The Neuchâtel Grand Council is still opposed to the return of the accumulation, even partial, of mandates between the functions of municipal councilor and that of deputy. On Tuesday, he refused a bill from the commune of Val-de-Travers, which wanted up to two members of the same executive to sit in the cantonal Parliament.
In 2019, deputies banned the accumulation of mandates. They had estimated that the presence in the Grand Council of the entire Municipal Council of La Chaux-de-Fonds, with its commitment to the hospital file or to taxation, could have been a source of blockages.
>> Reread: The accumulation of mandates is over in the canton of Neuchâtel
Val-de-Travers requested that a maximum of two members of an executive from the same municipality be able to sit on the Grand Council. For her, “the remedy chosen by the cantonal legislature to limit the influence of certain municipalities within it is not necessarily a panacea and adjustments should be made to find a balance between the authorities, and especially to allow municipal powers and cantonal authorities to better understand the constraints and challenges of each person.
>> Read about it: Val-de-Travers no longer wants a firm ban on multiple mandates
Premature to go back
The vast majority of deputies nevertheless considered that the stability of the institutions took priority and that it was largely premature to go back. For Damien Humbert-Droz (PLR), the relationship between the municipalities and the Grand Council is perhaps healthier today. On the issue of geo-topographical charges, the debate was intense but certainly more calm than if there had been representatives of the municipal executives,” he illustrated.
At the time, “the lobbying of municipal councilors of La Chaux-de-Fonds was unacceptable, because the deputies represent the entire cantonal population and not a municipality”, recalled his party colleague Blaise Courvoisier.
“We are depriving ourselves of skills”
Eleven deputies (UDC, Vert-es or POP) were nevertheless favorable to the Val-de-Travers proposal. “We are depriving ourselves of the skills of committed people. In small towns, the range of candidates is not wide and representation can be altered,” argued Niels Rosselet-Christ (UDC) in vain.
For Christine Ammann Tschopp (Vert-es), “the municipal councilors provide welcome insight. Their absence creates a deficit in the debate”. And for the POP, “we must open the door to better representation of municipalities within cantonal institutions, which would improve synergies”, according to a text by Sarah Blum read by a party colleague.
Sustaining canton-commune relations
On the other hand, the deputies accepted by 61 yes, 31 no and six abstentions a motion from the commune of Val-de-Travers which asks for solutions to perpetuate, institutionalize or formalize the relations between the cantonal legislature and the communes.
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