Citizen Conventions in France: Process, Examples, and Proposals for Climate Change Mitigation
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Citizen Convention, Citizens' Convention on Climate, random draw, climate change, democratic participation, France, governance committee, ecological transition, Ministry of Ecological Transition, climate experts, citizen participation, representativeness, socio-professional category, level of education, age, gender, place of residence, electoral lists, telephone subscriber lists, logistical organization, transportation, accommodation, catering, compensation for participants, childcare, lawyers, experts, recycling of plastic objects, single-use plastics, agroecological operations, greenhouse gas emitting vehicles, highway speed limit, product lifespan, pollution reduction, end-of-life care, palliative care, citizen conference, Germany, legal basis, constitutional basis, compulsory participation, neutrality, plural viewpoints
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Abstract
Discover how citizen conventions are revolutionizing democratic participation in France and beyond. Learn about the composition, selection process, and impactful proposals of these conventions, such as the Citizens' Convention on Climate, which brought together randomly selected citizens, experts, and professionals to tackle pressing environmental issues. With a budget of over 5 million euros, this convention resulted in 149 proposals to combat climate change, including increasing product lifespan, reducing single-use plastics, and promoting agroecology. Understand the governance committee's role in guiding the convention and the random draw process that ensures representativeness. Explore other examples of citizen conventions in France and internationally, and gain insights into their costs, effectiveness, and potential for shaping policy.
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[...] Do citizen conventions cost the state a lot of money? If so, can you detail the budget? National conventions are expensive. Thus, for the Citizens' Convention on Climate, the total budget amounts to over 5 million euros. This amount covers the logistical organization including transportation, accommodation, and catering for the 150 randomly selected citizens. In addition, the compensation for participants, for those who came on their working time, plus the potential cost of childcare, the random draw, and the animation of the sessions with the arrival of lawyers and experts, in particular. [...]
[...] Its composition must represent various and plural viewpoints in order to achieve overall neutrality. Thus, for the Citizens' Convention on Climate, it is composed of climate experts, professionals well-informed about democratic play and economic and social stakes, two people selected by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, and two randomly selected citizens from the convention. It is essential to note that this committee does not participate in the debates. It is satisfied with opening and closing the sessions. Its decisions concern the organization of the schedule and logistical expenses, a proposal for a list of experts to be heard, as well as the elaboration of the program and working methods. [...]
[...] People who have given their consent are subject to a second selection based on six criteria to achieve true representativeness: gender, age (having a minimum of 16 years), level of education, socio-professional category, and place of residence. Would there be a way to make the conventions more representative? For the citizens' convention on climate, acceptance after random draw biases the selection by retaining only people who are willing, and therefore probably interested in the climate issue. A legal or constitutional basis that makes participation compulsory would effectively reduce the lack of representativeness. That will be all, thank you. [...]
[...] The Citizen Convention - Question and Answer Session You only mentioned France as an example of a country organizing citizen conventions. Is it the only one to have organized them? If not, which countries have initiated this type of convention? France is not the only country to have organized citizen conventions. They were introduced in the 1970s and 1980s in Germany, the United States, and Denmark. The first citizen conference dates back to 1973 in Germany. You mentioned the example of the citizen convention for the climate, can you give another example of a citizen convention in France? [...]
