Does anyone know whats going on with the (presumably) illegal blocking of smaller border crossings? In our case at Soral and Sezegnin GE.
We live just the other side of the border from Sezegnin, but the locals seem to want us to drive all the way to St Julian to cross, then drive almost all the way back to Sezegnin to work!
We pay Swiss taxes and contribute a lot to the local culture, it's not as though we're just nipping across the border to visit.
I thought the bi-lateral agreements were supposed to open the borders, not close them!

Who's blocking them - local people? Is there some sort of dispute going on about people going shopping on one side vs the other and shops losing trade perhaps......


Gav

It seems to be villagers on the Swiss side objecting to the increased volume of traffic at certain times of the day, people who are just using the nearest crossing to where they live! These are centuries old crossing points.
Most of this "extra" traffic is caused by swiss nationals taking advantage of the bi-lateral agreements which allows them to live in France (cheaper housing), but work and/or attend Swiss schools.
There has been a lot of building around here over the past five years, some of the smaller towns are now surrounded by huge estates.
The border gates in Soral have been welded shut on several occasions and massive stones dragged across the road as well. On Monday, it was people handing out leaflets telling car drivers to use St Julian instead.
Sezegnin hasn't seen that sort of trouble, but there are rumours that the village wants the crossing closed.
It doesn't seem to be an economics problem, most people around here shop in Switzerland when there.

Ah, so a case of 'not in my back yard'. I can see where they are coming from but the fact is that the roads are public and people have legitimate business heading over the border.

Such a short sighted attitude is only going to hurt the locals in the end as if they suceed, local businesses will surely lose a lot of custom and the economy of the region will suffer.


Gav

As was pointed out at the start - this has got to be illegal?