Swiss rule out Savings Tax referendum

The Swiss finance minister said recently that Switzerland was on course to implementing the EU Savings Tax Directive and that the issue would not be put to the people.

Speaking after a meeting with EU finance ministers, Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz announced that final parliamentary approval would be necessary, but that a referendum was ruled out.

Dutch finance minister Gerrit Zalm said: The Swiss minister made up happy by informing us that everything was well underway with the savings agreement and he did not expect a referendum in Switzerland on this issue, so that was a very comfortable communication on his part. Holland currently holds the EU presidency.

The agreement, reached after years of tough negotiations with Switzerland, was supposed to have taken effect on January 1 next year.

But its implementation is now unlikely before July 1 at the earliest, in part because of the lengthy approval process required in Switzerland. A popular vote among Swiss citizens could have set back the date even further.

The EU has been striving to force through a law designed to recoup tax revenues from secret bank accounts held elsewhere by its citizens.

Under the deal, the Swiss government has agreed, along with a clutch of other savings havens, to exchange bank account details on EU citizens who keep accounts in its territory.