The canton of Aargau has one of the strictest naturalization laws in Switzerland.
With the existing cantonal law, taking into account federal law, a “constitutional exercise of discretion” can continue to take place, the government council wrote in the statement published on Friday.
Large councilors from the ranks of the center and SVP demand in a motion that the extract from the criminal record visible to the cantonal naturalization authorities should no longer contain any entry at all. According to applicable law, the extract must not contain any entry of convictions for felonies or misdemeanors. The large councils want to achieve further similar tightening.
They responded by demanding an appeal decision from the cantonal administrative court. The court ruled in October that a young foreigner should be naturalized against the will of parliament. Parliament rejected the request in June by 74 votes to 50 because the now 18-year-old had committed three shoplifting transactions worth CHF 122.90.
“Unsustainable” and “almost arbitrary”
The decision of the Great Council turned out to be “unsustainable” overall, the administrative court held. The decision was to be classified as “almost arbitrary”. Contrary to Parliament’s findings, the complainant had not given sufficient reason to justify the refusal of the request.
The Government Council states on the motion of SVP and Mitte that the funding could lead to “a legal basis being created that may not be applied in practice due to the conflicting constitutional law (proportionality and legal equality)”.
At the same time, the government council recalls the practice of the Federal Supreme Court. According to this, the cantonal and communal authorities may assign a certain weighting to individual criteria when assessing integration.
Focusing on a single criterion inadmissible
Overall, however, the assessment must remain balanced and must not be based on a clear imbalance in the appreciation of all relevant aspects. Focusing on a single criterion is inadmissible – unless this is of decisive importance in itself, such as a serious criminal offence.
The government council is ready to better adapt the cantonal naturalization law to federal law. There are provisions that are not optimal. So far, however, this has not led to “major problems”. In the case of contradictions, federal law applies.
However, the cantonal parliament rejected this adjustment to federal law in 2017 after the law had been first discussed. The government council now wants to examine everything carefully and write a report.
This approach also meets the wishes of the municipalities. These have repeatedly demanded that after a “certain legislative hectic pace”, stability should now be the priority. The municipalities stated that the adjustments always involved greater effort and additional sources of error. (SDA)