This chapter provides an overview of the laws, policies and institutional arrangements that enable citizen and stakeholder participation in the Basque Country as well as some context on the broader Spanish framework. It finds that there is a strong culture of participation built on a long-lasting tradition of collaboration between public authorities and non-governmental actors at all levels of government. The enabling environment is supported by laws at the regional level, local ordinances on participation, and independent innovation labs supported by public administrations and relevant local stakeholders.
Promoting Deliberative Democracy in the Basque Country in Spain
Lessons from the Tolosa Citizens’ Assembly
OECD Public Governance Reviews
Abstract
The OECD invites its member countries to promote a more structured and institutional approach to participation (OECD, 2022[1]). This means that governments should build the conditions for meaningful participation, which consists of a set of rules, procedures, and institutions that enable the organisation of participatory processes. A strong enabling environment can give participation and deliberation a higher degree of institutionalisation and embed these practices in the governance architecture of a country (OECD, 2021[2]). According to the OECD Survey on Open Government (2020[3]), almost all OECD countries have adopted a legal framework that supports a participatory approach to decision making. In fact, of countries that have adhered to the OECD Recommendation on Open Government1, the majority have established a legislative basis to handle citizens’ complaints (89.5%), promote the use of direct democracy mechanisms (such as referenda) (84.2%), and foster the use of petitions and other forms of citizen initiatives (79%). To date, no data has been collected on the number of governments that have passed legislation on deliberation.
The OECD Open Government Review of Bizkaia provides a detailed analysis complementary to this section (OECD, 2019[4]).
The Basque Country has a strong culture of collaboration between public entities and non-governmental actors. One of the main roots of social participation lies in the long-lasting practice of Auzolan, which refers to collaborative work between neighbours on community projects. For instance, communities organised together to raise money to open local schools to preserve the Basque language and culture after the civil war in Spain and during Franco's dictatorship. This practice, among others, paved the way to build strong links within the Basque community (Ayuso and Zallo, 2009[5]). The same historic collaboration culture is reflected in the significant number of cooperatives present in the territory and the region. 3602 associations operate in the Basque Country, of which 782 are in Gipuzkoa. In the province, the number of active associations was 4500 in 2021, with more than 40 000 people (6% of the total population) involved in volunteering activities (Barandiarán, Canel and Bouckaert, 2023[6]). Thus, collaboration in the Basque Country takes place in different spheres of society: socially, through community actions and economically in the form of cooperatives. Public institutions show similar inclinations, with their emphasis on collaborative governance and an open government culture, as shown, for instance, in the OECD (2019[4]) Open Government Review of Bizkaia.
More recently, the Basque Country has been experimenting with innovative citizen participation mechanisms including citizens’ juries. The first-ever case recorded by the OECD (2023[7]) of a representative deliberative process in Spain took place in Gipuzkoa in 1993, where randomly selected citizens deliberated around the construction of a new highway. Since then, more than fifteen deliberative processes have taken place in different parts of Spain, including at the national, regional, and municipal levels (OECD, 2023[7]).
The Basque Country has solid legal foundations to promote citizen participation and deliberation
Public participation is a constitutionally recognised fundamental right in Spain. There are several articles of the Magna Carta that recognise this right (Government of Spain, 1978[8]):
Article 9.2: It is the responsibility of public authorities to promote the conditions for the genuine and effective freedom and equality of the individual and of the groups of which they form part; to remove the obstacles that prevent or hinder their full realisation; and to facilitate the participation of all citizens in political, economic, cultural, and social life.
Article 23.1: Citizens have the right to take part in public affairs, directly or through representatives, freely chosen in periodic elections by universal suffrage.
Article 48: Public authorities shall promote the conditions for the free and effective participation of youth in political, social, economic, and cultural development.
Article 49.2: Public authorities shall promote policies that guarantee the full personal autonomy and social inclusion of persons with disabilities, in universally accessible environments. Likewise, they shall encourage the participation of their organisations, under the terms established by law. Particular attention shall be paid to the specific needs of women and minors with disabilities.
Article 105: The law shall regulate the hearing of citizens, directly or through organisations and associations recognised by law, in the process of drawing up administrative provisions that affect them.
In addition, National Law 19/2013, of 9 December, on transparency, access to public information and good governance, while not directly regulating citizen participation, promotes a culture of Open Government and Good Governance. A current review of this legislation is underway to align with OECD standards on open government, by considering the inclusion of a provision to underpin citizen participation (Government of Spain, 2021[9]). At the level of Autonomous Communities in Spain – including Aragón, Andalucía, Balearic Islands, Canarias, Cataluña, Castilla y León, Murcia, Valencia, and the Community of Madrid – several pieces of legislation exist to frame citizen participation and open government (Government of Spain, 2021[9]).
Citizen participation is understood as part of a broader concept of collaborative governance, a term often used in the Basque Country that refers to “the process of deliberation and shared action that links public institutions, organised society and civil society, with the aim of strengthening the public policy ecosystem in the context of a shared public space, through the generation of social capital and a new political culture” (Barandiarán, Canel and Bouckaert, 2023[6]).
The Basque Autonomous Community has been building an enabling environment for citizen and stakeholder participation, including by adopting legislations and policies, and establishing institutional offices. At a regional level, Law 2/2016 on Local Institutions of the Basque Autonomous Community mentions citizen participation and exhorts municipalities to guarantee citizens’ rights to participate in public affairs by implementing participatory processes (BOE, 2016[10]). Nevertheless, there is currently no dedicated law for citizen participation or collaborative governance - a gap in legislature that might be an area of opportunity (see Chapter 4 for good practices in this area). In 2015, the Basque Parliament received a proposed Law on Transparency, Participation, and Good Governance for the Basque Public Sector, but it was not voted on and is not in effect (Basque Government, 2016[11]). In February 2024, Arantzazulab participated in a hearing in the Basque Parliament to present the lab’s contributions to this law. These contributions have emerged from an analysis of international policy recommendations such as the European Commission’s Recommendation on the participation of citizens and civil society organisations in public policymaking (European Commission, 2023[12]). The previously described legal environment has been a key condition to experiment and insitutionalise deliberation in the Basque Country
Constitutional protection for the right to participate in Brazil
Brazil’s 1988 Constitution enshrined a series of participatory mechanisms, such as National Councils and Conferences, into law to ensure citizen and stakeholder participation in public decision-making. Articles 10, 194, 198, 204 and 216 define the rights of citizens and stakeholders to participate in sectoral policymaking. More recently, through a 2020 amendment, Article 193 states that the State guarantees societal participation in the process of formulating, monitoring, overseeing, and evaluating social policies.
Law 2944/001 of 2022 on deliberative commissions and civic lotteries in Belgium
Belgian law 2944/001 (2022) provides the legal basis for the organisation of representative deliberative processes, in particular the Deliberative Commissions organised by the House of Representatives. These Commissions gather a mixed group of randomly selected citizens and elected representatives to deliberate and come up with common recommendations on topics such as 5G. The legislation sets out the requirements and procedures to organise civic lotteries of randomly selected citizens, including the conditions for access and use of the national registry to facilitate random selection.
Source: OECD (2022), Open Government Review of Brazil: Towards an Integrated Open Government Agenda, OECD Public Governance Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/3f9009d4-en ; Belgian Chamber of Representatives (2022); Law establishing the principles for randomly selected citizens in the deliberative commissions and citizen panels, https://www.lachambre.be/FLWB/PDF/55/2944/55K2944001.pdf;
While the Basque Country does not yet have a dedicated law, the Province of Gipuzkoa has adopted a series of legislations and decrees to support citizen participation:
Provincial Law 5/2018 on Citizen Participation (The Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, 2018[13]): This law regulates the instruments and procedures through which people can exercise their right to participate in public affairs. It defines citizen participation, describes various participatory mechanisms, and seeks to promote citizen participation in the province. One of the methods described in the law is called “participatory deliberation processes” and is described as giving stakeholders and citizens the chance to deliberate about possible policy solutions for public problems. However, it does not mention sortition as a recruitment method.
Provincial Decree 1/2017 on the Interinstitutional Centre for Citizen Participation of Gipuzkoa: This decree defines the interinstitutional structure, its main objectives, and activities (The Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, 2017[14]). It is intended as a forum in which the provincial government, local governments of Gipuzkoa, and other public actors can exchange good practices, experiences, and learnings regarding citizen participation. Its mandate also includes support to all municipalities that have fewer resources to undertake citizen participation processes.
Provincial Decree 25/2017 on the Social Council for Citizen Participation: This legislation establishes that the role of the Social Council is to provide advice to the provincial government to define both the objectives and activities related to citizen participation in the region, as well as conduct their follow-up and evaluation (The Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, 2017[15]). The council is made up of representatives from civil society, the private sector, and academia with expertise in citizen participation.
Provincial Decree R- 3/2011 on the registration in the Provincial Register of Citizen Entities for Participation: Other legislation, such as Provincial Law 5/2018 on Citizen Participation, grants specific rights to participate in consultations and other processes as “citizen entities”, such as NGOs and CSOs (The Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, 2011[16]). This decree gives clear instructions regarding the requirements needed to register as a citizen entity in Gipuzkoa.
At the municipal level, the Tolosa Local Council adopted its first law regulating citizen participation in 2022. The Governance, Participation and Transparency Ordinance regulates the “means, procedures and channels for citizen participation in municipal life and management” (Tolosa City Council, 2022[17]). The ordinance mentions open government in the introduction as one of the main values considered, recognising it as “a way to strengthen institutional quality and establish a new framework between the Council and citizens” (Tolosa City Council, 2022[17]). The text also defines the rights of citizens to participate, the bodies, and dedicated spaces the administration has already put in place, along with regulations regarding popular initiatives and public consultations. This ordinance can be considered a good practice as it also includes provisions that enable deliberative processes, in particular, defining and describing the legal requirements to run a civic lottery (see Chapter 4 for more information).
Source: Author’s own elaboration based on Tolosa City Council (2022).
The Governance, Participation and Transparency Ordinance
The Tolosa Local Council (Spain) adopted its first law regulating citizen participation in 2022, including the use of deliberative processes. Article 37 on “Roundtable discussions with randomly selected citizens” explicitly details sortition and deliberation as a possible mechanism for citizen participation, stating that when “Tolosa Council considers it appropriate and the subject matter of the debate is of public relevance, roundtables for debate and deliberation may be set up with citizens chosen at random” (Tolosa City Council, 2022[17]). It also establishes the following features of such mechanisms:
The base for sortition is the local census and people will be chosen based on criteria like gender, age, and place of residence, among other factors depending on the subject matter.
They shall not be given decision-making powers, they are merely consultative. Final decisions will always go back to Tolosa Council.
Experts, civil servants, and stakeholders may be invited to give information to the participants. Facilitators will always be present to ensure equal speaking times for all.
All participants will be given an equal chance to participate whether in Basque or in Spanish.
The necessary means will be deployed to allow citizens with special needs to participate.
Source: Tolosa City Council (2022), Governance, Participation and Transparency Ordinance, https://udala.tolosa.eus/sites/default/files/Ordenanza%20de%20Gobernanza%2C%20participaci%C3%B3n%20y%20transparencia.pdf
Etorkizuna Eraikiz is the main policy guiding citizen participation in the Gipuzkoa Province
The Gipuzkoa Provincial Council is currently implementing a strategy for collaborative governance called Etorkizuna Eraikiz (Building the Future), the main objective of which is to mainstream and institutionalise collaborative governance. As defined by the Provincial Council, Etorkizuna Eraikiz is a model, a specific way of understanding, applying, and representing open and collaborative governance, a way of doing politics (Gipuzkoa, n.d.[18]). First presented in 2016, the objectives of Etorkizuna Eraikiz are to create spaces for collaboration among all relevant actors in Gipuzkoa and to support experimentation to find solutions for present, and future challenges of the province (Gipuzkoa, n.d.[18]). The policy encourages public actors to experiment with possible responses in real environments with the collaboration of different actors, and to apply the results to public policies (Gipuzkoa, n.d.[18]). Concretely, Etorkizuna Eraikiz is built on three main pillars: Gipuzkoa Taldean, Gipuzkoa Lab, and the Reference Centres. (Barandiaran, 2022[19])
Gipuzkoa Taldean (Gipuzkoa as a Team) is a space for listening and research. It is a network of programmes, such as Open Budgets, Citizenship Projects, Territorial Development Laboratories and most notably, the Etorkizuna Eraikiz Think Tank. The Think Tank is a research and action centre that seeks to co-generate actionable knowledge that can have an impact in public policies in Gipuzkoa through collaborative governance. It gathers political and technical representatives from the Provincial Council and civil society actors around its areas of work. Gipuzkoa Taldean also manages other projects such as a participatory budgeting, a call for citizen initiatives around social innovation, and a methodological support programme for municipalities (Udal Etorkizuna Eraikiz) (Barandiarán, Canel and Bouckaert, 2023[6]).
Gipuzkoa Lab is an active experimentation centre that has developed over 40 projects covering a wide range of topics including workers’ participation in enterprise, tackling social exclusion, and the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, among others. Each project is developed in a collaborative manner, involving perspectives from different stakeholders: civil society, academics, public administration, and international actors. For instance, this collaborative approach led to the creation of various chatbots allowing citizens to interact with public administration in a more instantaneous and direct way, in either Basque or Spanish. Other initiatives seek to boost women’s presence in company boards, create a centre for provincial sports talents, and promote cities’ engagement to address climate change (The Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, n.d.[20]).
Reference Centres are public-private-community spaces aimed at strengthening strategic sectors for the future of the province. Legally, these are constituted as either foundations or consortiums through agreements with other organisations. Eleven centres have been created so far, each one focusing on a policy topic or issue. Arantzazulab, notably, is one of these reference centres. Its creation is the evidence of the success of Etorkizuna Eraikiz in creating the conditions for experimentation in deliberative processes.
Source: Authors’ own elaboration based on: https://www.etorkizunaeraikiz.eus/es/escuchar-experimentar-actuar
In addition, and beyond the normative and policy framework, the Basque Autonomous Community also promotes participation through digital tools, like Irekia, its one-stop online portal for citizen participation. This portal allows citizens to comment on proposed legislation, create petitions, and participate in public consultations (Basque Government, n.d.[21]).
Institutional arrangements for citizen participation
In addition to the legal and policy framework, establishing an institutional setting for citizen and stakeholder participation can increase coordination, harmonise practices across the public sector, provide technical support, and strengthen relationships between government and civil society (OECD, 2022[22]). Governments can institutionalise participatory mechanisms and processes by embedding them within their institutional architecture (OECD, 2021[2]).
In this sense, governments can establish an office with a clear mandate to steer and coordinate the participatory agenda across the entire public sector, which in turn can support harmonisation and standardised technical support. More coordination can also be a way to foster the consistency of initiatives and create a common framework for their evaluation and monitoring. Such centralised units can usefully be supported by focal points across the public administration who are responsible for ensuring the implementation of the relevant legal and policy framework in their institution and providing technical support to public officials. In the case of the Gipuzkoa Province, the General Directorate for Citizen Participation is the main body in charge of citizen participation processes (see Chapter 4).
One of its main functions is to draft and execute the Provincial Citizen Participation Programme, which supports citizen participation projects through grants of between 15 000 and 80 000 €. The programme also provides a five-year plan outlining the main objectives, actions, and participatory processes that will take place in the province. It is based on the analysis of previous experiences and is done in consultation with other territorial actors, as established in Provincial Law 5/2018 on Citizen Participation (The Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, 2018[13]).
Additional responsibilities of the General Directorate for Citizen Participation include:
Implementing participatory processes at the provincial level and determining their evaluation criteria.
Promoting participation throughout the province, i.e., also at the municipal level, mission for which they have three dedicated spaces: Interinstitutional Centre for Participation, Associations’ Forum, and the Social Council (Government of Gipuzkoa, n.d.[23]).
Source: Author’s own elaboration.
The General Directorate of Participation and Etorkizuna Eraikiz (Building the Future Policy) can be considered as building blocks for a participatory culture in Gipuzkoa. They enable coordination, harmonise practices, provide support, and strengthen the relationship with civil society (in this context expressed primarily as associations). In addition, the emphasis on evaluation of their participatory practices is valuable, as it provides evidence for future improvement. This is broadly regarded as a good practice that can inspire other Provinces in Spain and in other OECD countries (see Chapter 4 for more inspiration).
In Canada, the city of Montreal established the Office of Public Consultation as an independent body that carries out the public consultations decided by the municipal council or the executive committee of the city. The Office also has the mandate to propose rules to ensure qualitative participation and standards for transparent and effective consultation mechanisms.
In France, the national citizen participation agenda is led by a dedicated minister (the Minister of Relations with Parliament and Citizen Participation), coordinated by the Inter-Ministerial Direction for Public Transformation (DITP) and overseen by an independent body (the National Commission for Public Debate, the CNDP). In 2019, the DITP created the Centre for Citizen Participation as a centre of expertise to provide public officials and civil society technical support and guidance to implement participatory processes; a platform dedicated to participation; and a physical space to provide public authorities from across the government to organise meetings, public consultations, workshops, and other types of participatory processes involving citizens and non-governmental stakeholders.
In Spain, the city of Barcelona has two dedicated offices working on participation. The Citizen Participation Office deals with implementing citizen participation initiatives and guaranteeing people’s right to participate. There is also a Democratic Innovation Office that deals exclusively with researching and developing new methodologies for participation, especially in the digital world. This office is responsible for the upkeep of Decidim, the open-source participatory digital platform now used in cities all over the world. These offices are working in cooperation with the participatory office at the regional level (Government of Cataluña).
Source: Author’s own elaboration based on OECD (2020[24]), Survey on Open Government; Interviews with the Inter-Ministerial Directorate for Public Transformation (DITP) (Centre for Citizen Participation), and Montreal’s Office of Public Consultation (https://ocpm.qc.ca/); Barcelona City Council (https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/culturaieducacio/es/); Democratic Innovation office in Barcelona (Democratic Innovation Office); French participatory digital platform (Accueil - Agora); Decidim (Decidim)
References
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[1] OECD (2022), Action Plan on Enhancing Representation, Participation and Openness in Public Life, https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/public/doc/692/8766439e-c0df-4195-a29c-b060c161997a.pdf.
[22] OECD (2022), Open Government Review of Brazil : Towards an Integrated Open Government Agenda, OECD Public Governance Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/3f9009d4-en.
[2] OECD (2021), “Eight ways to institutionalise deliberative democracy”, OECD Public Governance Policy Papers, No. 12, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/4fcf1da5-en.
[24] OECD (2020), 2020 OECD Survey on Open Government.
[3] OECD (2020), OECD Survey on Open Government.
[4] OECD (2019), Open Government in Biscay, OECD Public Governance Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/e4e1a40c-en.
[19] Política, G. (ed.) (2022), Marco general para la transformación de la cultura política: Etorkizuna Eraikiz, Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa, https://www.etorkizunaeraikiz.eus/documents/33991264/1a19370d-aff6-bd81-5da5-5426d908f319.
[13] The Gipuzkoa Provincial Council (2018), Provincial Law 5/2018, https://egoitza.gipuzkoa.eus/gao-bog/castell/bog/2018/11/23/c1807588.pdf.
[14] The Gipuzkoa Provincial Council (2017), Provincial Decree 1/2017, https://egoitza.gipuzkoa.eus/ogasuna/normativa/docs/0001104c.pdf.
[15] The Gipuzkoa Provincial Council (2017), Provincial Decree 25/2017, https://egoitza.gipuzkoa.eus/ogasuna/normativa/docs/0001126c.pdf.
[16] The Gipuzkoa Provincial Council (2011), Provincial Decree R-3/2011, https://egoitza.gipuzkoa.eus/gao-bog/castell/bog/2011/01/19/c1100496.htm.
[20] The Gipuzkoa Provincial Council (n.d.), Institutional website, https://www.gipuzkoa.eus/web/council.
[17] Tolosa City Council (2022), Governance, Participation, and Transparency Ordinance, https://udala.tolosa.eus/sites/default/files/BEHIN%20BETIKO%20ONARPENA%20PUBLIKAZIOA%20GAO_1.pdf.
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