Cantons of Switzerland it was widely seen as anti-EU rhetoric rather than a serious proposal. The motion was eventually dropped and not even examined by the parliament. Cantons of Switzerland The 26 cantons of Switzerland (, , , ) are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the Waldstätte. Two further major steps in the development of the Swiss cantonal system are referred to by the terms "Acht Orte" ("Eight Cantons"; between 1353 and 1481) and "Dreizehn Orte" ("Thirteen Cantons",during 1513–1798); they
Districts of Switzerland Districts of Switzerland In contrast to centrally organised states, in the federally constituted Switzerland each canton is completely free to decide its own internal organisation. Therefore, there exists a variety of structures and terminology for the subnational entities between canton and municipality, loosely termed districts. Most cantons are divided into "Bezirke" (German for districts, singular "Bezirk"). They are also termed "Ämter" (Lucerne, singular "Amt"), "Amtsbezirke" (Bern, "Amtsbezirk"), "district" (in French) or "distretto" (Ticino and part of Graubünden). The "Bezirke" generally provide only administration and court organization. However, for historical reasons districts in cantons Graubünden and Schwyz are their own legal