Citizen Involvement in Parliamentary Action (MO0051)

What is the public issue in response to which this commitment was made? Consultation and involvement of citizens in the prerogatives and missions of the House of Representatives.

What are the components of this commitment? This commitment, which intends to promote the inclusive participation of citizens, and to strengthen the processes of parliamentary work and the openness and transparency of the House of Representatives, is based on three axes: - With the aim of consolidating the accumulation achieved by the House in public policy evaluation, the House of Representatives will organize hearing, consultation, and dialogue sessions with target groups and final recipients of the public policy under evaluation, with a view to measuring the impact and effectiveness of public authorities’ intervention; - Creation of a space dedicated to citizen control of government action; thereby allowing citizens to propose control actions related to issues which are of importance to them; - Publication of government and parliamentary bills subjected to the legislative procedure in order to collect the comments and opinions of citizens thereon. This mechanism will enable the involvement of society further in the legislative process, the control of government action, and evaluation of public policies.

How will this commitment contribute to solving the public issue? Citizen involvement in the legislative process fosters the inclusive adherence of citizens further and strengthens their trust in parliamentary action. The commitment also enables the measuring of the impact of this action on society.

How is this commitment relevant to the OGP values? The Commitment promotes citizen participation and awareness of the challenges of institutional and participatory democracy; while strengthening citizen control over public policies in relation to the Parliament’s prerogatives.

Additional information The House’s website publishes all government and parliamentary bills, thereby giving every citizen or organization the opportunity to express opinions and comment on legislative initiatives. For this purpose, the House of Representatives worked on setting up an internal unit to collect these opinions and comments and subsequently submit them to the competent bodies of the House. It is worth noting that the dialogue with societal actors (CSOs) has culminated recently in a set of ideas in the form of amendments, adopted by the House of Representatives, Organization Act No. 64.14, which establishes the conditions and procedures for the exercise of the right to submit (Organic Law No. 64.14, defining the conditions and procedures for the exercise of the right to submit motions on legislation, as amended and supplemented by Organic Law No. 71.21; Organic Law No. 44.14, defining the conditions and procedures for the exercise of the right to submit petitions to public authorities, as amended and supplemented by Organic Law No. 70.21.) The findings of evaluation reports serve as a basis for monitoring public interventions and their impact. A space dedicated to citizen control of government action will be created in order to enable citizens to propose control measures relating to issues of their interest.

Key activities with deliverable and measurable results | Start date - End date

- Creation of a communication space (on the House's website) to interact with citizens' requests regarding the Parliament’s functions and prerogatives: - The House of Representatives organizes hearing, consultations, and dialogue sessions with the target groups and ultimate recipients of the public policy under evaluation; - Creation of a space allowing citizens to control government action; - Publication of government and parliamentary bills subjected to the legislative procedure, in order to collect the comments and opinions of citizens. | 2022 (Action that covers the entire legislative term)

Collection of citizens’ comments and opinions on public policy themes for evaluation and their submission to the thematic group in charge of public policy evaluation.

- Organization of territorial meetings with local stakeholders at each evaluation.