Residents back industrial development plan

Auvernier is canton Neuchâtel's biggest wine-growing area. auvernier.ne.ch

The people of Auvernier in northwestern Switzerland have voted by a large majority to allow an area of vine-growing land to be converted to industrial use.

Approved by the local executive, the plan had met with resistance from many of the community’s 1,548 residents, who collected enough signatures to force Sunday’s referendum.

Thomas Fleiner, director of Fribourg University Institute of Federalism, told swissinfo the case was a good example of how direct democracy works in Switzerland.

The Swatch Group, the world’s number one watch manufacturer, wants to acquire the 9,176 square-metre plot of land for a new jewellery-manufacturing centre. The SFr10-million ($8-million) investment is expected to bring 500 new jobs to the area.

But the land is situated in canton Neuchâtel’s largest vine-growing area. Opponents argued that the plan would contravene the usual principles of land management in the region, setting a dangerous precedent.

swissinfo: What makes this case special?

Thomas Fleiner: What we are talking about here is zoning, an issue which each canton deals with slightly differently. But most of the time it is the local assembly or the citizens who have the last word.

If it is the residents who adopted the zoning plan, it is the residents who decide whether to make changes to it. This is one of the fundamental principles of Swiss constitutional law. The problem is that it is not always so easy to change these plans as they also have implications for property rights, for example.

We should also be aware that very few communes have the opportunity to decide on a very large industrial investment.

swissinfo: Do citizens have a say in all questions affecting the local community, or are there limits?

T.F.: It all depends on the canton. It is cantonal law which determines the rights of each citizen. There are some communes or cantons where citizens’ rights are more limited than in others, or greater than in others. For example, in some cantons the local residents would be forced to adopt the zoning plan.

In principle, the right to bring local referendums or people’s initiatives applies to all cantons, but the number of signatures required varies.

swissinfo: So, it’s not possible to generalise and say that the people have the same rights at the federal, cantonal and local levels?

T.F.: Not at all. The people have most rights at the local level, fewer at cantonal level and even fewer at federal level.

Within one canton the people have the same rights from one local community to the next. But there’s also the issue of how the local community is governed.

Sometimes it is the local parliament which takes over many of the citizens’ rights, while allowing them to call referendums. This applies particularly to the large communes. But overall there are more communes without their own parliament.

swissinfo: Are there some big issues that the local communities are called to pronounce on and others that they are generally not consulted over?

T.F.: It depends what we mean by “big issues”. The big issues are often the controversial ones. But sometimes little issues can cause a great deal of controversy and turn into “big issues”.

On the other hand, many very important questions are not debated at all. That is why it is very difficult to know who should decide what. It is a matter of public debate.

swissinfo-interview: Pierre-François Besson

Key facts

The number of communes, or local communities, in Switzerland is in constant decline.
Today there are around 2,900.
More than half of these have fewer than 1,000 inhabitants.
Just 4% have more than 10,000 inhabitants.
But these account for half the Swiss population.

In brief

On Sunday the people of Auvernier voted by 700 to 228 to allow an area of vine-covered land (9,176 m2) to be converted to industrial use.

The local executive had given its approval but the citizens gathered enough signatures to force a referendum.

The Swatch Group wants to build a centre for manufacturing and training on the site.