Swiss Talk Tough Hard Line As Blacklist Threat Looms!

The Swiss government is determined to protect historical banking secrecy, but both the U.S. and the EU are on the warpath — posing a threat to a key plank of the Alpine country's economy.

Switzerland is taking a hard line...even threatening to withdraw financing from the International Monetary Fund! This is getting really interesting!!

www.washingtonpost.com...

This country may be politically neutral, but the Swiss are girding for battle to protect one of their most cherished values: banking secrecy...

President Hans-Rudolf Merz, who is also the country's finance minister, predicted a domestic political revolt if Switzerland is blacklisted. "This would cause very, very violent reactions in our country," he said...

"We have a tradition of privacy. I don't want the state to sniff into my bank accounts as long as I'm paying my taxes correctly," he said. "I personally feel that we are mature persons and we behave in a reasonable way, and as long as we do so, we should not be followed by state authorities, like George Orwell described in '1984.' "...

Many lawmakers and bankers said that pressure had been building for years on Switzerland but that the global financial crisis gave other countries an excuse to turn the screws.
"We're in an economic war," said Pierre Mirabaud, chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association. "The whole question is about dividing market share among important financial centers. When the whole cake becomes smaller, the fight among financial centers becomes more fierce."...

Hans Kaufmann, a federal legislator and member of the Swiss People's Party, said Switzerland will take a hard line. If the country does not get its way, he said, it could withdraw financing from the International Monetary Fund or European institutions.

Related ATS Threads:

Swiss Right Wing calls for Retaliation!

Bank Secrecy Faces Coordinated Global Assault!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/cc7bba641f45.jpg[/atsimg]

Now the Swiss will fight it out over the next months and years no doubt on the political battlefield. The only way that this really goes against the Swiss currently is if the blacklist is applied, but the Swiss government will probably do what is necessary to ensure as much as possible that it is not. In fact, it looks as if the next step the Swiss are mulling is to further differentiate the Swiss model from others. The article itself states, the following: The ASB said however that in renegotiating taxation agreements with nations such as Britain and the United States, Switzerland should demand action in return on certain territories of these countries which it views as tax havens.

www.gold-speculator.com...

I hope they stick it to those scumbags globalists. Even Hitler didn't invade Switzerland because of the cost vs gain it would have... So go ahead EU, just try your BS.

Right now Switzerland is the best country in Europe, all others are globalists puppets and going towards dictatorship.

If you want real secrety, start with the Cayman Islands, then MAYBE we can believe you want the real criminals to justice, until then, STFU.

I hope Switzerland does not buckle (I have a feeling they would.) Remember that most of their customers are from the US and EU.

Support the Swiss! Buy Toblerone!

We've already been sold out by our globalist-supporting left-wingers.
A few days ago a letter was intercepted that was written by Bundesrätin Calmy-Rey. It was directed towards the OECD and contained encouragement to end the Banking secrecy / privacy. Since then, there's been some tension in our upper-echelon administration

But frankly, what can we do? We depend so much on the EU for everything from food to everything else, we will fold like the proverbial Swiss Army Knife and abandon our Banking policies.
Do I like it? No.
Can I do something against it? Uhm... no.

Swordbeast...do you have a link for that information...sounds so juicy!

The Swiss are going to resisit as long as they can...

Switzerland will keep defending its strict banking secrecy after making some concessions but expects more pressure from a global crackdown on tax havens due to the economic crisis, a minister said on Thursday.

Swiss Economy Minister Doris Leuthard made the comments in a speech in Zurich as the G20 summit in London announced it wanted to fight tax havens that did not share information.

uk.reuters.com...

reply to post by Swordbeast


Tell me more about this...

Bundesrätin Calmy-Rey. It was directed towards the OECD and contained encouragement to end the Banking secrecy / privacy. Since then, there's been some tension in our upper-echelon administration

[edit on 5-4-2009 by burntheships]

so the swiss benefit from tax cheats in the U.S and europe just like other haven's like in the cayman's do.......ONLY the swiss have the decadance to frame the argument that this is part of their Banking legacy.....secrecy...sure well in that case.....carry along......LOFL

F%$K em all......the rat's are fighting each other for a smaller piece of the pie

[edit on 5-4-2009 by cpdaman]

Originally posted by cpdaman
so the swiss benefit from tax cheats in the U.S and europe just like other haven's like in the cayman's do.

Of course...you know the elite have to have somewhere to hide thier money...they are not ever going to be on a level playing field with the common man. The Vatican keeps account in Switzerland too...

It looks as if the Swiss were (for now) able to appease the powers that be (G20) and avoice being blacklisted by simply adding a few promises...other smaller tax havens were not so lucky...

The Philippines was among four nations blacklisted as uncooperative tax havens yesterday after Group of 20 leaders declared the age of banking secrecy was over and said they would no longer tolerate shady havens draining away badly needed tax revenue.

At the request of the G20 summit of rich and developing nations, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) named the Philippines, Uruguay, Costa Rica and the Malaysian territory of Labuan as the worst offenders, saying they had refused to adopt new rules on financial openness.

Leaders had agreed to name and shame the countries that refuse to exchange tax information, which could result in tough sanctions – including the withdrawal of financing by the World Bank or International Monetary Fund.

“The time of banking secrecy has passed,” French President Nicholas Sarkozy said following the summit. “Everyone around the table wants an end to tax havens. Everyone knows we need sanctions.”

The announcement reflects mounting concern that banking secrecy in tax havens has helped to worsen the economic crisis by disguising the true value of some global assets. Anti-poverty activists say such places provide corrupt officials places to stash illicit funds, often depriving poor nations of needed resources.

The OECD has divided countries into three categories: those who comply with rules on sharing tax information, those who say they will but have yet to act and nations which have not yet agreed to change banking secrecy practices.

Switzerland and Liechtenstein, which both have strong banking secrecy traditions, said last month they would adopt international rules on tax cooperation and were ready to comply with G20 demands.

ph.news.yahoo.com...

reply to post by burntheships


Sorry for not checking back earlier.
Here are some links about Calmy-Rey's letter to the OECD general secretary Angel Gurría:
Bluewin News
20 Minutes
additional report on 20 Minutes

The links are in german; it's hard to find relevant sources for this particular topic since the letter was never actually sent and it did only cause some internal trouble, nothing that would be worth of international headlines. Seemingly, the letter contained praise for the work of the OECD in general, that included the offensive against "tax-havens" but never related to the blacklist or graylist directly.

As seen on aseanaffairs.com, Calmy-Rey also defended Switzerland and called the gray list "political", not "objective":

Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey criticised the OECD list on Tuesday, saying it was not based on objective criteria. She also complained that countries that, in her view, had shown various degrees of commitment to international data transparency standards were put on the same list as Switzerland. "The criteria (behind the list) are political... There is no qualitative criteria," she told on Swiss television...

Additional information on Yahoo