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Borgerforslag.dk | Digital Solution for Citizen Proposals
In 2016, the Folketing passed a law that gives citizens the right to have proposals submitted for consideration in the Folketing, if they have enough support. The scheme has from the beginning been intended as digital, and in 2018 the website borgerslur.dk was launched. "The background was an ambition to accelerate the democratic political system so that the citizens feel they are more directly involved in the decision-making processes," said Uffe Elbæk, then chairman of Alternativet. Danish Folketinget vedtog i 2016 en lov, der giver borgerne ret til at få fremsat forslag til behandling i Folketinget, såfremt de har støtter nok. Ordningen har fra begyndelsen været tænkt som digital, og i 2018 blev websitet borgerforslag.dk lanceret. “Baggrunden var en ambition om at ilte det demokratiske politiske system, så borgerne føler, de er mere direkte inddraget i beslutningsprocesserne,” Uffe Elbæk, daværende formand for Alternativet. Hensigten med lovgivningen og med den digitale løsning var, at borgere skulle kunne oprette et forslag som henholdsvis hovedstiller og medstillere. Forslaget skulle offentliggøres, således at andre borgere kunne tilkendegive deres støtte til det. Hvis det nåede 50.000 støtter, skulle det fremsættes i Folketinget, og herefter overgå til procedurerne for fremsatte forslag her. Undervejs skulle forslagets godkendes retligt i forhold til grundloven af Folketingets administration, og det skulle sikres, at de involverede borgere havde stemmeret, og at der ikke blev snydt med identitet. Den digitale løsning skulle være enkel og brugervenlig, da den er henvendt til alle stemmeberettigede danske borgere. Samtidig skulle løsningen understøtte den ny lovgivning og følge forretningsgangene, som var beskrevet i den nye lov. Udfordringen lå i at formidle lovgivningen med transparens, og samtidig sikre den enkelhed, som et website til alle danske borgere må være gennemsyret af. Der var et krav om, at borgere fritaget fra digital post skulle kunne deltage i borgerforslag på lige fod med andre. Udfordringen var udover at bygge et smidigt analogt flow, at der i en gruppe af hovedstiller og medstillere til et forslag kunne optræde et mix af digitale og ikke-digitale borgere. Og dette måtte ikke opleves som en ulempe for nogen af parterne. Samtidig skulle processen være håndterbar indadtil i det administrative arbejde. På borgerforslag.dk kan borgere oprette, læse og støtte borgerforslag. Ved oprettelse af borgerforslag skal borgeren identificere sig med NemID, og der slås op i CPR-registret for at sikre, at personen er stemmeberettiget. Herefter guides borgeren igennem vejledningen til, hvad et borgerforslag skal indeholde. Den videre behandling af forslaget kræver, at argumenterne er præcise og underbyggede, da det skal kunne fremsættes som beslutningsforslag i den politiske proces. Derfor er denne vejledning pædagogisk og enkel. Det skal være muligt for alle, uanset fagligt niveau, at kunne fremsætte et forslag. Inden borgerforslaget bliver publiceret på portalen, skal hovedstiller invitere 3 til 10 medstillere som vil være med til offentligt at stå bag forslaget. Dette sikrer en vis seriøsitet omkring borgerforslagene, idet hoved- og medstillere skal koordinere indbyrdes, og de skal acceptere at stå offentligt frem. For hvert flow er den analoge situationen tænkt ind, således at en ikke-digital borger kan deltage på alle trin, uden at det bliver besværligt for de andre stillere. Dette er håndteret ved at integrere til SendGrid, der sikrer, at alt sendes og modtages korrekt selv under stort pres. Når medstillere har accepteret, bliver borgerforslaget automatisk sendt videre til Folketingets Administration, hvor det bliver gennemgået for om det lever op til reglerne for borgerforslag. Det har været et fokuspunkt, at løsningen både er brugervenlig for borgere og redaktører i Folketingets Administration, fordi denne del af processen er afgørende for lovgivningens succes: Havde man blot publiceret forslag uden forudgående godkendelse, kunne man risikere lovstridige udsagn i forslagene. Borgerforslagene publiceres på portalens forside. Herfra kan man følge med i, hvordan det går med dem, idet det indikeres med ikoner og grafik, hvor langt hvert borgerforslag er nået. Det er også gjort let at dele forslaget på mail, sociale medier eller på print, så det kan nå et bredere publikum end dem, der kigger på borgerforslag.dk. Som med andre indsamlingsportaler er hensigten med dette at anspore brugeren til at deltage – i dette tilfælde at deltage i den demokratiske proces og interessere sig for forslag som ønskes fremsat i Folketinget. Mere end 1190 forslag er blevet indsendt til platformen siden januar 2018, hvor portalen åbnede. Heraf er 158 borgerforslag pt. aktive, 33 har individuelt samlet mindst 50.000 underskrifter, og 28 af dem er indtil videre nået frem til folketingssalen. Fem af de fremsatte borgerforslag er blevet vedtaget. De resterende er udløbet uden at få den nødvendige støtte. “Tallene vidner jo om, at borgerforslagene har haft en effekt, at folk har engageret sig, og at det på den måde har styrket forbindelsen mellem politikere og den brede befolkning, så i det lys synes jeg, at det har været en succes,” siger Lars Tønder, forsker i politisk teori på Københavns Universitet. Eksempler på borgerforslag som er blevet vedtaget: Hurtig og rigtig hjælp til familier ved spædbarnsdød Dansk klimalov Bevaring af kræftbehandlingen af børn uændret på de nuværende fire lokationer i Danmark Nogle forslag har ført til videre drøftelser, der er endt i beslutninger, mens andre forslag har været godkendt eller afvist i deres umiddelbare form. Det vigtige for den demokratiske deltagelse er, at borgerne nu har fået mulighed for at kommunikere direkte til politikerne og fortælle dem, hvad de finder væsentligt for den politiske debat. Her spiller medierne også en stor rolle, da borgerforslag.dk har været med til at sætte diskussioner i gang i den offentlige debat. "Bare det, at man får lavet et forslag, der bliver lagt op på internettet og måske bliver dækket af de lokale eller regionale medier, gør, at rigtig mange borgergrupper vil sige, at vi sådan set er i mål," Roger Buch, kommunalforsker og forskningschef i statsvidenskab på Danmarks Medie- og Journalisthøjskole. Eller som Uffe Elbæk formulerer det: “Det kan godt være, det ikke er mange borgerforslag, der er røget lige igennem, men man skal se det fulde billede. (…) De borgerforslag, der måske ikke kommer igennem i første omgang, har alligevel indflydelse. Nogle af dem får politiske partier til at ændre holdning. Så kan det godt være, at de ikke går igennem i den rene form i salen, men hen over det næste halve til hele år, kan det måske puffe så meget til debatten, at politikere ændrer holdning.” Uffe Elbæk, daværende formand for Alternativet. English (Google translate) In 2016, the Folketing passed a law that gives citizens the right to have proposals submitted for consideration in the Folketing, if they have enough support. The scheme has from the beginning been intended as digital, and in 2018 the website borgerslur.dk was launched. "The background was an ambition to accelerate the democratic political system so that the citizens feel they are more directly involved in the decision-making processes," said Uffe Elbæk, then chairman of Alternativet. The intention with the legislation and with the digital solution was that citizens should be able to create a proposal as principal and co-sponsors, respectively. The proposal was to be published so that other citizens could express their support for it. If it reached 50,000 supporters, it would have to be presented in the Folketing, and then proceed to the procedures for proposals made here. Along the way, the proposal had to be approved in law in relation to the constitution by the Folketing's administration, and it had to be ensured that the citizens involved had the right to vote and that no identity was cheated. The digital solution should be simple and user-friendly, as it is aimed at all eligible Danish citizens. At the same time, the solution was to support the new legislation and follow the business procedures described in the new law. The challenge was to convey the legislation with transparency, and at the same time ensure the simplicity that a website for all Danish citizens must be permeated by. There was a requirement that citizens exempted from digital mail should be able to participate in citizen proposals on an equal footing with others. The challenge was, in addition to building a smooth analog flow, that a mix of digital and non-digital citizens could appear in a group of main speakers and co-presenters for a proposal. And this must not be perceived as a disadvantage for either party. At the same time, the process had to be manageable internally in the administrative work. At borgertilbud.dk, citizens can create, read and support citizen proposals. When creating citizen proposals, the citizen must identify themselves with NemID, and look up in the CPR register to ensure that the person is entitled to vote. The citizen is then guided through the instructions for what a citizen proposal should contain. The further processing of the proposal requires that the arguments are precise and substantiated, as it must be possible to present them as motions for resolutions in the political process. Therefore, this guide is educational and simple. It must be possible for everyone, regardless of professional level, to make a proposal. Before the citizen proposal is published on the portal, the main exhibitor must invite 3 to 10 co-exhibitors who will be involved in publicly behind the proposal. This ensures a certain seriousness about the citizens' proposals, as the main and co-presenters must coordinate with each other and they must agree to appear in public. For each flow, the analogous situation is conceived so that a non-digital citizen can participate in all steps without it becoming cumbersome for the other silencers. This is handled by integrating with SendGrid, which ensures that everything is sent and received correctly even under great pressure. Once co-sponsors have accepted, the citizen proposal is automatically forwarded to the Folketing's Administration, where it is reviewed to see if it meets the rules for citizen proposals. It has been a focus point that the solution is user-friendly for both citizens and editors in the Folketing's Administration, because this part of the process is crucial for the success of the legislation: Had you simply published proposals without prior approval, you could risk illegal statements in the proposals. The citizen proposals are published on the front page of the portal. From here you can follow how they are doing, indicating with icons and graphics how far each citizen's proposal has reached. It has also been made easy to share the proposal by email, social media or in print, so that it can reach a wider audience than those who look at borgertilbud.dk. As with other collection portals, the intention of this is to encourage the user to participate - in this case to participate in the democratic process and be interested in proposals that are desired to be made in the Folketing. More than 1190 proposals have been submitted to the platform since January 2018, when the portal opened. Of these, 158 citizen proposals are currently active, 33 have individually collected at least 50,000 signatures, and 28 of them have so far reached the Folketing Hall. Five of the citizens' proposals made have been adopted. The rest have expired without receiving the necessary support. "The figures testify that the citizens' proposals have had an effect, that people have become involved, and that in this way it has strengthened the connection between politicians and the general population, so in that light I think it has been a success," says Lars Tønder, researcher in political theory at the University of Copenhagen. Examples of citizen proposals that have been adopted: Quick and real help for families in the event of infant death Danish Climate Act Preservation of the cancer treatment of children unchanged at the current four locations in Denmark Some proposals have led to further discussions that have ended in decisions, while other proposals have been approved or rejected in their immediate form. What is important for democratic participation is that citizens have now been given the opportunity to communicate directly with politicians and tell them what they consider essential to the political debate. Here, the media also play a major role, as borgertilbud.dk has helped to initiate discussions in the public debate. "Just the fact that you get a proposal made that is posted on the internet and may be covered by the local or regional media, means that a lot of citizen groups will say that we are, so to speak, in goal," Roger Buch, municipal researcher and head of research in political science at the Danish School of Media and Journalism. Or as Uffe Elbæk puts it: “It may well be that not many citizen proposals have been smoked right through, but you have to see the full picture. (…) The citizen proposals that may not get through in the first place still have an impact. Some of them make political parties change their minds. Then it may well be that they do not go through in the pure form in the hall, but over the next half to full year, it may push so much to the debate that politicians change their minds. " Uffe Elbæk, then chairman of Alternativet.