Parliament of Wallonia (BE): Setting up and supporting the region’s first Deliberative Committees

Mission:

Initiated in 2019 in the Brussels Capital Region, the Deliberative Committees were considered a world first. Incorporated in a permanent way into the functioning of parliament, they allow elected officials and citizens drawn by lot to co-construct proposals. The population has the power, by way of petition, to put on the agenda the subjects dealt with by these committees. This is therefore a hybrid form of citizen participation, with the intention of giving citizens’ recommendations more weight in public decisions.

Drawing lessons from this rich experience in Brussels, Dreamocracy is very happy to support the launch of the Deliberative Committees in the Parliament of Wallonia. We are pleased to be designing and facilitating the first committe which will take place at the end of 2023 and will deal with the following question: “How to involve Walloons and Walloons in decision-making, in a deliberative and permanent way, drawing inspiration in particular from the dialogue permanent citizen existing in the German-speaking Community”.

The first commission will bring together 30 citizens and 10 deputies. Its meetings will be held in the fall of 2023, the follow-up will be carried out in early 2024.

The process is supported by a group of experts made up of professors Min Reuchamps (Catholic University of Louvain), Geoffrey Grandjean (University of Liège), and Céline Parotte (University of Liège), as well as Benoît Derenne, director of the Foundation for the future generations.

Territory: Wallonia

In the news: