“Resolving conflicts at an early stage”
The German state of Baden-Württemberg leads the way among the federal states in terms of the number of citizens’ assemblies. This is set to remain the case in future. The incoming state government, comprising the Greens and the CDU, “intends to continue and further develop the policy of listening to citizens and established forms of participatory dialogue (…)”. A corresponding agreement is included in the coalition agreement between the two parties, which was presented on 6 May 2026. However, compared with the 2021 coalition agreement, there have been setbacks.
As in previous years, participatory dialogue formats are to be used for important draft legislation and political projects of the state government. “Politics and administration benefit from greater information and exchange, which increases acceptance of the decisions taken,” explain the coalition partners
Relief for local authorities through a service centre
The Greens and the CDU also wish to continue the “successful work” of the Servicestelle Dialogische Bürgerbeteiligung (Service Centre for Dialogic Citizen Participation). In 2024, the state government established this contact point for towns, municipalities and authorities. It advises on and supports dialogue processes. The coalition agreement states that the service centre “relieves the burden on those responsible for the content at local level, speeds up processes and resolves conflicts as early as possible”.
The state’s Referendum Act is to be amended to allow for the possibility “that, following a citizens’ petition, a process of dialogic citizen participation may first be carried out before the matter is finally considered by the state parliament”.
No Citizens’ Forum via petition
In their coalition agreement concluded in 2021, the Greens and the CDU had also agreed to allow the convening of a state-wide Citizens’ Forum via a citizens’ petition. In the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, for example, this is possible with 1,000 signatures. The Greens and the CDU have not implemented their agreement on this matter in Baden-Württemberg.
A citizens’ petition must be signed by at least 0.5 per cent of eligible voters. All citizens who have reached the age of 18, hold German citizenship and have had their primary residence in Baden-Württemberg for at least three months are eligible to sign.
Restriction of direct democracy
The promotion of mini-publics goes hand in hand with a restriction of direct democracy. If there is participatory public engagement regarding decisions to initiate urban development plans, citizens’ initiatives and referendums on these matters will no longer be permitted. In 2021, the Greens and the CDU still intended to combine citizens’ assemblies and referendums.
In Switzerland, the Demoscan project is working to bring this idea to fruition. Here, citizens’ assemblies draw up an accessible voting guide setting out the key arguments for and against a proposal ahead of referendums. These are sent to all eligible voters. One example of this is a mini-public in the city of Bellinzona.
Higher hurdles
The Greens and the CDU also want to roll back the thresholds for signatures and votes required for direct democracy at local level to the levels that existed before the last reform. In 2015, the signature threshold for citizens’ initiatives and the voting threshold for referendums were lowered. Since 1 December 2015, seven per cent rather than ten per cent of eligible voters must sign for a citizens’ initiative to be valid. The previous system of tiered rates based on the size of the municipality had been abolished. Since then, urban planning issues have also generally been open to public scrutiny.
For a referendum to be valid and binding on the administration, the majority of votes cast (yes or no votes) must reach an approval quorum – a specific percentage of the total electorate. Until 2015, this quorum stood at 25 per cent and was then lowered to 20 per cent.
Criticism from Mehr Demokratie
The Baden-Württemberg regional branch of the association “Mehr Demokratie” has criticised the planned restrictions on direct democracy in a press release as a “massive erosion of democracy”. According to the association’s calculations, the changes agreed by the Greens and the CDU would, taken together, mean that around 40 per cent of all previous citizens’ initiatives and referendums would no longer be possible or would be invalid.