"The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities advocates for a wider use of deliberative democracy by public authorities, notably through citizens' assemblies, referendums, or other forms of direct citizen participation where permitted. This is the model that broke the local deadlock in the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina," said Karl Heinz Lambertz (Belgium, SOC/G/PD), Vice-President of the Congress, during the January Forum Talk of the World Forum for Democracy on " Giving a louder voice to citizens beyond the ballot box" on 19 January 2021.

"The Congress Governance Committee is currently preparing a report on ‘Deliberative Democracy at Local and Regional Level’, for which I am the rapporteur. This report will provide feedback on the implementation of deliberative democracy models by local authorities and aims to share good practices and encourage citizen participation at a time when people are distrustful of public authorities' action," stressed the Vice-President, explaining that the defence and use of local democracy is one of the foundations of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and its additional protocol on the right to participate in the affairs of local authorities.

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