The Liaison, Information and Support Centre for Associations with an Immigration Background (CLAE) believes it is time for a fundamental rethink of the role of civic engagement in Luxembourg. In the CLAE’s view, the aim should no longer be solely to fund associations or support approved service providers. The focus should now be on creating the conditions that enable citizens to organise themselves freely around a project, a cause or a need identified by civil society itself. In a manifesto published on 2 July, the organisation advocates the introduction of a national policy on community and civic engagement, designed to strengthen citizens’ ‘power to act’ rather than merely providing traditional support for voluntary work or authorised organisations.
According to the CLAE, public policies have gradually been developed around three pillars – volunteering, local associations and the sector operating under public contracts – which no longer reflect the diversity of forms of civic engagement. Citizens are now getting involved in collectives, informal initiatives or projects that extend beyond municipal boundaries, yet these new forms of participation do not receive sufficient recognition.
Bureaucracy discourages engagement
The organisation also highlights a trend it considers worrying: the increasing technocratisation of community life. Administrative, legal, accounting and regulatory requirements are multiplying to such an extent that ‘the figure of the community activist is giving way to that of the competent administrator’. This trend, it argues, discourages volunteers who lack both the time and the skills needed to cope with this administrative complexity. The CLAE sees this as a symptom of a state that imposes more restrictions than it fosters civic initiative – a trend that is profoundly altering the meaning of civic engagement by placing greater value on procedural expertise than on practical experience on the ground or the ability to mobilise citizens.
A future ministry of citizenship
To reverse this trend, the CLAE proposes that this new policy should form one of the cornerstones of a future Ministry of Citizenship. Its remit would include creating an environment conducive to the emergence of citizen-led initiatives, recognising all forms of engagement, supporting projects that arise directly from civil society, and promoting the skills acquired within the voluntary sector. The organisation also hopes that public funding will no longer rely exclusively on calls for proposals, which are considered ill-suited to the reality of many citizen-led initiatives.
More space and fewer restrictions
Beyond these principles, the CLAE has put forward a number of specific demands. It calls on the public authorities to open up public, local and semi-public facilities more widely to voluntary organisations in order to facilitate civic engagement. Whilst the venues exist, it argues that what is currently lacking is their accessibility.
The association is also calling for measures to streamline administrative procedures. It wishes to open a dialogue with the government on several obstacles faced by associations: the requirement to register their articles of association with a local authority, the specific constraints faced by associations recognised as being of public benefit, dealings with the Trade and Companies Register, and the difficulties encountered with banks. In its view, the accumulation of these formalities acts as a barrier to the development of community life and discourages citizens from getting involved.
Ultimately, the CLAE’s message goes beyond the issue of associations alone. The organisation is calling on the government to shift its approach to citizenship, moving away from a focus on supporting existing structures towards a policy aimed at sustainably strengthening citizens’ ability to organise themselves and to carry out projects of collective interest on their own initiative.
