The involvement of citizens in the political decision-making process (consultation, consultation, committees, etc.) has been developing for many years in France, particularly at the territorial level. Since the end of the 1990s, various laws have required local authorities to set up participation bodies, such as the Voynet law in 1999 (which established development councils at the inter-municipal level) and the Local Democracy law of 2002 (which required the creation of neighbourhood councils in all cities with more than 80,000 inhabitants).
At the same time, many initiatives are being developed at the local level, such as participatory budgets, which allow the inhabitants of a territory to vote on a part of the investment budget of the community (between 5 and 10%). By 2022, these will be present in 400 municipalities, bringing together 12 million inhabitants.
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These participatory democracy mechanisms often struggle to mobilize all the publics concerned. Thus, we observe an overrepresentation of university graduates, residents of the Paris area, technophiles, and senior citizens who are more often mobilized in neighborhood councils. And, in mirror image, the under-participation of various publics: young people, the precarious, foreigners, and those who are far from the digital world.
The ANCT has introduced questions in the 2022 edition of the Digital Barometer to capture the public's disposition towards local online citizen consultations.
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Linked articles
Main results of the 2022 digital barometer
According to this new edition of the Digital Barometer, piloted by Arcep, Arcom, CGE and ANCT, the vast majority of French people use the Internet (92%), with the proportion of Internet users reaching 96% among people in their 60s. Only people over 70 years old stand out with 63% of Internet users. On average, the French spend 32 hours per week in front of a screen, which is almost one fifth of the weekly time or a little less than one third awake. More than half of the population spends on average more than three hours a day in front of a screen.The old uses are installed, the new uses take offSome uses are showing signs of decline, such as social networks (62% vs. 67% in 2020), which have already been rejected by younger people for several years (68% vs. 84% in 2017). But old uses are well established, such as job search is slowly progressing (29% against 26% in 2017). Note that 83% of unemployed workers use the Internet to look for a job. Administrative and fiscal procedures are not evolving much in the long term, but are already at a high level (71% of the population as in 2020, against 67% in 2017).The share of online buyers had jumped during the health crisis, this habit has not fallen back (77% against 76% in 2020). If 7% of the population owns a virtual reality headset, one French person out of five has already tried this new digital tool and 1 out of 5 would like to do so.However, more people are encountering barriers to full digital use48% of French people experience at least one form of difficulty that prevents them from fully using digital tools and the Internet (+13 points compared to 2020). More than equipment or Internet access, it is the complete mastery of digital tools that remains the primary obstacle to the full use of digital technology (25%, +7 points compared to 2020). At first glance, this may seem contradictory to the increase in digital usage by the French, but greater use of digital tools can also be accompanied by an awareness of their limitations and therefore an identification of a margin for improvement in the mastery of these tools.Growing inequalities in digital skillsTwo years after the beginning of the health crisis, on average, more than one out of two French adults feel they have a better command of these tools (56%). However, this average is underpinned by major disparities. Indeed, if the feeling of having better appropriated digital tools with the pandemic is marked among executives and higher intellectual professions (71%), on the other hand, the majority of French people among the most vulnerable (non-graduates and people aged 70 and over) do not feel that they have gained in mastery over the last two years (53% and 56% respectively). As a result, the gap is widening in terms of the French feeling that their skills have increased.Difficulties in completing administrative procedures online are increasing The dematerialization of public services has been unfolding for two decades, with a strong acceleration recently. We have seen an increase in the proportion of people who at least sometimes have difficulty completing administrative procedures online (54%, +16 points compared to 2020). Faced with these difficulties, the most popular solution is to ask for explanations in order to successfully complete the process alone (40%, +16 points compared to 2020). Consequently, when faced with online difficulties, on average, the French prefer to learn and increase their skills in order to become more autonomous, especially since these online procedures often involve sensitive personal data and can have significant effects on daily life.Some of the features offered by digital devices contribute to better access to online contentAmong the different functionalities available, adjusting the brightness (83%) and zooming the screen (80%) are the most used by the entire population equipped with a digital terminal, while about 6 out of 10 French people equipped with a digital terminal have already used adjusting the font size, increasing the contrast and voice commands. Audiodescription and color inversion are not widely used, with about a third of French people having used one of these features. The users of these features are generally under 40 years old, with notably a greater use of voice commands, color inversion and audio description by 18-24 year olds.Security and trust are at the heart of the usesThe news shows that digital technology brings risks (computer attacks, scams, loss of data, etc.), the majority of individuals believe that they have certainly (18%) or probably (38%) personally been a victim of unwanted access to their personal data via the Internet.This is probably why almost all users take precautions with more (55%) or less (38%) constant vigilance.The terms and conditions of a social network or video sharing platform have been consulted by 52% of Internet users. Among Internet users who have read the terms and conditions at least once, 77% indicate that this information is easily accessible. On the other hand, ease of understanding seems to be less of an issue, with 53% of Internet users who have consulted the terms and conditions believing that they are easy to understand.42% of Internet users have already reported an account or inappropriate content using the mechanisms set up by social networks or video sharing platforms. The authors of reports largely consider that the systems in place are easily accessible (87%), simple to use (85%) and easy to understand (80%).
Initiated in 2000, the objectives of this study are:measure the adoption of digital equipment by the French and study digital practices to detect inequalities in access and skills, whether voluntary or involuntary;to allow public authorities to anticipate major trends and implement a policy that encourages everyone to adopt digital technology.In 2022, The survey was conducted between June 15 and July 15, 2022 among 4,184 people, divided into three distinct target populations (12 to 17 years old, 18 years old and over, 18 years old and over far from digital), with adapted questionnaires and specific quotas, and thanks to two types of collection:3,448 people aged 15 and over were interviewed online in the VCT survey (within each region, quota on: age, gender, PCS, level of education, size of town, type of housing).573 people aged 18 and over, referred to in the report as "digitally remote" (i.e., not having a fixed Internet connection at home), were interviewed by telephone, using quotas from a flash survey conducted by telephone among 1,000 people aged 18 and over (gender, age, social class, region, city size)163 people aged 12 to 14 were interviewed online, after obtaining the prior consent of one of their parents, with the following quotas: age, gender, size of town, and social class of the reference personAll survey data since 2007 is available in open data on the data.gouv.fr website.
The Court of Auditors invites the public to propose topics for investigation on its citizen platform
In order to ensure the proper use of public money, the Court of Audit carries out audits of organizations and institutions that use public funds and conducts investigations into the implementation of public policies. As an independent court, the Court is free to set its own work program and establishes a list of audits to be carried out each year on a wide range of subjects, which will help to inform citizens and enlighten the public debate.In 2022, the Cour des Comptes wants to build this list with the public, " in a collaborative and open manner. "It will retain " the most interesting, innovative and plebiscited proposals ".At the end of the consultation, the citizens' contributions will be the subject of a quantitative and qualitative analysis and a synthesis, carried out by OpenSourcePolitics, a company in the field of the social and solidarity economy which develops free and open source digital platforms."The quantitative and qualitative linguistic analysis of the contributions is intended to give an account of the contents to enable the Court to formulate 6 topics for reports. The synthesis will allow to constitute an overview of the proposals of requests that the citizens wish to see taken up by the Court".
Since March 9, 195 control proposals have already been submitted on the platform: on economic and financial subjects (69). However, 19 proposals were related to the environment.For this consultation, the Court of Audit relies on the participatory platformDecidim.This approach is part of theNational Open Government Action Plan 2021-2023.The consultation is open until May 20, 2022.
The Council of State clarifies the legal framework for public consultations on the Internet
In a recent decision, the Conseil d'Etat clarifies for the first time "the rules and principles governing the use of open consultations":For the first time, the Conseil d'État specifies the rules and principles governing this type of consultation.He ruled that the administrative authority must set the terms of the consultation in compliance with the rules laid down by law and with the principles of equality and impartiality, from which it follows that the consultation must be sincere.Thus it must
provide the persons concerned with clear and sufficient information on the purpose of the consultation and its modalities and allow them a reasonable time to participate;
ensure that the results or proposed outcomes are made public at the appropriate time;
define a perimeter of the public consulted that is relevant to the purpose of the consultation;
take measures to prevent the outcome of the consultation from being vitiated by repeated notices or notices issued by persons outside the scope;
ensure that the consultation is carried out in accordance with the terms and conditions set by the Commission.
The Conseil d'orientation de l'édition publique et de l'information administrative (COEPIA) announces the forthcoming publication of rules for administrations in the form of a memento.
A reference framework on public participation in Quebec
A similar process was conducted last June by the Quebec government. It unveiled a " Framework for Public Participation ". This framework aims to standardize the use of public consultation for public organizations and the various ministries of the province in the development of public policies.It is based on seven guiding principles "that mark out the practice of public participation by setting out the principles and rules to be respected by administrations to ensure the success of participation processes, while taking into account the specificities and needs of their environment.
The commitments of the competent authorities
The commitment of the participants
The choice of public participation mechanisms
The information
The promotion
Feedback
Evaluation
In 2017, more than 100,000 citizens contributed or participated in online public consultations
The organization of online public consultations by ministries, regulatory authorities, prefectures and local authorities is now widely commonplace.The usefulness of these consultations, which are open to the public, is now the subject of a broad consensus. According to the COEPIA (Conseil d'orientation de l'édition publique et de l'information administrative), they allow "to enrich the expertise of public decision-makers, by making available to them, simultaneously, a large number of opinions and testimonies from experts and associations, but also from citizens who are activists or simply interested in the debate; the consultation is also a means for the administration to better understand the obstacles and points of contention". Symmetrically, these consultations allow citizens to take part in the elaboration of the public decision.What about public participation? Estimating the number of contributors (and participants in the case of platforms that allow voting) is risky because the data is so scattered and heterogeneous.With its 21,330 contributors, 8,500 comments and 148,000 votes, the public consultation on the Digital Republic bill is often cited as an example. And as a model, because a certain number of proposals made by the participants were converted by the government or by the parliamentarians into amendments. This consultation is even the subject of a thesis in progress.In fact, the high level of participation achieved by the Digital Republic consultation is far from an isolated case.For example, in 2017, several consultations generated thousands of contributions, some of them over 10,000.
The public consultation of the States General of Food has collected 17,968 contributions and 171,602 from 46,067 participants (some of them having probably registered in several of the thematic spaces of the consultation).
The consultation on the draft decree on the marketing and use of plant protection products and their adjuvants received 13 424 contributions. 126 of them came from representative structures (associations, unions, town halls), while 13 301 came from individuals.
The first phase of public consultation on thecircular economy collected 1,784 contributions and 16,071 votes in five weeks.
The consultation on the National Radioactive Materials and Waste Management Plan for the period 2016-2018 received 2,459 comments
The consultation on the future of the CAP organized by the European Commission, in February 2017 collected 40,000 contributions in France.
The consultation "What role for citizens in the development and implementation of the law?" organized by the National Assembly brought together 100,000 participants, collected 1,700 separate contributions, which generated more than 1,300 responses and nearly 17,300 votes in four weeks.
The summary reports that follow the consultations now almost systematically mention the number of contributions, more rarely the number of contributors, participants or visitors. And even more rarely the profile of the contributors.
100,000 contributors and participants?
The diversity of the consultation devices does not allow to deduce the number of contributors from the number of contributions.
The vast majority of consultations are based on sending a letter to the institution organizing the debate: in this case, the number of contributions tends to merge with that of the contributors.
A certain number of consultations, on the other hand, use platforms specifically designed for public debates (such as Cap Collectif, Parlement & Citoyens, Assemb, Nova Ideo or DemocracyOs. The debate is then divided into a number of themes, themselves broken down into proposals: the same person can then submit as many contributions as there are themes and comment, document or vote for certain proposals. In 2014, the consultation organized by the National Digital Council, had resulted in 17,000 contributions from 2,300 contributors (or 7 contributions per participant) and 140,000 votes from 21,300 participants (or one contributor for every ten participants).
Despite these measurement difficulties, however, it can be estimated that more than 100,000 people took part in one or another of the 300 public consultations organized in 2017: as contributors or as participants (voters).This rough approximation is partially corroborated by the indicators published by certain public debate platforms. CapCollectif, for example, shows 320,000 participants for the 320 debates and consultations that it has helped organize since its creation.
A risk of "democratic fatigue"?
A few months ago, a Senate information mission examined the forms of participatory democracy. It wondered, in particular, about the risks of saturation of the public, of "democratic fatigue", in the face of the large number and concomitance of consultations."There is a danger of exhaustion: citizens would probably not be ready to commit themselves to all the texts".At this stage, the multiplication of online public consultations and the increasing diversity of topics submitted to the debate seem to have the effect of attracting new participants and contributors every year.There are several reasons to believe that the number of contributors is increasing.
Some consultations are now highly publicized (as was the case for the National Assembly on Food and as is currently the case for the ongoing consultation onartificial intelligence).
Several administrations and large communities have set up pages or even sites dedicated to public consultations (current and past).
All prefectures now have a page dedicated to consultations.
The drafting of a summary report has practically become the norm: the assurance that a summary will be drawn up at the end of the consultation, that the diversity of the points of view expressed will be restored, is an important springboard for participation
The more frequent use of dedicated platforms: the ergonomics of these platforms, the division of the debate into themes and sub-themes, the voting features that allow to follow in real time the support that a proposal receives or not, encourage ordinary citizens to submit contributions
The risk of over-mobilization of the most motivated people
Associations and activist networks take these consultations seriously and mobilize their members to take part in them. In some cases, this mobilization results in an influx of stereotyped contributions. The summary report of the consultation on plant protection products thus observed that 12,405 of the 13,424 contributions "partially or totally repeated elements of language developed by an association, an organization or a trade union". The Senate report ".The Senate's information mission thus mentioned " the risk that digital consultation may optically ensure an over-representation of the most motivated people on a given subject" . It concluded, however, that " this tool constitutes a useful source of ideas and points of view for the debate".In view of the experiences of open consultations carried out by administrations, the COEPIA observes that " the fears or reservations that could have been entertained have not been confirmed: in particular, the risks of computer manipulation by certain opinion groups, of outbursts of expression, of an expression that is only negative and never constructive, even if it is advisable for the organizers to remain vigilant in order to prevent possible abuses.
A valuable tool for public participation that requires a strong commitment from the organizers
The scope of open consultations is potentially very broad. The administration can consult on a draft text, regulatory or legislative, on a more or less defined project of realization or equipment or on an open question not yet giving rise to a well identified reform project.According to the COEPIA, in view of the risk of saturating the public, " it seems necessary to have selective recourse to open consultations on the Internet when the law does not make them mandatory. Open consultations will be all the more useful if the administration can hope to enrich and adjust its project at the end of it, if the public is likely to take up the issue and if there is a need for an exchange with the public before the decision is made to promote its acceptability.The COEPIA deplores, in particular, "the poverty of the tools used for certain consultations on very important texts is striking: they are sometimes limited to a simple e-mail address. Yet the quality of the software tools - dedicated platforms, messaging, collaborative tools, etc. - is crucial to the exercise. Etalab recommends several consultation tools for this purpose.In the guide it has drawn up for administrations, the COEPIA points out that "to be beneficial, consultation requires a strong investment by administrations: upstream (for the preparation of the consultation, in order toensure sufficient information for the public, an appropriate technical framework and adequate publicity); during the consultation (to ensure the moderation of comments, to answer any questions, to provide the necessary clarifications, to react to proposals thatthey know fromthe outset should be discarded) and downstream, to use the results of the participation, to decide on the follow-up to be given to them, to summarize them, to report on their use and to ensure the conservation of the data resulting from the consultation".He underlines " that a minimal consultation, without adapted tools, without meticulous exploitation of the results by the administration and without feedback to the public is worse than the absence of open consultation: it slows down the elaboration of the public decision, constitutes a wasted investment and, above all, alters the credibility of these tools and of the administration itself with the public".After recalling the rules governing open consultations on the Internet (Article L. 131-1 of the Code of Relations between the Public and the Administration), the COEPIA formulates a series of recommendations concerning the preparation of the consultation, public participation, the return of results and the follow-up of the consultation. The Council of State has, in the meantime, clarified the legal framework for public consultations on the Internet.
Pages, platforms and sites of administrations and independent administrative authorities dedicated to public consultations:
Ministry of the Economy
Public consultation platform of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Solidarity.
Enterprise Directorate General
Ministry of Solidarity and Health
Ministry of Territorial Cohesion
Ministry of Culture and Communication
Ministry of Agriculture
Arcep
Electricity Regulatory Commission
National Food Safety Agency-ANSES
Financial Markets Authority
Prefectures
Public consultations: new initiatives to strengthen public participation
The organization of online public consultations by ministries, regulatory authorities, prefectures as well as local authorities is now widely commonplace. In 2017, more than 100,000 citizens had contributed to or participated in online public consultations.The usefulness of these consultations, which are open to the public, is now widely recognized. They allow to enrich the expertise of the public decision-makers, by putting at their disposal the opinions and testimonies of experts, associations but also of citizen activists or simply interested in the debate. "According to the Conseil d'orientation de l'édition publique et de l'information administrative (COEPIA), consultation is also a way for the administration to better understand the obstacles and points of contention. Symmetrically, these consultations allow citizens to take part in the elaboration of the public decision.As part of the 2nd National Action Plan 2018-2020 "for a transparent and collaborative public action", the government has released a series of commitments that aim to strengthen participatory approaches.
The development of new formats for exchange with civil society: the State Open Forum. "The objective of the State Open Forums is to offer an informal discussion space for citizens and public officials to exchange on a given theme, sharing knowledge, practices and experiences.The format of the State Open Forums was designed, in collaboration with citizens and public agents during a contributory workshop open to all, which was held on March 12, 2018. The State Open Forums Format will evolve and improve based on participant feedback.
The implementation of an open and contributory dashboard of public services on the Internet: "the State undertakes to publish the list of procedures accessible online and to involve citizens in their improvement. Feedback from users and their suggestions for improvement will enable administrations to develop services to better meet their expectations.
Support for gov tech, with the organization of a dedicated conference during the year
A platform of consultation tools to better involve citizens in public decision-making. Currently in beta version, the www.consultation.etalab.gouv.fr platform has been developed in a co-construction approach. " Etalab is committed to continuing the development of this platform in conjunction with administrations that are experts in consultation or users, with players in the civic tech ecosystem and solution providers, the community of researchers and experts, and civil society. Etalab is also committed to "continuing to develop and test new formats for contributory workshops, forums, hackathons and other innovative formats, and to document them in order to share this experience and know-how with all public actors .
