Zurich cantonal parliament approves GZA contributions

On Monday, the parliament of the canton of Zurich approved the cantonal contributions to the Greater Zurich Area location marketing foundation in the amount of 8.4 million Swiss francs for the period from 2020 through to 2023. With a total of 108 votes in favor, there was a clear majority for this resolution.

“The strategy of the GZA has developed positively in recent years”, comments Beat Bloch, CSP Cantonal Council Member, on behalf of the advisory commission. He added that the GZA has operated successful, professional location marketing services and has generated a long-term tax base. It is only when the canton of Zurich is present in the field of international location marketing that the region can continue to act as the economic engine for Switzerland as a whole.

Andreas Geistlich, who offered congratulations to the GZA on behalf of the FDP parliamentary group, expressed a similar sentiment: “The GZA works in a focused and competent manner”, stated the Cantonal Council member for Schlieren. It forms a future-oriented, technological ecosystem, that is increasingly becoming the key to success against international competitors, he explains.

Bloch and Geistlich were able to refer to the new distribution formula. This had been requested by the cantonal parliament in 2015 and negotiated in 2019 with the other cantons that form the GZA. The new formula caps the contributions of the canton at 2.1 million Swiss francs. Up until now, the contribution had been calculated on a per capita basis of the population of the respective cantons.

A more comprehensive proposal from the SP failed on Monday. This demanded that the settlement success factor be taken into account when calculating the cantonal contributions. At the moment, the canton of Zurich pays the most, while the canton of Zug benefits as a recipient, commented Birgit Tognella-Geertsen, SP member of the Cantonal Council for Zurich, in justifying the proposed motion. It was rejected by the center-right majority.

The GZA’s budget totals 4.2 million Swiss francs per annum. Of this figure, private sponsors account for just over a quarter. Of the public sector contributions in the amount of 3 million Swiss francs, the canton of Zurich is responsible for a total of 2.1 million Swiss francs.