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Geneva, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – The WTO (World Trade Organization) building extension, a source of heated debate for months, was sparked anew Wednesday when Geneva’s municipal council, or parliament, discussed at length its likely impact on the city. The heart of the debate is the need, according to left-wing councilor Rémy Pagani, for the WTO to swallow part of the lakefront city park in order to meet security standards set by the United Nations.

Some other councilors disagree, including Socialist Sandrine Salerno. Salerno is responsible for the city’s urban planning programme, a council post she took over after the council prised it away from Pagani. She argues that the WTO and the city are currently negotiating details of the extension and should be allowed to get on with this, while Pagani is suggesting that Geneva should be asking the UN to protect the lakefront and its parks as part of the World Heritage sites programme.

The issue is particularly contentious because, while it is technically a municipal matter, the extension of the WTO is financed largely by the Swiss Confederation, which is anxious to see work move ahead on the CHF137 million project. The canton, too, is involved because it has a stake in ensuring that international organizations remain in Geneva. The WTO, for its part, wants work to get started because its need for more space is already pressing: it has 810 employees working in two parts of the city but expects to have 1,200 within eight years and double the current number in 30 years.