The Bundestag administration has dissolved the staff unit for citizens' councils. Bundestag President Julia Klöckner had viewed the unit critically from the start. SPD politician Helge Lindh regrets the move and refers to the coalition agreement.
The staff unit for citizens' councils in the German Bundestag has recently been dissolved, as confirmed by the Bundestag administration in response to a query from the RedaktionsNetzwerks Deutschland. From the beginning of the legislative period, President Julia Klöckner of the CDU had critically assessed the unit.
SPD parliamentarian Helge Lindh expressed regret over the dissolution. He told RND: "For the implementation of further citizens' councils, the previous staff unit would have been undoubtedly suitable in terms of expertise and organization." Lindh called for a joint implementation proposal for additional councils and pointed to the coalition agreement of the traffic-light government. It states: "In addition to representative democracy, we will continue dialogic participation formats such as civil society citizens' councils of the German Bundestag."
The traffic-light coalition initiated the first citizens' council on nutrition issues in 2023. It involved 160 participants, selected based on criteria such as geographic origin, gender, age, community size, and education level. The group was supported by experts from science and practice. Participants proposed, among other things, free lunches for children in daycares and schools, the abolition of value-added tax on fruits and vegetables, and state labeling of products regarding climate protection, animal welfare, and health aspects. So far, no decisions have followed from this.
Klöckner stated in May in Welt am Sonntag: "The largest citizens' council in Germany is the democratically elected parliament." She emphasized the superior democratic legitimacy of the Bundestag and warned against creating the impression that the importance of parliament was being diminished.