BERN, SWITZERLAND – Data privacy concern is increasingly raising its head in US-Swiss talks over taxes, visas and banking. The latest incident is linked to Switzerland’s decision to continue participating in the US visa waiver programme.
Parliament will have its say in US data demands for visa waiver programme
The Swiss Federal Council Wednesday 1 February made it clear it intends to move ahead with negotiations with the US in order to remain in the US visa waiver programme. Switzerland has been part of the programme since 1986 but in October 2009 the US announced that partners in the programme would have to observe two new rules, says Bern. They were told that “partner countries will be required to increase police cooperation. This will entail the conclusion of agreements about the automatic exchange of DNA and fingerprint data to prevent and to combat serious crime (PCSC) and the exchange of data about known and suspected terrorists.”
Swiss media and politicians have been speculating in recent weeks that the US has been pressuring the Swiss government to agree to the new rules and that, given Switzerland’s penchant for privacy and data protection, the Swiss government would refuse. Some 340,000 Swiss travel to the US every year and the visa waiver programme means they can visit as a tourist for up to three months without first obtaining a visa.
But Bern now says it plans to go ahead with the negotiations, noting, however, its own ground rules. The US “requires that two agreements in the security area should be finalized. The Federal Council has instructed the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) to formulate a negotiation mandate in this area. Parliament and the Cantons will be consulted before the final granting of the mandate. Data protection aspects will be duly taken into account in the negotiation of the agreements.”
Double taxation treaty talks bring up data release questions
Bern gives green light to send thousands of e-mails, but they remain encrypted
The sensitive issue comes up just as the lower house of parliament’s tax commission announced, 31 January, that Swiss President and Finance Minister, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf had brought it up to date on US-Swiss double taxation treaty negotiations. Details were not provided except to say that the discussion covered interpretations of “judicial assistance”, a sticking point in the negotiations, and “recent demands by the US”, without elaborating on these.
Swiss-German public radio DSR reported, however, that some 4 to 6 million e-mails, mainly correspondence about banks’ commercial affairs, were being offered to the US by at least some of the 11 banks currently under investigation by the US Department of Justice—but that the correspondance is encrypted and will not be decrypted until the two countries reach an agreement. The e-mails contain the names of client advisers. The banks are suspected by the US government of helping US citizens evade taxes.
Encryption until “global solution” found
Spokesperson Roland Meier of the Federal Finance Department then confirmed to journalists the information published by DSR. He noted that until a “global solution” is found with American judicial authorities, names that are encrypted may not be released unless a legal request is made to Swiss authorities, repeating what Widmer-Schlumpf said on television, “We will only decode when we have found a solution with the United States on all the banks that are under discussion.”
A legal request would need to respect the existing Swiss-US treaty and specifically state that the actions of the person whose information is being requested is punishable under both Swiss and US law. Details, TSR, French
Analysis, in French: Martin Naville, president of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, analyzed the situation in a video interview with RSR radio, “Les choses ont changé” (6 minutes, free but registration required)
Switzerland’s vocal Americans joined by even louder Canadians
Americans in Switzerland, meanwhile, are expressing growing concern about their ability to maintain bank accounts for their daily living expenses, mortgages and pensions, with Swiss banks growing more wary of them as clients given US demands for information. A particular sticking point is the Fatca (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) law that starting in 2014 will penalize financial institutions around the world that don’t comply by revealing the accounts of US persons to the IRS and collect tax withholdings for the IRS from them.
Switzerland’s Americans were some of the first US citizens abroad to become aware of the problem, because of Swiss data protection issues and US efforts to obtain information from Swiss banks. But Americans living in Canadai are becoming increasingly vocal in their resistance to US efforts to obtain data. The larger US expat community in Canada recently formed the Isaac Brock Society, named after Sir Isaac Brock, who prepared Canadians for war with the United States and gave his life in repelling a US invasion in 1812, according to their site.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Parents sharing custody of children no matter what their marital state moved a step closer to becoming Swiss law last week when the legal commission of the lower house voted with no opposition in favour of an upper house commission motion to change the law. Custody today is assigned to one or the other or in some cases both parents, in case of divorce.
The Federal Council gave the proposal its backing in November, but it needs the vote of parliament to become law. The lower house commission will now hear arguments about details to the recommended law, before the lower house votes.
It is as yet unclear when the modifications might become law, as they wend their way through the Swiss legislative system.
Changes to the law covering child support are expected to follow, but in a second phase.
Background story, GenevaLunch, 17 November 2011
Swiss Federal Council and chancellor, 2012
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The new Swiss Federal Council, the country’s governing body of seven ministers, also sometimes referred to as the cabinet, moved into place 1 January, with Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf as president of the council and the country. The president’s post is traditionally a revolving one-year job, with parliament voting in the new leader.
Each of the councilors is responsible for a federal department. The chancellery is responsible for the administrative work for the council as well as for the government as a whole and it has responsibility for informing the population about government affairs.
Photo, left to right: Johann N Schneider-Ammann, Economic Affairs; Didier Burkhalter, Foreign Affairs; Ueli Maurer, Defence, Civil Protection and Sport; President Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, Finance; Doris Leuthard, Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications; Simonetta Sommaruga, Justice and Police; Alain Berset, Home Affairs; Corina Casanova, Chancellery.
Economy minister Johann Schneider-Ammann re-elected
UDC now fighting for Calmy-Rey’s seat, its last chance to add a party member to the council
Doris Leuthard, first Swiss gov't member re-elected, by large majority, 14 December 2011
11:30 BERN, SWITZERLAND – The last of 7 seats on the federal council is the focus of a tough fight between the Socialists and UDC parties, with the UDC arguing that Switzerland’s balance of power calls for its candidate, Jean-François Rime, to be given the seat. In the first round of voting, Alain Berset took the lead with nearly twice as many votes as his opponents, but without the necessary majority. The 31-year-old economist from Fribourg is the youngest member of the upper house.
Doris Leuthard and Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf were re-elected easily as the first two of seven seats for the ruling Federal Council, the Swiss government (also sometimes referred to as the cabinet) were assigned by parliament. Ueli Maurer, Didier Burkhalter and Simonetta Sommaruga were re-elected in the minutes that followed.
Leuthard, who is minister for the economy, had 216 votes (114 needed for an absolute majority) while Widmer-Schlumpf, finance minister, had 131 (absolute majority: 120). The latter’s split from the national UDC party angered it in 2007, when she was elected and leader Christoph Blocher was not, and her re-election today, with the two UDC candidates receiving far fewer votes.
The UDC is now attacking the final two seats with just one of its two official candidates, Jean-François Rime. Given the UDC’s strongly conservative stance on the economy and foreign affairs, the seats are hotly contested.
Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey, who has been a member of the Federal Council for seven years, gave her farewell speech Wednesday morning. The 66-year-old Socialist is retiring from political office, although she told journalists two weeks ago that she has no intention of dropping off the political scene.
The Swiss presidency rotates among the council members, who serve in the role for one year.
The order of votes for the seven council seats are based on time in office:
Account holders domiciled abroad must ensure someone is designated as a contact in case of litigation
BERN, SWITZERLAND – US citizens with Swiss bank accounts who are domiciled in the US and who have not clearly designated, in the bank’s files, a representative who can be contacted on their behalf ad litern (in case of litigation) might want to remedy the situation before the end of November. At that point a new amendment to the ordinance covering the Swiss-US double taxation treaty goes into effect. It is designed to “ensure that the procedural rights of affected persons domiciled in the United States remain guaranteed even if administrative assistance requests are submitted based on certain patterns of behaviour”.
It also puts the onus on account holders to make sure someone can be officially notified if an account comes under suspicion by the IRS and the US makes a request for administrative assistance to Switzerland.
Swiss banking privacy laws do not allow banks to turn over data until the federal government’s tax office orders them to do so, if the US request meets criteria set out by the 1996 treaty.
Requests will in future be published in the Swiss Federal Gazette, and owners of accounts who are not named, or their representatives, will have 20 days from date of publication to appeal the Swiss decision, before the data is turned over to US authorities.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The slight increase that Swiss political observers were forecasting for the strength of the right during Switzerland’s parliamentary elections failed to materialize as voters turned to new parties to strengthen the centre.
The UDC People’s Party and the Greens both lost significant ground to moderate parties with elements of their programs, rejecting the more strident anti-immigrant stance of the UDC and the leftist social focus of the Greens.
The centre’s recent role as a multi-party and therefore flexible and potentially unpredictable key group in the coalition government is stronger and will have an impact on the December election of the new Swiss government.
Background story: GenevaLunch
Guide to Swiss 23 October parliamentary elections
Swiss parliament in session Photo ©Swiss parliament
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss voters are voting Sunday 23 October to elect a new parliament. Headlines, especially outside Switzerland, have tried to build high drama into the voting session, where turnout is expected to be only around 40 to 45 percent, largely because the real drama comes in December, when the government is elected, say Swiss political specialists.
Last week goat mascots for the UDC (People’s Party) were stolen and found, covered in black paint, and much has been made of the colourful incident, abroad, of this plus the likelihood that the rightwing party is likely to gather the largest number of voters ever. The brouhaha over the rise of the right is the result of misperceptions about the UDC party’s true power and role in Swiss politics, says Ioannis Papadopoulos, professor of Swiss and public politics at the University of Lausanne’s Institut d’Etudes Politiques et Internationales.
The party is not more strongly against things such as immigration than it has been in the past, he argues, but it is more vocal and thus it appears to be moving further to the right. “What is happening now is that there is a tri-polar system” with homogeneity on the left and right but a very large and heterogeneous centre, he points out. The right will garner a few more votes in this election, he believes, but what really counts is the size and makeup of the complex, multi-party centre.
“This tripartate system makes it possible to rise above polarization and continues to make it governable,” he says.
GenevaLunch brings you this guide to the elections, which take place every four years, along with some cliché crunching about the often poorly understood political system of this nation famous for its direct democracy.
Who votes and on what
Swiss cabinet called in Hildebrand, central bank president, for special briefing
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Federal Council says it is closely watching the record high Swiss franc situation, studying options and is ready to act if necessary, but it cautions against knee-jerk reactions that provide only short-term solutions. It issued a cautious statement Tuesday morning 9 August about the extraordinary meeting held by the governing group of seven Monday to review options in the face of market turmoil and investors pushing up the Swiss franc as a safe haven.
The group threw its support behind SNB (Swiss National Bank) President Philipp Hildebrand’s intervention in money markets last week and his promise to do more if the franc remains too high.
“It believes, as does the SNB, that the Swiss franc is clearly overvalued and that an energetic intervention is needed on the monetary policy front”, the Council said in the statement.
“We believe today that economic activity will slow down substantially in the quarters to come. The Federal Council is closely watching developments. It estimates that Switzerland’s position remains stronger than that of most of its neighbours but it is nevertheless aware of the need to watch the situation closely.”
China, Russia and India free trade deals are a focus
The Council noted a number of steps that have been taken since the start of 2011 to cushion the economy and business, noting in particular that it is keen to complete negotiations for free trade agreements with China, India and Russia before the end of 2012.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss media have widely covered the weekend anti-nuclear march in canton Argau, near the Beznau nuclear power plant, with what appears to be a consensus that the large turnout for the protest has put the government on notice. The march was the largest anti-nuclear show in 25 years.
The Federal Council Wednesday 25 May will review Swiss policy on nuclear energy, following the moratorium called by Energy Minister Doris Leuthard after Japan’s nuclear accident. The cabinet faces three options:
- the status quo, but replacing sooner than planned the country’s three aging nuclear plants
- not replacing the plants when their working life ends
- or calling a halt to Swiss nuclear energy.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The finance commission of the Swiss parliament’s lower house has given its approval to new rules that would require Switzerland’s two largest banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, to increase their capital bases substantially above the amount required by Basel III global requirements.
Basel III rules were established by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and have been the subject of heated international debate in recent months.
The change in Swiss banking law, proposed to parliament by the governing Federal Council (cabinet), went through an upper house commission Monday.
It will now be debated in both houses this summer and, if approved, could be implemented starting in 2012, with a six-year period to gradually implement it.
The Swiss National Bank has thrown its support behind the tough new Swiss law, which was written after the government’s 2008 bailout of UBS during the global financial crisis.
Federal Council will consult on plan for how big banks can fail, negotiate withholding tax on foreigners’ accounts
Measles, tougher penal sentences, electricity suppliers, corporate tax rates all on the 2011 schedule
Swiss Federal Council (cabinet): government publishes its 2011 agenda
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Government, fresh from the defeat of its counter-initiative in the vote on foreign convicts 28 November, has set out an ambitious agenda for work it expects to complete in 2011. This will be the final session before a new parliament is elected 23 October 2011.
Two pieces of legislation, one calling for a tougher penal code and the other for greater efforts to integrate foreigners into Swiss society, were planned before the weekend vote, but they must now be coordinated with a constitutional change, the results of the 28 November popular initiative, where Swiss voters chose automatic expulsion of foreign convicts.
Negotiations over undeclared assets in Swiss banks confirmed
The council confirmed Tuesday that negotiations are already underway with some countries, and it intends to open negotiations with other key countries, to “regularize” undeclared assets coming to Swiss banks from outside Switzerland. The main tool Switzerland intends to use is a withholding tax but the government says the negotiations will also include a commitment by the Swiss to “ensure, as far as possible, that undeclared assets from [countries with negotiations] will not in future come to Switzerland”.
Bankruptcy proceedings for key banks would limit pay, free trade agreements get priority
The cabinet will consult with interested parties on the details of how banks that are critical to the national financial system would be allowed to move into bankruptcy if they fail. A particular aspect of this is the decision by the government to limit payment to bankers for any financial institution that comes under the government’s care. Wide consultation on drafts for new laws with major impact is standard procedure in Switzerland and proposed legislation is then revised based on feedback before it goes to parliament.
Trade talks to be accelerated
Creditors, employees would have less protection, companies could more easily revive
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A contentious Swiss law could soon end, if the Federal Council has its way. The government Wednesday 8 September announced it wants to end the obligation for a company taking over a bankrupt one to take on all the employees of the failed firm. The matter now moves to parliament.
The idea behind the change, inspired by the failure of Swissair, would be to make it easier for a bankrupt company to restart under new ownership.
Hans-Rudolf Merz, Swiss federal councillor
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Federal Councillor Hans-Rudolf Merz, a member of the seven-person executive and former President of Switzerland, has announced his resignation. He said the decision had been “difficult”.
Merz has been finance minister since 2003. He came in for much criticism as president in 2009 due to the UBS scandal and its ramifications with the USA and his handling of the Libya crisis.
Parliament will choose successors to the two longstanding politicians in the Autumn.
In July, his colleague Moritz Leuenberger announced he was stepping down at the end of the year.
Swiss President Doris Leuthard
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A hallmark of the Swiss political system, the “collegiality” of the Federal Council or ruling seven-member cabinet, is under pressure from politicians and Swiss media following disclosures about the handling of the recently resolved Libyan affair. Politicians have expressed concern about possible military involvement. Swiss military intervention abroad is strictly limited by the country’s neutrality. Media have been insisting the disclosures show a serious lack of communication within the Federal Council.
Tuesday 22 June a permanent parliamentary group issued a terse statement to say that it met Monday with the Federal Council to review the handling of the Libyan affair. The statement noted that it had been informed “relatively early” of plans by the Defense Department to stage a rescue of the businessmen, considered hostages, if the situation developed in such a way this would be called for. The statement provides no date, however, and it is unclear when the plans were developed by the Defense Department.
Le Temps and TSR question if the plans existed when then-President Hans-Rudolf Merz flew to Libya, without informing other Federal Council members, to apologize to Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi over his son’s arrest. Was Merz aware of such plans, they ask, but given the secrecy surrounding the plans, no explanations appear likely.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss bank UBS will be billed an estimated CHF40 million by the Swiss government for the cost of providing help to US judicial authorities based on two requests, the Federal Council announced Wednesday afternoon 28 April. The government earlier this year said it would bill the bank CHF1 million but today it said that its expenses would amount to CHF40m and “the particular circumstances leading to both administrative assistance requests from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on account of the conduct of UBS in the United States justify billing the costs incurred to UBS.”
Swiss parliament in session Photo®Swiss parliament
The requests for help were made in July 2008 and August 2009 and are part of the search by US tax authorities for information on fraud-related bank accounts held at UBS. The August 2009 request led to the treaty signed between the two countries where Switzerland agrees to review 4,450 bank accounts by August 2010. The treaty will soon be debated by parliament, which must ratify it for it to be signed.
Swiss law does not have any provision for a bank or other financial institution to be billed for costs when requests for assistance are made, so the Federal Council has prepared a draft resolution for the parliament that covers only this case and only UBS.
Background, GenevaLunch
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss citizens who put in time as volunteer firefighters will be treated on a par for tax purposes with the citizen militia and people who opt for civil service instead of the military. Daily allowances and pocket money up to CHF3,000 a year should be exempt from federal tax, the Swiss Federal Council said Wednesday morning 21 April in a recommendation to parliament. A ceiling was set to avoid abuses and professional firefighters and managers will continue to be taxed on their income. Bern expects the measure to cost CHF18-26 million in lost income.
Fire department operations are overseen by cantons, not the federal government in Switzerland, but communes generally have responsibility for fighting fires.
Doris Leuthard, Switzerland's president, is serving a one-year term
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The seven-member ruling council of the Swiss government, the Federal Council, has proposed that the presidency, which rotates among them, become a two-year rather than one-year post. The rationale is to give the president the opportunity to complete projects and to take better advantage of experience gained. The impetus to reform the system did not come from the Federal Council itself but from Parliament, which asked it in 2004 to propose reforms.
President Doris Leuthard, who met with journalists Thursday before the council announced its news, was asked if it is sometimes difficult to manage with a seven-person cabinet that shares power. She laughed and remarked that group decisions are never easy.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government says it is instructing the Federal Finance Department to come up with solutions to “prevent new, undeclared funds from coming to Switzerland.” The governing Federal Council stated after a special session Wednesday 24 February that focused on the Switzerland’s role as a financial centre that it is “against attracting undeclared funds from overseas” and that it will continue to work on the “regularization” of existing funds that have not been declared to their home governments.
The statements are the strongest sign yet that Switzerland intends to curb banking activity that involves undeclared money, but the council emphasized that any solutions must “at the same time ensur[e] that privacy is safeguarded.”
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss are considering measures that could change the country’s reputation for easy access to assisted suicide. One is a proposal to modify the penal code, put forward by the Federal Council. The other is a ballot measure in the city of Zurich that would substantially increase the cost of seeking assisted suicide there.
Zurich citizens will vote 26 November on a popular initiative to dissuade “death tourism”, which was proposed by the Zurich chapter of the UDF party, the right-wing Federal Democratic Union. If accepted, people would have to pay a CHF50,000 fine unless they had been domiciled in Zurich for at least a year. The Zurich city council failed to get the 114 votes, a two-thirds majority, needed keep the initiative off the ballot: it voted 98 to 63 not accept the proposed initiative.
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Update 16:55 (links added) Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government Wednesday said it will ask Parliament to approve the August 2009 double taxation agreement with the US, raising it to the status of a tax treaty. The process will take time and, in the meantime, the government says it will continue to hold talks with the United States to resolve a five-day-old impasse over requests by the US for judicial assistance on 4,450 UBS clients’ accounts.
A high court decision last Friday, which cannot be appealed, limits the federal government to providing assistance in only 250 of the cases pending, where clear evidence of fraud under Swiss law appears to be present. Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf told journalists Wednesday that Switzerland has shared information on six accounts to date. The court’s ruling is based on three arguments, says the cabinet:
- that the agreement from August is an understanding only and does not carry the same weight as the 1996 double taxation treaty which is still in effect
- that the double taxation treaty makes a clear distinction between tax fraud and fraud-like activities versus tax evasion, even when carried out over time and involving large amounts of possible tax money owed
- that the August agreement cannot override the existing treaty.
The court itself suggested that the Federal Council ask for parliament’s approval of the agreement, which would then give it the force of a new treaty – as long as the US Congress also accepts it.
Finma appeals to Supreme Court
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s financial market supervisory authority, Finma, has decided to appeal to the country’s supreme court in the UBS client data case. A lower court had found it acted wrongly in ordering UBS to turn over the names of 300 of the bank’s US clients to the US tax authorities in February 2009.
Finma’s board voted 21 January to take its case to the Federal Supreme Court, saying it (Finma) “is using the opportunity to have Switzerland’s supreme court pass judgment on the extent of the Financial Market Supervisory Authority’s legal latitude in crisis situations.”
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Federal Council, Switzerland’s cabinet, has stepped into the debate over a ruling by the Swiss Administrative Tribunal, announced 11 January, that the Swiss banking supervisory body had no legal right to tell bank UBS to hand client names to US tax authorities. The Council made it clear 13 January that it played a key role in the decision by Finma, the banking authority, to agree the names should be given, outside the usual procedures called for by a bilateral judicial assistance treaty with the United States
Didier Burkhalter, Neuchatel, new Swiss cabinet member
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Didier Burkhalter, 49, a Radical party (centre-right) politician from Neuchatel, was elected by the Swiss parliament to the country’s seven-member Federal Council (cabinet) with 129 votes against 106 for the other candidate, Urs Schwaller, PDC (also centre), on the fourth round of voting. He succeeds Pascal Couchepin, from canton Valais, who is retiring 1 November. Burkhalter’s election means his party will retain its seat on the council and the balance remains unchanged in the power-sharing Swiss government. The language balance remains intact as well, with one French-speaking canton representative replaced by another.
Details: Swissinfo and on radio, WRS. Swiss French media: Le Temps, Tribune de Geneve/24 Heures, TSR
Background story, GenevaLunch
Swiss Federal Council 2009
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The two houses of the Swiss parliament, together referred to as the United Federal Assembly, is voting today, 16 September, on a new councilor for the ruling seven-member Federal Council, Switzerland’s cabinet. Councilor Pascal Couchpin, who served as president of the country in 2008, is resigning at the end of October 2009 and the vote is for his replacement. Members of the council are elected for four-year terms and the post of president, for one year, rotates among them, with parliamentary approval. Today’s new councilor will have a chance at the presidential position, but not every councilor becomes president, depending mainly on the length of their time in office.
Swiss media have speculated heavily in recent days about who will win the slot, with a large number of potential candidates putting their names forward and no clear front runner. At issue is the balance of power in the cabinet, which since 1959 has shared power among the political parties according to their share of the vote – although this “magic formula” was strained after the 2003 election, when the far right won a significant new percentage.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss cabinet, the Federal Council, Friday morning 11 September approved the revised double taxation agreement that has been negotiated with the US, as well as one with Finland. The approval means that the treaties can now be signed by the Swiss Federal Department of Finance (FDF) and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).
A government spokesperson told GenevaLunch that while the departments are already privy to the details of the treaty it is impossible to predict when they will sign them. Details of the agreements can be made public only once they are signed.
Swiss Federal Council and chancellor, 2009
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss Federal Council opened discussions 26 August on government reforms that could include lengthening the term in office for the president of the country and doubling that position with responsibility for foreign affairs. The president currently serves a one-year term: the job rotates among the seven federal councilors who make up the ruling Federal Council (cabinet). The council members are elected by parliament.
Update 19:00 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Two Swiss men who have been held in Libya and living at the Swiss Embassy in Tripoli since July 2008, and who were expected to fly home Tuesday, are still in Libya. The Swiss government raised its veil of silence late Wednesday 26 August with a statement on the situation, noting that “The Libyan Prime Minister informed the President in writing this morning that it was only a matter of time before the administrative procedures required in Libya were finalised.” The two businessmen have been issued exit visas to leave the country.
The men are now awaiting permission from Libyan judicial authorities to take a plane back to Switzerland. A team from the Swiss president’s office is in Tripoli waiting to accompany them.
Update 2 0:30 Update 1 20 August 0:08 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government is selling 332.2 million shares in bank UBS, withdrawing “immediately and entirely” its stake in the bank. The announcement was made by Bern after details were published Wednesday 19 August of the Swiss-US out of court settlement in the UBS bank case.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government says it “deplores” the fact that it was obliged 15 July to inform Swiss banks and the heirs to accounts that belonged to former Zaire (now DR Congo) dictator Mobutu Sese Seko that nearly CHF8 million in Swiss banks must be unfrozen, meaning the money returns to the family. “The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs deplores this result, which marks the end of 12 years of freezing of the assets in which all conceivable solutions were attempted. Since 1997 the Confederation has gone to considerable lengths to bring this matter to a satisfactory conclusion.”
Bern and Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Federal Council Friday 29 May approved an interest-free 50 year loan for CHF20 million to cover part of the cost of the second phase of renovation at the World Trade Organization building, the Centre William Rappard, in Geneva. The first phase of renovations is underway and the second phase will start in 2010. The work will enlarge the usable space inside existing buildings, notably covering two courtyards. A key element will be a new, underground modular 400-person conference hall.
