit Derenne, Céline Parotte, Geoffrey Grandjean and Min Reuchamps. The four members of the Support Committee were chosen by the Walloon Parliament, on the recommendation of its Conference of Presidents.

Dreamocracy, the service provider in charge of designing and running the sessions 

The sessions were designed and run by Dreamocracy, with a 7-strong team composed of: 

• Stephen Boucher: Plenary facilitator and co-designer of the sessions 
• Victor Lauret: Project manager, co-designer of the sessions and sub-group facilitator
• Marie Bertrand: Plenary facilitator 
• Pauline Tawil: in charge of participant engagement and well-being between sessions
• Pierre Portevin: responsible for ensuring the commitment and well-being of participants during sessions, facilitator in sub-groups 
• Ralf Otto, sub-group facilitator, also in German 
• Corentin Gaasch, trainee and facilitation assistant 

The activity of the service provider (Dreamocracy) responsible for leading the sessions of this first Walloon Deliberative committee was governed by these specifications.

15 experts were heard by the participants over the 5 sessions of this deliberative committee: 

• Anne-Emmanuelle Bourgaux, constitutional expert
• Christoph Niessen, political scientist
• Julien Pierart, SPW representative
• Representatives of Cap Démocratie, the petitioner who initiated this deliberative committee 
• Jean-Benoit Pilet, political scientist
• Anna Stuer, Representative of the Permanent Citizen Dialogue in the German-speaking Community
• 2 citizens taking part in the Permanent Citizens’ Dialogue in the German-speaking community 
• Jonathan Moskovic, Democratic Innovation Adviser to the Brussels Francophone Parliament
• Francis Delpérée, constitutional expert 
• Julien Vrydagh, political scientist
• Yves Dejaeghere, Director of FIDE
• Edouard Delruelle, philosopher
• Arnaud Ruyssen, journalist

This list was drawn up on the basis of proposals from the participants, elected representatives and citizens, and by the Advisory Committee responsible for guiding and evaluating the process.

The Deliberative committee came up with 30 recommendations that provide strong solutions to strengthen the involvement of Walloons in decision-making. They are divided into 4 areas: 

1. Establish a permanent citizens’ dialogue in the Walloon region, inspired by the existing model in the German-speaking community 

1. Improve the deliberative committees, in particular through : 
   • Allow citizens to be replaced by their deputy during the process, in the same way as MPs.
   • Reinforce equality of speech between MPs and citizens by setting a speaking time limit for MPs.
   • Dedicate a page to the follow-up of recommendations on the Parliament’s website, so that their progress can be viewed.

1. Strengthen all citizen participation processes, in particular through : 
   • Consider introducing democratic leave.
   • Make it compulsory for elected representatives to give reasons for rejecting or accepting citizens’ recommendations, by involving participants in the monitoring process.

1. Optimising Popular Consultations, in particular through :
   • Allowing a graduated vote or “preferendum” with more nuances than a simple yes/no. 
   • Encourage more frequent use of Popular Consultations by lowering the number of signatures required to trigger them.
   • Consider opening up the (binding) referendum at regional level, with a view to stimulating debate on this subject, despite its unconstitutionality.

Among the 30 recommendations put forward by this Deliberative Committee, one in particular deserves special mention: the establishment of a permanent joint council. This original proposal combines the Brussels model of deliberative committees with that of permanent citizen dialogue in the German-speaking community. 

One way of increasing the impact of citizen participation is to strengthen the link between participation and political institutions. Belgium has been a pioneer in this field, with two internationally acclaimed models, each with a different strategy: 

• On the one hand, Brussels’ deliberative committees invite elected representatives to co-construct with citizens, facilitating the appropriation of the recommendations produced and ultimately their implementation. 
• On the other hand, the German-speaking community has set up a permanent citizens’ council, which enables recommendations to be followed up over time. 

The Permanent Joint Council proposed by the Walloon participants makes the most of these two models: monitoring over the long term permitted by a permanent body and ownership of the recommendations by elected representatives by inviting them to take part in the process alongside citizens.

As stipulated in the regulations governing the Walloon deliberative committees, the recommendations produced were subject to a 2-stage follow-up process: 

1. The recommendations were considered on 8 April 2024 by the relevant Parliamentary Standing Committee, in this case the General Affairs and International Relations Committee. 
   • This review was followed up by a report justifying the action to be taken on each recommendation.
   • Click here to listen to the recording of the Committee’s examination of the recommendations. 
2. The report produced by the General Affairs Committee on these recommendations was then examined on 24 April 2024 at the plenary session of the Parliament. 
   • Watch the recording of the plenary session here. 

The actual implementation of the Deliberative committee’s recommendations will depend on the next legislature after the June 2024 elections.

As the recommendations were examined on 8 April 2024 in the Parliamentary Committee and on 24 April 2024 in the plenary session, the benefits of co-construction between citizens and elected representatives were fully felt. The MPs who were members of the deliberative committee all took the floor to defend the process in which they had taken part and the recommendations that had emerged. It is hard to imagine how MPs could have ensured the relay within parliament in this way if they had not actively participated in the process. “I want you to know that, wherever we are after these elections, we will be the guardians of the recommendations that we have all approved here“, concluded Marie-Martine Schyns, MP and Chair of the Deliberative committee, at the last session. Aware that they would be identified by their colleagues as co-developers of the recommendations, there was a real sense of responsibility for the outcome of the process.

This deliberative committee was the subject of some 15 press, radio and television publications in the following media: 

• a report broadcast on RTBF’s 1pm news programme, 
• 3 articles in Le Soir (here, here and here), 
• 2 articles in La Libre (here and there), 
• 2 articles in DH (here and here), 
• 3 subjects on RTL (here, here and here), 
• an article in SudInfo, 
• An article in L’Avenir, 
• A report on Notélé,
• A report on Bouké.