Sander Sassen wrote that of the 70,000 people invited to the climate consultation, approximately 6 percent responded. According to him, a panel of 175 people was formed from that group through weighted lottery. He argued that participation in itself selected people based on interest and opinions, resulting in the panel not being a representative cross-section of the Netherlands. According to Sassen, the assignment was also limited beforehand: the consultation was not about whether climate policy should be implemented, but about its scope and ways in which the Dutch could eat, travel, and consume more climate-friendly. Documents requested through the WOO showed, according to him, that among others, Extinction Rebellion had provided input for the invitations, guiding principles, and knowledge panel. According to Sassen, critical experts were selectively fact-checked or neutralized. He concluded that the citizen consultation was therefore not a neutral democratic instrument but a process with a left-progressive and, in his view, even left-activist inclination. #Klimaatbeleid #Democratie #Feiten (translated)
