Paris Citizens Assembly
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/?)