Bundestag citizens' assembly on nutrition (Bürgerrat Ernährung, 2023–2024)

Background

Germany has a long history of local "planning cells" and, since 2019, of national citizens' assemblies organised by civil-society groups such as Mehr Demokratie. The coalition formed in 2021 by the SPD, Greens and FDP promised to bring citizens' assemblies into the Bundestag. On 10 May 2023 the Bundestag adopted a motion tabled by the three coalition groups and Die Linke to establish a citizens' assembly on "Food in transition: between private matter and state tasks". The CDU/CSU and AfD were not among the sponsors.

The topic was chosen to be both everyday and contested: food touches health, climate, animal welfare, farm incomes and personal freedom, and it had become a flashpoint in culture-war debates about state "paternalism".

How it is governed

• Mandate. The motion asked what citizens expect from the state in food policy, what consumers want to know about food and its origins, how healthy choices can be supported, what tax framework should shape food prices and how food waste can be curbed — focusing on measures the Bundestag can influence at federal level.
• Selection. In a multi-stage stratified lottery, 84 municipalities were first drawn at random. Their population registers produced 19,327 randomly chosen residents aged 16 or over, who received letters; 2,220 expressed interest. An algorithm composed 1,000 possible assemblies of 160 members, each matching the population by age, gender, region, municipality size and education, and — as the motion required — the share of vegetarians and vegans. On 21 July 2023 Bundestag President Bärbel Bas drew one of them, number 187, in a public lottery. The final assembly had 140 occasional or frequent meat-eaters, 16 vegetarians and 4 vegans, from 62 municipalities.
• Organisation. A new staff unit for citizens' assemblies in the Bundestag administration directed an external contractor. A scientific advisory board was nominated by the parliamentary groups, and associations from business and civil society were heard on the process design before deliberation began. Moderation was content-neutral; small-group deliberation was closed to the public, while the course of the proceedings and expert inputs were documented online.
• Process. The assembly opened on 29 September 2023 in the Paul-Löbe-Haus, worked through online sessions and in-person weekends, chose its own priorities — animal husbandry and welfare, labelling, and the affordability of food — and held its final votes on 14 January 2024. A recommendation passed with more than 50% "yes" votes; members then ranked the adopted recommendations.

Economy and public goods

The assembly was financed from the Bundestag's budget. Members received an allowance of €100 per in-person day and €50 per online session. The sources reviewed do not give a total cost. Several recommendations would have significant fiscal effects: free school lunches nationwide, VAT changes and an animal-welfare levy of roughly €0.40 per kilogram of meat, €0.02 per egg and €0.15 per kilogram of cheese, butter and milk powder.

Conflict and disputes

• Partisan ownership. The assembly was created on a motion of the governing coalition and Die Linke, without the CDU/CSU or the AfD, which left it open to being seen as the project of one majority on a topic with obvious regulatory implications.
• Contested measures inside the assembly. Members were divided on sugary drinks: a graded manufacturer levy won only 44.2% and a motion rejecting a steering tax 33.6%, so neither passed. The animal-welfare levy passed with the lowest share among the nine (70.8%).
• Non-binding status. The Bundestag states plainly that the recommendations do not bind its members.

Outcomes

The assembly handed its citizens' report to the Bundestag President and representatives of all parliamentary groups on 20 February 2024. Its nine prioritised recommendations, with "yes" shares, were:

An overarching recommendation on education passed with 85%. The report was debated in plenary on 14 March 2024 and referred to the Committee on Food and Agriculture, with several other committees consulted. The Bundestag documented the state of deliberation on each recommendation until June 2025; an evaluation was commissioned from the University of Wuppertal's institute for democracy and participation research and the polling firm Verian. The 20th Bundestag was then dissolved early, on 27 December 2024 at the Chancellor's request, and a new Bundestag was elected on 23 February 2025; none of the recommendations was binding, and whether the new Bundestag will continue the citizens' assembly programme was uncertain at the time of writing.

Lessons for institution design

1. Transparent lotteries build trust. Generating 1,000 compliant assemblies and drawing one in public made the final selection verifiable and hard to rig.
2. Parliament-owned assemblies need cross-party ownership. A body created by a coalition majority is vulnerable to changes of majority.
3. Measure support, not just adoption. Publishing yes, no and abstention shares, and the failed proposals, shows where public consensus is strong and where it is not.
4. Non-binding outputs need a follow-up procedure with deadlines; a committee referral alone does not guarantee an answer.

Further reading

• Bundestag, Drucksache 20/6709 (mandate)
• Bundestag, Drucksache 20/10300 (citizens' report)
• Bundestag web archive: Bürgerrat „Ernährung im Wandel“