Municipal mergers led to the disappearance of 33 Swiss communes in 2017, according SonntagsZeitung newspaper. Another 145 municipalities have plans to merge.
Those figures reflects a broader trend towards municipal amalgamations. The past ten years witnessed the merger of 500 municipalities, the newspaper wrote, citing official statistics.
The trend is most visible in the mountain regions “where the rate of emigration has intensified once again,” according to Reto Lindegger, director of the Association of Swiss Municipalities.
To ensure their survival, smaller municipalities or communes are banding together and merging into one. Some are going even further in a bid to boost their number of residents.
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Holidaymaker becomes village chief
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It took a headhunter to find a new local council leader in Tujetsch – a man who owns a holiday flat in the mountain village.
Following the example of Albinen in the region of Valais, the nearby municipality of Varen is offering conditional financial assistance to anyone who moves there.
Swiss communes are the lowest administrative division of Switzerland. They are governed by their own elected representatives and often enjoy considerable discretionary powers.
Communes can decide on matters of education, health, transport and public security. They also collect all taxes.
Macron will attend Swiss summit on Ukraine, says Zelensky
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French President Emmanuel Macron will attend the peace conference on Ukraine at the Swiss Bürgenstock resort next month, according to Volodymyr Zelensky.
Top politician tells ‘corrupt’ Eurovision to stay away from Bern
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A social media post by the president of Bern’s cantonal government critical of the Eurovision Song Contest has created waves and will be discussed in the cantonal parliament.
Swiss centre records over 200 victims of human trafficking
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Last year 317 people took part in a protection programme run by the Specialist Unit for Trafficking in Women and Women’s Migration (FIZ) in German-speaking Switzerland.
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The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and partners are opening a field hospital in southern Gaza on Tuesday.
Lack of smartphone sustainability in Switzerland hits environment
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Almost half of all Swiss citizens hang on to their old smartphones, tablets and laptops, according to the Federal Statistical Office.
Police clear out pro-Palestinian students protesting in Geneva
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The police intervened early on Tuesday to dislodge pro-Palestinian students who had been occupying the University of Geneva for almost a week.
New gel developed in Zurich renders alcohol harmless
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A newly developed gel composed of whey proteins breaks down alcohol in the body and could reduce its harmful and intoxicating effects in humans.
Pro-Palestine protests extend to Basel and Fribourg universities
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Demonstrators called for an academic boycott of all Israeli institutions and disassociation with Chaim Weizmann, the first Israeli president.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
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Refugees and locals learn to live together in Swiss town
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Bex was one of the first towns in the region to have an asylum seekers' centre and its foreign population is relatively high. So do people get along?
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Rheinau, a Swiss municipality in the outskirts of Zurich has decided to guarantee basic income to residents on a trial basis.
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Participation in town hall meetings has reached a new low, marking a 30-year decline in Swiss democracy at a local level. But all is not lost.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.