Positive Swiss experience with unification of small communes

The spending structure would change completely when 7% of the budget is used for the municipal administration. The public economy receives 11%, while most of the 28% budget goes to education and formation.

Frederic Mairy, Mayor of the Val De Travers Municipality, was invited in the local government conference in Tirana to share the transforming experience had by the municipality he leads.

In an interview for Top Channel, he gives a comment for the implementation of the territorial reform in Albania:

“I think it is a very ambitious reform. We also have had a cooperation process, but it was very slow. WE have aother process in Albania, which is taken from the central government. I think that this process is interesting, because it gives dynamics and tries to move things ahead faster than what we did in Switzerland. This is another method that could work”.

What changed for Val-De-Travers after small municipalities and communes united?

“It allowed us to get together. It may be easier to say it, but bigger we are stronger and more fulfilling. Before we were nine communes with small rivalries between each other, nothing serious, but that were not used to work together. Now that we have a municipality, we are stronger with the highest government levels, Cantons. We can only benefit by working together.

How long did it take for the nine communes to unite?

“The process went on for 20 years. It was very slow, casued by a difficult economic structure. Our region went through difficult years, with many failures, with a crisis that came from the watch production industry, which was very important for us.

This made it easier to move, but yet, it took 20 years. It was the contrary of what is happening in Albania. This process was against what is going on in Albania, which was similar to what we were used to. We don’t do things quickly and imposed from above. It was in accordance with our culture”.

When you united the nine communes, what were the benefits in the economic aspect, and what new services were there for citizens?

“I think that the biggest benefit was that unification made companies to come back to our region. The unification made us stronger and more able to offer better conditions to companies that were ready to come in our region. Even for the population, it allowed us to preserve the same level of services. We do not offer more services, but we offer the same things for the entire population. This means that before there were residents in some villages who were benefiting from some types of services, and there were residents from other villages who were receiving other kinds of services. Now they are all treated equally”.

Top Channel