The Brussels Citizens' Assembly was the first political institution in Brussels made up entirely of citizens drawn by lot.
Each semester of the 2019-2024 legislature, its members deliberated on subjects within the competence of the Brussels region. The Brussels Citizens' Assembly was organized by the citizen political movement Agora and its proposals were relayed in parliament by Agora's elected spokesperson.
From this experience, Agora has gathered a lot of political and organizational expertise that we happily share:
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the ideal Citizens' Assembly designs a model of deliberative institutional organization integrating the drawing of lots.
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the Citizens' Assembly Guide (FR & NL) is a self-assessment tool for everyone who wishes to integrate the drawing of lots into a decision-making process or participate in it as a citizen.
Cycle 1 - 2020
The first cycle of the Brussels Citizens' Assembly was organized in 2020. This assembly was of the proactive type: it produced a Citizen Resolution on a specific theme.
It chose the theme of housing in Brussels.
Initially scheduled to complete its work in April 2020, its last meetings had to be moved to the fall given the health situation, and took place online .
The assembly has completed and presented its proposals in December 2020. The work has been defended in Parliament by Agora's MP and his team.
Meeting & framework
30/11/19
Choosing the subject
11/01/20
Exploring the subject
08/02/20
Proposals
07/03/20
Collective writing
Validation & evaluation
Autumn 2020
Online
Cycle 2 - spring 2021
The second cycle of the Brussels Citizens' Assembly was organized in the spring 2021. It was of the reactive type: it positioned itself with respect to five proposals treated in various committees of the Brussels parliament.
Given the health situation, it primarily took place online, via a platform and videoconferences.
Welcome
20 > 25/4/21
Information and exploration
28/4 > 4/5/21
Exchanges and writing
8 > 29/5/21
Validation
4 > 12/6/21
Celebration et evaluation
19/6/21
Cycle 3 - fall 2021
The third cycle took place in the fall of 2021 and was again a proactive cycle. The assemblists from the first and second cycle decided that the theme for this cycle would be employment.
Given the health situation, it took place in a hybrid way with face-to-face meetings, virtual moments and via an online platform.
Welcome
3 > 14/10/21
Information and exploration
15/10 > 22/11/21
Deliberation and
writing
23/10 > 20/11/21
Validation
26/11 > 2/12/21
Celebration and
Evaluation
12/11/21
Cycle 4 - Fall 2022
The fourth cycle of the Brussels Citizens Assembly was held from August 30 to December 17 2022. This is a proactive cycle on the environment.
Welcome
30/08/22
Information and exploration
17/09 > 1/10/22
Deliberation and
writing
15/10 > 20/11/22
Validation
3/12/22
Celebration and
evaluation
12/11/21
Brussels Citizens' Assembly?
The Brussels Citizens' Assembly was the gathering of citizens drawn by lot organised by Agora. This assembly made it possible to give a voice to the diversity of Brussels and allowed a real debate of opinions. It also promoted the development of disinterested proposals and encourages long-term political involvement of citizens.
Its members deliberated on subjects falling within the competence of the Brussels region. They learned, discussed, debated and met experts before coming together to come up with proposals and decisions. Different cycles were organised in order to allow for as many participants as possible to experience this form of democracy and to take it with them afterwards.
The Assembly was made up of Brussels residents drawn by lot. The sample of persons was statistically representative of the population in terms of age, gender and level of education. This Assembly aimed to be deliberative because it is based on a diversity of opinions which are easy to share, which allows them to evolve. Finally, the system advocated is intended to be participatory in the sense that every Brussels resident has a real chance to actively participate in the decision-making process.
Who organized the Assembly?
The Brussels Citizens' Assembly was organized by Agora.Brussels, a grass-routs political movement which proposes a form of democracy drawn by lot. More specifically, its objective is to set up and promote the institutionalization of a Citizens' Assembly endowed with legislative power.
The Assembly had no legal structure yet but the ambition to be institutionalized in the long term. Its objective was to obtain a status and power similar to that of the current parliament, but totally independent of it.
To this end, Agora developed the ideal assembly and campaigned to amend the Belgian constitution for this purpose.