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Barring an earthquake, the Concordat on the transfer of Moutier should pass the ramp this Sunday between Bern and the Jura. But the region is not stingy with earthquakes.
According to Valentin Zuber, member of the executive, the fact that his city could belong to the canton of Jura does not discourage investors. © Keystone
Published on 09/18/2024
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
“Above all, no overconfidence! The subject remains very emotional because we never know what voters put in the ballot box.” Responsible at the Moutier authorities level for ensuring that the transfer takes place without a hitch by 2026, Valentin Zuber fears cold water by keeping in mind the trauma of June 18, 2017.
A date synonymous with disappointed hopes for the pro-autonomy camp, after a first vote – where the yes vote had won by 51.7% for the attachment of Moutier to the Jura – had been invalidated. Reasons: electoral tourism and propaganda on the part of the pro-Jura authorities of Moutier deemed unacceptable by the Prefecture of the Bernese Jura.
On March 28, 2021, the population had re-voted under high surveillance in Moutier. And the yes had won hands down (54.9%), thus sealing a priori the Jura Question. Place this Sunday at the penultimate stage of this long process, before a final vote before the Federal Assembly in the first half of 2025.
Favorable dynamics
If the oracles predict a clear yes from voters in both cantons to endorse the terms of this transfer according to the planned arrangement, dissenting voices, notably from the UDC, are still criticising the process, predicting dark days in Moutier.
“A story that doesn’t make you dream,” he allowed himself on Monday in the “Debate” page of Jura daily newspaper one of the spearheads of the regional section of the UDC, Patrick Tobler. He mentions without naming them “future potential Jura state employees” who, according to him, would commit themselves “body and soul to new employers in the Bernese Jura”. Understand: for fear of living in a canton with financial problems.
“Many people still have an overly emotional approach to the problem”
Valentin Zuber
Son of Maxime Zuber, former mayor of Moutier for more than twenty years (1995-2016), Valentin Zuber, socialist and member of the city’s executive, dodges the issue: “I have seen or heard nothing to that effect.” Nor does anything seem to have reached him regarding an exodus of pro-Bern residents from 2026. “On the contrary, we have companies that want to come and set up their headquarters here,” he says.
He describes a favourable dynamic and speaks for example of a printing works established in the Bernese Jura village of Crémines, which decided to move with “the interest of coming to settle in the Jura”. He also mentions McDonald’s, which would like to set up in an industrial zone, a first in Moutier.
So what could cause both votes to fail? “Many people still have an overly emotional approach to the problem, who might want the current situation to continue, for example,” he fears. Questions of big money have also been brought into the campaign, because the concordat also regulates the financial aspects of the transfer: the Bernese Jura SVP fears “disproportionate costs.”
Split sectors
Valentin Zuber, who relies on the opinions expressed by the institutions and people consulted after the publication of the concordat, considers the agreement as well as the division of assets defined therein as “balanced”. He also adds that Moutier already owns part of the assets. “There does not seem to be any major blockage”, he notes. But he admits “that a better solution must be found in terms of financial equalization”.
“In a spirit of revenge, Berne refused to continue collaborations that worked well, to the detriment of the apprentices”
Valentin Zuber
Even if the Confederation gets involved. This concordat opens up this possibility since the federal mechanism does not provide for a change of territory between cantons. The consequence will be heavy for the Jura, which will not immediately receive its 2026 share of the cake, 65 million francs of shortfall.
Another problem: the reorganization of professional sectors (masonry, road construction, etc.) which will be split while apprentices from French-speaking Jura and Bern have been studying together until now. “In a spirit of revenge, Bern has refused to continue collaborations that worked well, to the detriment of apprentices,” he laments.
Culture is another bone of contention after the announcement at the beginning of the year that the subsidies granted by the Bernese Jura Council to five institutions in Moutier, including the Jura Museum of Arts and the Automatic Lathe Museum, would not be renewed beyond 2026, putting them in danger.
“Discussions are underway. There could be a favorable outcome quickly,” says Valentin Zuber, without saying whether the Jura alone or with other organizations will take up the torch. He is the right person to talk about it, sharing with Elodie Paupe the management of the Jura Office of Culture.
>The Mail
