Communal groupings
Despite its 300 municipalities, Vaud has no more mergers projects
After two unions submitted to the vote this fall, there are no other marriages in sight. The 2026 elections could relaunch the machine.
On Sunday, September 22, 2024, the three municipalities of the Joux valley (the abbey, the place, the Chenit) agreed to unite their destiny. Apart from a few projects that remain to confirm, there are not many vocations in the 300 municipalities that remain in Vaud country.
24 hours/Marie-Lou Dumauthioz
- Since the entry into force of the Vaud Constitution of 2003 and incentive measures, more than 30 new municipalities have been born from a merger.
- While two weddings are still in the hands of voters at the end of September, other projects are not on the agenda.
- Once the last mergers have been put in place, Vaud will go below 300 municipalities, which remains a very large number in the eyes of the cantonal delegate to mergers of communes, Laurent Carchod.
From the 1stis January 2027, the Joux valley will only beOne and the same municipality. And if the merger is size – 163 km² of area covering the Chenit, the place and the abbey -, it has not really aroused vocations. The list of weddings in preparation in the canton of Vaud is soon empty.
Among the municipalities that are still in the ranks, GIMEL, Saint-Onet and Saubraz are just a small step to unite, just like the thousand souls of Mathod and suscedo. The five villages are called to the polls on Sunday, September 28. And if the inhabitants vote like their elected officials, the case will be quickly heard.
Last to decide on such a project in the canton, the Plenums of the Hauts in the district of Morges have largely acclaimed the idea of cleaning three. Syndic of Saint-Onet, Catherine Lehmann also greets a very great citizen mobilization: “We have around 30 members at the General Council, but that evening, around forty people came to be sworn in to vote!”
The municipalities are watching for the elections
This is not a detail, because sleep – which is accompanied by complex technical documents – presents the risk of remaining a matter of initiates, in clear, “the thing” of the authorities.
This is why the population must not only validate the Union in the ballot boxes, but also – if possible – to appropriate it. “Much more than the final result for or against the merger, the central issue is really that all the inhabitants can express themselves, because it is a subject which concerns absolutely everyone,” continues Catherine Lehmann. In case of yes, the “birth” of the merged town – which will be called Gimel – will be formalized at 1is January 2027.
On its websitewhich has not been updated for a year and a half, the canton lists the path traveled, 35 validated projects if the last two pass the ramp on September 28. And after? Advantage discussions may well take place here and there. But to date, no concrete file has been filed on the office of the “Monsieur Fusion” Vaudois, Laurent Curchod.
This one does not particularly move it. “We must already salute what has been done in this context, with new entities of a certain importance if one thinks of the Valley of Joux, Skinemor, Chavornay or Montaire for example. It is logical to observe a stoppage time today when we enter a period of municipal elections. It is not now that a municipality will launch a merger project. ”
The municipality of Hautemorges completes its first complete legislature with the seven same municipalities, which is rare enough to be underlined. However, they will go from five to seven from the next legislature.
Journal
The argument can be understood, but in several municipalities, the process was not necessarily modeled on a legislature in the strict sense of the term. He finds his source more in an impulse, a discussion between elected officials or obviousness, when three or four villages already share almost everything – including the money spent – on the grounds of intercommunality.
Vaud has not finished with the mergers
Laurent Carchod is convinced that the movement is underway. “It is a bottomless well and it is not about to be filled. The trigger is precisely the renewal of the authorities, scheduled for July 2026, or the financial surface which, at a given moment, puts them in the face of realities. Once all the projects in progress are in place, we are going to go from 300 to 294 municipalities, which means that there are a certain number of mergers to put on the table. ”
Only the canton of Bern has more localities, Vaud being a little narrow, between large cities like Lausanne and Yverdon and smaller goods which could be titillated by the aids which are still in force. “The law provides for an incentive for the study of the merger and financial aid, once the vote is validated, which corresponds to a range of approximately 900,000 francs for the case of Gimel. But we realize that money is by far the engine of such a fundamental project, ”notes Laurent Carchod.
Given the situation, it will therefore be interesting to see if some Elections candidates In municipalities of medium importance – where there is usually no real campaign – present themselves by brandishing the merger project in presentation evenings.
“The Vaudois week”
Find most of the news of the canton of Vaud, every Friday in your mailbox.
Other newsletters
Did you find an error? Please report it to us.
