Special purpose municipality in Switzerland

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The special purpose municipality in Switzerland is a proposal for an economically oriented form of intermunicipal cooperation ( community cooperation ), which is based on the concept of the special community (e.g. school community, parish). Despite the name similarity, the new model of purpose differs community fundamentally from proven purpose association .

Special-purpose community as a new federal model

The municipality is described as a direct democratic or grassroots democratic , flexible, functional, transparent (also financial), economic, public corporation at the municipal level, with direct (also financial) responsibility of the authorities towards the citizens . It was developed in 1997 by Bruno S. Frey (University of Zurich) and Reiner Eichenberger (University of Freiburg) and is also propagated by them as a new federalism model .

Functional Overlapping Competing Jurisdiction (FOCJ) concept

The so-called purpose community is an application of the theoretical concept of focj , she was, among others, in 2003 / 04 in the Canton of Zurich , Switzerland's Constitutional Council and public consultation discussed. It is characterized by its four basic properties of the FOCJ term:

  • functional
  • overlapping
  • competitive
  • Jurisdictions with tax sovereignty and coercive power

It is suitable for intensive cooperation between municipalities on the basis of flexible, state-organizational principles ( direct democracy , autonomy , voluntariness). The municipality is autonomous and conclusively responsible within the framework of the tasks assigned to it by the laws and the citizens.

The purpose-built community should enable the communities to work flexibly and closely together without having to take the radical route of a community merger. In this way, the municipalities facilitate structural reforms at the municipal level and make them possible at all, since primarily undisputed existing synergy potentials are used in a targeted manner. This process-oriented reform approach represents an alternative to a static approach that is based on theoretically calculated community sizes.

Historical forms

In Switzerland , similar structures in the form of citizens , church , school and civil parishes have existed for a long time , which have proven themselves, which is also confirmed by empirical studies. The diversity of the municipalities in Switzerland is a strength; it reflects the diverse demands on today's state . This differentiated structure can, however, reach the limits of its capabilities for two reasons in particular: If inefficient mechanisms of financial equalization result in artificial fragmentation, municipal areas that are too small, suboptimal sizes and coordination incentives and if basic organizational principles are violated in the context of forms of inter-municipal cooperation . In addition, individual legal framework conditions aggravate the situation, if z. For example, there is compulsory residency for authorities, which can lead to a lack of capable offspring for municipal authorities.

Municipalities in cantonal constitutions

The special purpose municipality model has not yet been introduced by any canton and has never been tested in practice. Various cantons (Lucerne, Aargau, etc.) have expressly rejected the municipalities. Among other things, they fear a fragmentation of the community landscape combined with a weakening of the political community, a complication of the political structures, an overburdening of the voters as well as that the militia system would reach the limits and the financial equalization and the distribution of the tax substrate would hardly be solvable. Various cantons want to abolish structures similar to special-purpose communities (school or social communities).

As a compromise in the spirit of the advocates of special-purpose communities ( Carmen Walker Späh et al.), The new Zurich constitution contains provisions that allow traditional special-purpose associations , which are fundamentally different from special-purpose communities, to become special-purpose communities without naming the purpose-built community .

Article 92: Special Purpose Associations (Constitution of the Canton of Zurich)

  • In order to jointly fulfill one or more tasks, the municipalities can join forces to form special-purpose associations .
  • You can be obliged to do so if important public interests so require. The law regulates the procedure .
  • Special purpose associations are independent corporations under public law. They regulate their tasks and their organization in statutes .

See also

literature

  • Reiner Eichenberger: A fifth freedom for Europe: Strengthening political competition through 'FOCJ'. Economic Policy Journal, 1996
  • Claudia Wohlfahrtstätter: FOCJ - an alternative to the existing Swiss community structure . Diploma thesis, University of Zurich, 1996
  • Bruno S. Frey, Reiner Eichenberger: Competition among Jurisdictions: The Idea of ​​FOCJ . In: Lüder Gerken (Ed.), Competition among Institutions, London 1995
  • Andreas Ladner: Political communities, communal parties and local politics. An empirical study in the municipalities of Switzerland . Zurich: Seismo 1991
  • Constitution of the Canton of Solothurn 1986
  • Hannes Meyer: Changes in the existence of the communities . Dissertation, University of Zurich, 1978

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eichenberger, 1996
  2. ↑ Report and proposal of the government council to the Zurich Cantonal Council of June 18, 2008 on postulate KR no. 336/2005 concern the pilot project “Cooperation instead of centralization” within the framework of the agglomeration programs
  3. ↑ Opinion on the «purpose-built community model» for the new Zurich constitution in accordance with the proposal by Walker Späh / de Spindler (PDF)