Eastern Swiss governments want to work more closely together
Published: Thursday, Jul 4th 2024, 09:20
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Members of the governments of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, St. Gallen and Thurgau signed a joint declaration on Thursday. They want to expand their cooperation. Among other things, annual meetings will be held for this purpose.
"We all benefit from a strong, networked Eastern Switzerland," said Susanne Hartmann (center), President of the Government of St. Gallen, at the media orientation in St. Gallen. They therefore want to work more closely together on strategically important topics.
Annual meetings of the governments are now planned, at which the fields of action for closer cooperation will be discussed and defined. One example of this is the establishment of the international Lake Constance region as part of the Swiss spatial concept.
Rivers do not respect cantonal borders
For the mayor of Ausserrhoden, Yves-Noël Balmer (SP), spatial planning and digitalization are among the topics that will be tackled jointly in the future. Joint resources could be built up and used for data protection. Another area is the prevention of natural hazards. There are no cantonal borders for streams and rivers.
Walter Schönholzer (FDP), President of the Thurgau cantonal government, emphasized that they are already working well together on many issues, better than is sometimes perceived from the outside.
However, closer cooperation is not possible everywhere. There are also areas where the conditions are too different. As an example, he cited hospital policy, where the two cantons of Appenzell and St. Gallen agreed on a joint hospital list, but Thurgau withdrew from the process.
According to Roland Inauen (non-party), the mayor of Innerrhoden, what is new is that the fields of action for cooperation are being sought in a targeted manner. Previously, this had been characterized by randomness. Analyzing where the potential lies is very important.
©Keystone/SDA
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