The EconomistOctober 5th 2019 Europe 472 law, at an extra annual cost of no more than
€15m. France, it argues, needs to catch up
with the times. “The criterion that defines a
family,” declared Agnès Buzyn, the health
minister and a medical doctor, “is the love
that unites a parent and a child.”
Such views have cracked open the old
division between liberals and family-val-
ues traditionalists. Having mobilised hun-
dreds of thousands onto the streets against
the legalisation of gay marriage six years
ago, protesters are now planning their first
big demo against Mr Macron’s law on Octo-
ber 6th. A group of over a dozen associa-
tions, including the Manif pour Tous, which
organised the rallies in 2013, argues that
“one cannot deliberately deprive a child of
a father”. Their slogan, naturellement, is
“liberty, equality, paternity”.
The issue has agitated the political
right. Marine Le Pen, leader of the National
Rally (formerly the National Front),
claimed that “the state is going to lie” to a
child by stating it has two mothers. Her
niece, Marion Maréchal, a young former
deputy and unofficial champion of ultra-
Catholic conservatives, organised a “con-
vention of the right” in Paris, where one
speaker railed against the “extermination
of the white heterosexual male”. Giving gay
couples access to ivf, says Ms Maréchal, is
part of a “stupid injunction to ‘be modern’”.
Her pitch echoes the views of the Catholic
church. “I’m not sure that the figure of the
father is optional,” Michel Aupetit, the
Archbishop of Paris, told French radio this
week, claiming that “most psychiatrists to-
day say there is a need for a male reference,
who is not just an uncle.”
The bill’s opponents claim it is the first
step towards granting broader rights to gay
couples, notably over surrogacy, which is
illegal in France. During his campaign Mr
Macron ruled that out, though he did pro-
mise to grant clear legal status to children
born through surrogacy abroad. Marc-Oliv-
ier Fogiel, a well-known French broadcast-
er, has done much to help normalise such
families by publishing a book last year
about his and his husband’s quest to be-
come parents via surrogacy in America. Mr
Macron has yet to fulfil his promise.
Recent French presidents have tended
to pass their own piece of landmark pro-
gressive social legislation. Valéry Giscard
d’Estaing legalised abortion in 1975; Fran-
çois Mitterrand abolished the death penal-
ty in 1981; François Hollande legalised gay
marriage. This is Mr Macron’s signature
bill: a way for him to distinguish his liberal,
centrist politics from those of the conser-
vative right. Yet France remains fragile
after the civil disorder of the gilets jaunes
protests, and Mr Macron has already de-
layed the bill for fear of fresh unrest. Those
fighting France’s culture wars are a some-
what different crowd, but no less deter-
mined to make their voices heard. 7
I
n a sleepycorner of Belgium, a demo-
cratic experiment is under way. On Sep-
tember 16th, 24 randomly chosen Germa-
nophones from the country’s eastern
fringe took their seats in a Citizens’ Coun-
cil. They will have the power to tell elected
officials which issues matter, and for each
such issue to task a Citizens’ Assembly
(also chosen at random) with brainstorm-
ing ideas on how to solve them. It’s an en-
gaged citizen’s dream come true.
Belgium’s German-speakers are an of-
ten-overlooked minority next to their
Francophone and Flemish countrymen.
They are few in number—just 76,000 peo-
ple out of a population of 11m—yet have a
distinct identity, shaped by their proximity
to Germany, the Netherlands and Luxem-
bourg. Thanks to Belgium’s federal system
the community is thought to be the small-
est region of the euwith its own legislative
powers: a parliament of 25 representatives
and a government of four decides on poli-
cies related to issues including education,
sport, training and child benefits.
This new system takes democracy one
step further. Based on selection by lot-
tery—which Aristotle regarded as real de-
mocracy, in contrast to election, which he
described as “oligarchy”—it was trialled in
2017 and won enthusiastic reviews from
participants, officials and locals.
Under the “Ostbelgien Model”, the Citi-
zens’ Council and the assemblies it con-venes will run in parallel to the existing
parliament and will set its legislative agen-
da. Parliamentarians must consider every
proposal that wins support from 80% of
the council, and must publicly defend any
decision to take a different path.
Some see the project as a tool that could
counter political discontent by involving
ordinary folk in decision-making. But for
Alexander Miesen, a Belgian senator who
initiated the project, the motivation is co-
sier. “People would like to share their ideas,
and they also have a lot of experience in
their lives which you can import into par-
liament. It’s a win-win,” he says.
Selecting decision-makers by lottery is
unusual these days, but not unknown: Ire-
land randomly selected the members of the
Citizens’ Assembly that succeeded in
breaking the deadlock on abortion laws.
Referendums are a common way of settling
important matters in several countries. But
in Eupen, the largest town in the German-
speaking region, citizens themselves will
come up with the topics and policies which
parliamentarians then review, rather than
expressing consent to ideas proposed by
politicians. Traditional decision-makers
still have the final say, but “citizens can be
sure that their ideas are part of the process,”
says Mr Miesen.
Some in the community’s pocket-sized
parliament in the town of Eupen are scepti-
cal. If they are to surrender their agenda-
setting powers to the masses, their mani-
festos seem pointless. And it seems odd
that a project to promote citizens’ power
was not a grassroots initiative but was in-
stigated from above. The organisers admit
that they are delving into the unknown, but
for David Van Reybrouck, of g1000, a group
promoting the scheme, it is a game-chang-
er. “Small countries are reinventing de-
mocracy,” he says. 7EUPEN
A Belgian experiment that Aristotle
would have approved ofBelgiumTiny democracy
Eupen’s engaged citizens point the way