We have been working on deliberative processes in the Basque Country for several years. Some are coming to an end, while others are being designed or launched. The local post-conflict context; the vision of political and technical leaders from different public authorities; the role of democratic innovation laboratories Arantzazulab and TMeLab in promoting many of these projects; the presence of experienced facilitation organisations; and our own work in the territory place the Basque Country at the centre of current deliberative activity.
Closing of the Gipuzkoa Citizens’ Assembly
The Gipuzkoa Citizens’ Assembly on rural areas and climate change, held in 2022–2023, received its fourth and final feedback session from the Provincial Council on 28 May 2025. The result is a substantial document that builds on previous responses and provides detailed information about implementation timetables and budgets for each of the nine recommendations. It also answers questions raised by Assembly members who remain involved in the process. The event was attended by Eider Mendoza, Deputy General; Arantxa Ariztimuño, Director of Agriculture and Territorial Balance; eleven Assembly members who had taken on the role of guardians of the recommendations; and members of the Monitoring and Content Committees, who shared their own assessments. The meeting included a performance by two bertsolaris, who sang verses about both the process and its results.
The process is now considered complete, although the recommendations will continue to be implemented over the coming years. This applies particularly to actions involving payments to farmers for ecosystem services, forest R&D to anticipate how different tree species will adapt, and a mixed-baserri programme enabling farmers to combine agricultural work with employment in a company. It has been a collective effort led especially by the Provincial Council’s Participation Department and Agriculture Department, together with Arantzazulab, TMeLab and Aztiker. We have learned a great deal and look forward to launching another Assembly in the province, with a mandate focused more clearly on a dilemma or controversy so that trade-offs can be addressed, a careful balance among the members of the process governance, and stronger links between the Assembly and the wider population of the territory.
Thinking about institutionalisation in Tolosa and the Basque Country
Institutionalisation — in other words, considering how deliberative processes can be embedded permanently in the political system — is on the agenda in many countries. Drawing on existing experience and listening to local actors, we have been working on the institutionalisation of deliberative mechanisms with Tolosa Town Council and with Ihobe, the Basque Government’s public environmental management company.In both cases we worked alongside Arantzazulab, and in the Ihobe project also with TMeLab.
Tolosa Town Council (population 20,000) made its request after the successful Citizens’ Assembly on public-community responses to mental-health challenges, facilitated by Prometea in 2022–2023. The institutionalisation proposal, informed by political and technical staff from the Town Council and members of the previous Assembly, includes a Deliberative Council whose main task would be to define the mandate of future Citizens’ Assemblies — one or two per council term — focusing on issues that genuinely concern residents, require agreement and cannot be resolved throughconventional channels. One quarter of the Council would be town councillors, with balanced representation of political groups, and three quarters would be citizens from a previous Assembly who had therefore been selected by civic lottery. All members would rotate periodically. It would not be a permanent body, but would be activated once during each council term. A Monitoring Committee with balanced representation from political groups and stakeholders connected to the topic would oversee the whole process, ensuring that it follows international standards and achieves maximum legitimacy.
The design developed for Ihobe (Basque Government) in 2023–2024 envisages activating a permanent Citizens’ Assembly for the Basque Country under the Basque Energy Transition and Climate Change Act. The Act was approvedby 82% of the Basque Parliament on 8 February 2024 and provides for the creation of the Assembly in Article 12.
Launching two deliberative processes in the Mondragon region
We are advising a process that has been taking shape for twoyears with Debagoiena 2030, an open collaborative network of public bodies, cooperatives, businesses and educational organisations seeking to transform Debagoiena — Mondragon and the surrounding area, with 63,000 inhabitants — into a smart, inclusive and climate-neutral region by 2050. It is a particularly interesting model for launching a Citizens’ Assembly after in-depth work in the territory since 2023, led by a body bringing together local councils, business organisations and community organisations: apublic-private-communitypartnership. In autumn 2025, the Argitzen deliberative process on energy transition culminates in a Citizens’ Assembly of 50 residents selected by civic lottery. They will answer the question: “What actions or changes should Debagoiena’s local actors undertake to reduce energy consumption and develop renewable energy?”, taking into account criteria established by that body.
Finally, we have joined a project promoted by Arantzazulab, Demnext and MIT to explore how deliberative tools can beused in Mondragon’s cooperatives. In April 2025 we spent two days immersed in the cooperative ecosystem. We identified promising topics for deliberation, including dilemmas arising from the tension between internal values and external economic realities, workers’ commitment to their cooperative, inter-cooperative solidarity and collaboration, long-term strategies, and resource management.
Cover image: Debagoiena 2030 presenting the Argitzen process at Arantzazulab in May 2025.