Clear yes from the Bernese Grand Council to the Moutier Concordat
Published: Wednesday, Mar 6th 2024, 15:00
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The Bernese Grand Council has given a clear yes to the concordat that regulates the modalities of Moutier's change of canton. On Wednesday, it approved the agreement by 112 votes to 19 with 26 abstentions. The people will have the final say in September.
Several speakers at Bern City Hall paid tribute to the "historic moment". After 211 years with the canton of Bern, Moutier will be able to switch to the Jura on January 1, 2026 as desired.
This may be painful for Bern, but it could draw a line under a centuries-old conflict. However, not all wounds have healed in the region.
The canton of Bern would be less diverse and less francophone without Moutier, noted Christoph Grupp from the Green Party. However, the voters of Moutier had opted for the change in 2021 - and "our task is to make the transition as smooth as possible".
The concordat is a typical Swiss compromise, said SP spokesperson Ulrich Egger. It was something to be proud of.
Settling the conflict at last
Rejecting the concordat would not help anyway, said Tom Gerber (EPP). It would simply lead to renegotiations on the treaty without changing anything about Moutier's intentions. If the process was brought to a conclusion now, the legal issue would finally be settled.
Whether this is really the case remains to be seen, said Simon Buri (GLP). It was to be hoped that future generations would treat each other with respect.
One of the no votes came from Virginie Heyer (FDP) from Bern-Jura. She said it was unacceptable for a canton to simply open its borders and allow a municipality to leave. "A government must defend its territory." She also had no illusions that the Jura conflict would really be resolved with the concordat.
"Poorly negotiated"
There were also voices in the debate saying that the canton of Bern had negotiated poorly. In addition, the canton of Jura had made promises, for example regarding new jobs in Moutier, which it might not keep for financial reasons.
However, the French-speaking deputation in the Grand Council also supported the concordat - by 9 votes to 4 with 2 abstentions. The SVP of the canton of Jura was against it.
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