Address of the Speaker of the House of Representatives Hon. Rachid Talbi El Alami at Opening of the Seminar on Participatory Democracy

Honorable Representatives,

Distinguished representative of the European Union,

Distinguished experts,

Distinguished international partners,

Esteemed representatives and officials of civil society bodies,

I am pleased to meet once again the representatives of civil society as part of the tradition initiated by the House of Representatives for some years now, following the provisions of the Constitution of the Kingdom and in order to entrench the openness policy that we have adopted out of the conviction of its importance in enriching institutional democracy.

I want to welcome you, each in his capacity, and welcome our partners in the international cooperation programs, including the representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, who joined us in the organization of this Seminar, the European Union, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute, the World Bank, and the Open Government Partnership Initiative. Such a varied and dense presence reflects the respect given to the legislative institution and the trust in the ambitious and unique reforms conducted by our country under the wise leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may Allah glorify him, with determination and resolution, to consolidate the State of institutions within a framework of pluralism, freedom, dialogue, and consensus.

Ladies and gentlemen, ours is the case of a deep-rooted Moroccan democratic model built on the accumulation of reforms. For this purpose, it has provided the constitutional framework, laws, institutions, and mechanisms that facilitate its sustainability, strength, and resilience.

The civil society bodies that have joined us today are only a representative sample of the Moroccan civil society, which includes more than 200,000 associations that operate in various areas of public life all over the Kingdom of Morocco. Such spatial and thematic diversity of civil society and the dynamic it features are conclusive proof of the cultural and civic richness and pluralism in Morocco, which, in turn, is a glaring reflection of the freedom of organization, initiative, and orientation that is commensurate with the partisan pluralism and richness of the political scene, national partisan fabric, and plurality of its political and ideological backgrounds.

This partisan, cultural, and civic pluralism immersed in our unified national identity is, for sure, portrayed by a free, pluralistic, and critical press of diverse political, ideological, and journalistic backgrounds that has always marked our national life regardless of the circumstances and contexts. It is indeed a capital and a reality of which we are proud.

Another reason to be prouder of our constitutional and institutional model is the commitment of the supreme law of the nation to constitutionalize the position, roles, rights, and obligations of civil society, whether in matters related to participatory and citizen democracy, the orientation of the initiatives of citizens in this area, or the contribution to the elaboration, implementation, and evaluation of decisions and projects of elected institutions. To put this into practice, our country has adopted organic laws on participatory democracy, namely two organic laws on petitions and motions on legislation addressed to the national, regional, and territorial elected and executive bodies.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I apologize for dedicating such a big chunk of this address to recalling these facts. However, I believe that the context, the willful ignorance by some people of our institutional model and democratic construction, our national duty, and our institutional responsibilities compel us to make such a reminder so that the campaigns of confusion and calumny would meet their end and reason would reign in relations between partners.

The organization of this Seminar with civil society bodies on the implementation of participatory and citizen democracy in its aspect of presenting petitions and motions to elected and executive bodies is part of the openness and involvement policy adopted by the House, following the provisions of the Constitution and its pledges under the Open Government Partnership Initiative, within which our country enjoys a remarkable position.

Today’s event is the third of its kind during the ongoing legislative term, following the one organized on June 22, 2022, and the African gathering in Marrakech in early November 2022, during which the House of Representatives organized a distinguished day that featured the participation of representatives of Moroccan civil society, more than 400 African civil society bodies, and 13 African parliaments.

Today’s event is also the fifth of its kind since the promulgation of the two organic laws on petitions and motions on legislation, following the ones held respectively on May 23, 2019, and February 25, 2020. This same hall witnessed, on December 21-22, 2022, a rich debate with an essential and prominent partner of civil society bodies as it hosted a seminar on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the National Dialogue on Media and Society. During the said seminar, we invited journalism and press bodies to discuss the state of the profession and reform prospects to provide adequate conditions to adapt the profession to the new societal contexts. In this respect, there is no doubt that the mission and role of the press and media complement the functions of civil society and its field actions, as their common goal is involvement, participation, integration, community service, and consolidation of public action, given its objectives of granting rights and commitment to compliance with obligations.

Ladies and gentlemen,

During all said meetings, we exchanged numerous thoughts and suggestions that can all be summarized under one question: How to enable civil society to enrich democracy, assume its roles, exercise the rights granted to it by the Constitution and relevant laws, and orient the initiatives of citizens in the area of petitioning public and representative authorities, and submitting motions on legislation to the legislative branch?

We must be frank and acknowledge that the current achievements in this area do not amount to the level of the common national aspiration. Beyond that, it does not even reflect the dynamic, strength, and contributions of Moroccan civil society that has been characterized over the years by its inputs to enriching the cultural scene, embodying diversity, achieving development, reinforcing social and solidarity economy, and defending human rights, not forgetting about its contribution to preserving the Moroccan identity and national awareness in the face of occupation.

Nonetheless, although the roles have changed amidst the current social context, the objectives and stakes remain the same, namely the consolidation of institutional construction, reinforcement of trust, shaping of the human element, and solidifying social cohesion. Therefore, we must all utilize the rights granted by the Constitution and the relevant laws to civil society to achieve the goals mentioned earlier. We must seize this opportunity to address the challenges that inhibit the national record in participatory democracy and the role of civil society in its implementation from reaching the desired level. We must all work hand-in-hand to overcome these challenges.

In this respect, I believe there are five main challenges that we must overcome in order to achieve the objectives of the Constitution and national laws in terms of putting civil society bodies and participatory democracy at the core of the constitutional structure.

The first challenge concerns the procedures and requirements for the eligibility of petitions and legislative motions in terms of form, especially concerning the required documents, the number of signatories to the petition or motion, and their geographical dispersal.

On this matter, I believe that the amendments introduced to Organic Laws 44-14 and 64-14 in 2021 are the start of more reforms that we can agree on to facilitate the procedures further, and probably initiate a national dialogue on possible amendments and adopt a law on public dialogue to regulate the first steps in the path of national initiatives.

The second obstacle regards the qualifications required in the drafters of the citizen initiative of a petition or motion, knowing that no one denies the creative energies of the Moroccan civil society that only needs an exercise that awakens its powers and potential, and transforms them into acts and skills.

On this note, I believe that launching the institutional training and workshops program would help achieve this goal. For this purpose, the House of Representatives will work with foreign partners to launch this program as part of implementing its pledges under the Open Government Partnership Initiative.

The third impediment is the management of communication between civil society bodies, on the one hand, and the institutions concerned with petitions and legislative motions, on the other. However, I consider this a false impediment, or more of a psychological problem than a material one, an issue that we must overcome by prioritizing the Constitution's objectives and recalling society's interests.

The fourth matter is the exploitation of information in the best manner, particularly legislative information, and the utilization of information technologies for this purpose. The contribution to legislation through commentary or proposition of amendments to the government or parliamentary bills undergoing the legislation procedure, and the identification of the matters that fall under the law and the ones that fall under the regulation are all bricks to build citizen initiatives in terms of form and content, in compliance with the law of course.

In this regard, I believe that institutional portals enclose enough reference content and guides that clarify the procedures and would help in the elaboration of eligible and effective initiatives.

The fifth difficulty is the efficiency of choosing the content of the citizen initiative (petition or legislative motion), meaning its relevance to societal needs, respect of competence, avoidance of conflict of interest, and the prevention of any personal or categorical tendency. Such matters are usually settled when each actor recognizes its prerogatives and boundaries, meaning the prerogatives of parties and the ones of civil society.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In the House of Representatives, as Speakership, Board, and Chairpersons of the Parliamentary Groups and Caucus, we have always been keen to provide the adequate framework for receiving citizen initiatives, starting from regulating such a practice in the provisions of the Rules of Procedure of the House, creating the Petitions Committee that involves representatives of the Majority and the Opposition, and appointing a Unit within the Administration of the House in charge of the matter. Besides, we are currently developing a digital platform to manage the petitions and motions addressed to the House.

Our collective desire is to give new impetus to participatory and citizen democracy, especially in its aspect related to petitions and motions, so that civil society assumes the roles of orienting citizens' initiatives in a way that enriches representative institutional democracy. We also desire that the relevant laws have a tangible impact on implementing these constitutional rights, hence having a positive effect on the trust in institutions.

For this purpose, I invite you, through your dialogue and interaction with the representatives of the legislative institution today, and in the future, to provide us with your suggestions at the earliest convenience regarding what you deem necessary for giving new impetus to participatory democracy in terms of training, orientation, procedures, courses, communication, or outcomes.

On another note, to entrench our openness to comparative foreign practices, we have among us experts from European countries. In this vein, I invite you to interact with the presentations they will give on practices in their countries, especially since each country has its particular political, constitutional, and institutional context, and its democratic and institutional traditions, and taking into consideration that the rights granted by the Constitution of the Kingdom and the relevant laws are very advanced and liberal, similarly to the other rights granted in all different life areas.

To conclude, I would like to recall that what distinguishes our democratic and institutional model are the roles and positions granted to civil society and participatory and citizen democracy. As I recall that it would never replace institutional democracy that derives its legitimacy from the elections, being a reflection of the people's will expressed via ballots, I would still like to stress that one of the criteria of democracy in the 21st century is openness to citizens and involvement of civil society, given the closeness, spatial extent, and vigilance that characterize its presence and action.

I welcome you again and wish your works full success.