Citizens' assemblies: 7th commission held (cleanliness), 3rd climate cycle closed (8 proposals), 3-year review

The deliberative commissions of the Brussels Parliament

Since December 2019, the rules of the Brussels Parliament (art. 28bis) allow the creation of deliberative commissions with a fixed ratio of ¼ MPs and ¾ randomly selected citizens (source: democratie.brussels). The standard composition is 45 citizens + 15 MPs (60 members total). A notable exception: the dual-training commission (2022) was composed of 36 citizens + 12 MPs (48 members), without a public justification for the smaller size. The mechanism enables citizens to deliberate directly with their elected representatives over 4 to 5 days and to formulate recommendations transmitted to the relevant parliamentary committee.

Citizens are selected through a double random draw using national register numbers from among residents of the Brussels Region aged 16 and over. The democratie.brussels platform ensures the transparency of the process.

Six commissions completed (2021–2023)

RTBF total (25 March 2026): "more than 220 recommendations". Primary-source verified sum across 5 commissions (excluding dual training, not published): 204. Recommendations are transmitted to the relevant parliamentary committees. Follow-up is ensured by MPs, who must report back within six months. Estimated cost per commission: ~€90,000 (source: Brussels Parliament cited by RTBF).

7th commission: public cleanliness (2026)

On 23 January 2026, the Brussels Parliament approved almost unanimously (only the two N-VA MPs voted against) the creation of a deliberative commission on public space cleanliness. The topic had been proposed through a citizen suggestion (1,000 signatures required).

• 45 citizens randomly selected from 1,000 invitees
• Launch: work officially started on 26 March 2026
• Duration: 4 to 5 days of deliberation
• First commission of the new legislative term
• Recommendations will be transmitted to the Parliament's Cleanliness Committee

Source: MR Bruxelles, BX1, RTBF (26 March 2026).

8th commission: mobility (postponed)

A second citizen suggestion on mobility had also gathered 1,000 signatures. The extended bureau of Parliament decided to postpone this commission to H2 2026, for budgetary reasons and to allow the cleanliness commission to take place first.

The permanent citizens' assembly for climate

Distinct from the deliberative commissions, the citizens' assembly for climate is a permanent body created by ordinance (2022, amended in March 2024). It is composed of 65 to 100 citizens randomly selected from 10,000 invited residents, renewed by thirds each year. Participants receive 75 EUR per full day of participation.

Three cycles completed

The recommendations from the first cycle were submitted to the government in June 2023. The permanent status of the assembly is conditional on the adoption of a ministerial decree defining the precise modalities — initially expected before the end of 2025, still not adopted as of 20 April 2026.

The 8 proposals from cycle 3 (sharing economy)

Cycle 3, focused on the sharing and collaborative economy, brought together 60 randomly selected citizens over 6 days across 4 sessions. The final opinion published by the Assembly is structured around eight priority proposals:

1. Regional visibility plan for sharing initiatives (strengthening awareness and accessibility)
2. Incubator for citizen and non-profit projects (facilitating launch and sustainability)
3. Adapting subsidies to project development (financial stability)
4. Federation of actors in the sharing economy (collective voice, pooled resources)
5. Expansion of library services (lending of tools, sports equipment, games)
6. Easing access conditions to shared cars for young drivers
7. Development of neighbourhood energy hubs
8. Financial support to homeowners installing solar panels

3-year review published on 4 March 2026

On 4 March 2026, Bruxelles Environnement published a first synthesis after three years of the Citizens' Assembly for Climate. The three cycles (housing, food, sharing) total more than a hundred proposals. The review describes the report as a "good basis for the new government to continue the work" — a framing that shifts the focus of the next cycle towards implementation follow-up rather than the accumulation of new recommendations.

AGORA: the independent citizens' initiative

AGORA is a citizens' movement (non-institutional) launched in 2019, explicitly inspired by the Irish model (Irish Citizens' Assembly of 100 randomly selected citizens that amended the Constitution in 2016). In autumn 2019, AGORA convened a first assembly of 89 Brussels citizens drawn by lot according to representative quotas (52% women, representativity by age, gender and education level). The movement organised a total of four citizens' assemblies between 2019 and 2023.

AGORA politically advocated for institutionalising citizen consultations in Brussels. In February 2024, several parties of the regional majority (PS, Groen, Ecolo, Vooruit, DéFI) tabled a special ordinance proposal establishing the regional popular consultation. AGORA submitted amendments to this proposal. The ordinance was adopted on 25 April 2024 (special ordinance) and 16 May 2024 (organisation ordinance) — it concerns a REGIONAL popular consultation (not municipal).

Current status: inactive since 2024. Funding was not renewed. No mention in the 2026 DPR.

Municipal participatory budgets

Several Brussels municipalities have established participatory budgets allowing citizens to propose and vote on local projects:

• Ixelles: 4th edition (2025-2026), envelope €170,000 (municipal budget + Sustainable Neighbourhood Contract Petite Suisse). Project submission: 15 October–15 December 2025. Citizen vote: 9 February–9 March 2026. Juries (11 randomly selected residents + 4 experts) on 8-9 April 2026, final results pending finalisation
• Woluwe-Saint-Lambert: 200,000 EUR annually dedicated to projects of collective interest
• Watermael-Boitsfort, Uccle, Ville de Bruxelles, Auderghem: active schemes

In total, 148 participatory processes have been organised in Brussels since 2019, across all formats.

Legal framework: four distinct bases

1. Parliament Rules of Procedure, art. 28bis (December 2019) — mixed citizen-MP deliberative commissions
2. Climate ordinance (2022, amended 7 March 2024) — permanent citizens' assembly for climate; ministerial decree for permanent status expected before end of 2025, not adopted as of 20 April 2026
3. Special regional ordinance of 25 April 2024 and organisation ordinance of 16 May 2024 — regional popular consultation (proposal tabled by majority parties, amended by AGORA)
4. New Municipal Law, art. 258bis — municipal participatory budgets

Critical perspectives

The CBCS (Centre Bruxellois de documentation sur l'action Sociale) and other observers have documented several limitations:

• Insufficient, unquantified follow-up: MPs must report back within six months, but the non-binding nature of recommendations limits their real impact. In March 2026, an MP questioned by RTBF on the actual implementation rate replied: "It is extremely difficult to say. There are no precise statistics."
• Competition with advisory expertise: "The second pitfall would be to give more political attention to the deliberations of the commissions than to the opinions of the advisory councils and the field professionals" — Alain Willaert, CBCS coordinator (in the analysis by Stéphanie Devlésaver, CBCS, January 2021).
• Party recovery: "Parties try to recover the ideas that suit them" (MP cited by RTBF, 25 March 2026).
• Citizen frustration: "We were led to believe many things, that we could have real impact on change" (participant cited by RTBF, 25 March 2026).
• Topic selection: 5G was chosen as the first topic, pushing back subjects deemed more urgent by other observers.
• Impact of the 2024-2026 political crisis: the 613 days without a regional government (from 9 June 2024 to 12 February 2026) froze follow-up on recommendations from commissions 4 to 6. The new government must restart this process.

Issues to watch

• Cleanliness commission (spring 2026): first test of the new legislative term
• Mobility commission (H2 2026): link with the revision of Good Move
• Climate assembly ministerial decree: making the mechanism permanent
• Follow-up on 220+ recommendations: actual implementation rate — no precise statistics available according to Parliament (RTBF, March 2026)
• DPR: the regional policy declaration provides for a citizen consultation on mobility and a roadmap for the climate assembly