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Citizens’ Councils in Saxony-Anhalt: A desperate attempt to regain trust – or just another alibi instrument?Trust in the political class has reached a low point in Germany. Only about one in four citizens still seriously believes that politicians intend to keep their campaign promises (Allbus, Bertelsmann studies). Coalition constraints, crisis management, and tactical promise-making lead to almost every government being perceived as breaking its word after a short time – whether the traffic-light coalition or a black-red government under Merz. Against this backdrop, the draft bill by the Green parliamentary group in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament from January 2026 appears like a desperate lifeline: citizens’ councils are intended to bridge the gap between politics and the population, strengthen deliberative democracy, and patch up the dwindling trust in democratic processes. But this is precisely where the central problem lies: in its core logic, the draft remains purely advisory and non-binding. In doing so, it reproduces exactly the structure that has so massively destroyed trust – namely that the final decision always rests with the same actors who fail to keep their promises. The debate of January 29, 2026, in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament exemplifies this dilemma. Cornelia Lüddemann (Greens) passionately argued for citizens’ councils as spaces of genuine participation that go beyond binary referendums and are meant to harness collective intelligence. She cited real examples (the Dessau hotel dispute, the Osterburg climate council) and referred to the loss of trust documented for years by studies such as the Saxony-Anhalt Monitor. Die Linke (Andreas Henke) supported the approach as a bridge for those disenchanted with politics and called for committee deliberation. The coalition (CDU, SPD, FDP) and the AfD, however, largely rejected the proposal – for different reasons, but with partially overlapping arguments: Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang (CDU) emphasized that citizens’ councils are already possible today (Osterburg examples) and that the draft would merely introduce mandatory quorums that could easily be instrumentalized by particular interests in small municipalities. She spoke of a “new council republic” that would render elected bodies absurd. Juliane Kleemann (SPD) acknowledged the potential but criticized inconsistencies (no compensation at the municipal level, unclear representativeness due to voluntariness, lack of follow-up). Guido Kosmehl (FDP) doubted the feasibility of the lottery-based selection procedure in a territorially heterogeneous state and saw risks for the attractiveness of voluntary mandates. Christian Hecht (AfD) called the draft a “Trojan horse” for bureaucracy and data snooping and accused it of manipulation through “left-wing indoctrination.” In the end, the draft was referred to the Interior Committee – with clear skepticism from the coalition that it would make any substantial progress during this legislative term. Critical assessment of the draftIn its current form, the draft law is well intentioned but structurally insufficient – and for precisely the reason that the debate barely addresses openly: as long as recommendations from citizens’ councils can be ignored without consequences, nothing changes at the core of the problem. Politicians who break campaign promises will also break citizens’ council recommendations – only with the added alibi of having “at least listened.”The concept remains trapped in the logic of a purely representative democracy, which has been reaching its limits in Germany for decades: There is no real sanction for ignoring recommendations (other than reputational damage, which often fails to materialize in polarized times). There is a lack of a binding mechanism that forces politicians either to comply or to provide a substantial, public, and comprehensible justification – not just once, but on an ongoing basis. The предусмотрed follow-up obligation (state government: report after three months) is too weak and too short-term. It allows recommendations to be processed formally without being seriously examined. If citizens’ councils are truly to regain trust, they would have to become de facto harder to ignore – without making them legally binding. Possible approaches would be: “Comply or explain plus”: if recommendations are not implemented, the state government or representative body must not only justify its decision, but also present alternatives, which would then be submitted to a follow-up citizens’ council or a public hearing. Automatic public visibility: all recommendations and justifications must be prominently published on state parliament and municipal websites – with tracking of implementation rates over the years. Combination with a referendum option: in the case of very high approval within the citizens’ council (e.g. ≥ 75%), a qualified quorum could trigger a citizens’ referendum. Without such or similar tightening measures, the draft remains another symbolic offer of participation – pleasant to listen to, but ultimately powerless in the face of the same political class that has been squandering trust for years. The debate of January 28, 2026, has shown: some want more participation, others fear a loss of control or overregulation. But both sides talk too little about the real problem: it is not the absence of citizens’ councils, but the absence of consequences when politicians do whatever they want. As long as this is not addressed, citizens’ councils – no matter how well moderated – will remain just another chapter in the long history of well-intentioned but ineffective attempts at democratic repair. Author: AI-Translation - АИИ | |
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