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.
Soldier: Jefferson, length of service unknown, 2005 © Suzanne Opton ("Stigmata" exhibition)
Bern and Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss Federal Council Friday 29 May approved an increase in funding for the Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva, from CHF3.9 million for 2006-2009 to nearly CHF4.22m for 2010-2013. The council noted that the activities of the museum, focused on humanitarian issues and the development of international rights in this area, are closely tied to one of Switzerland’s main areas of foreign policy.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A proposal by the Federal Council could mean a deduction of up to CHF1,000 per month for parents who pay for childcare, and a new tax schedule for parents. It would go a long way towards reducing tax discrimination against couples with children, whether they live together or not, the council argues. Federal tax revenues would be reduced by CHF600 million per year.
The proposal now goes to the Parliament.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Federal Council Wednesday 20 May rejected the proposal of Councilor Evelyn Widmer-Schlumpf to reintroduce quotas for European Union workers. The Schengen area agreement allows for this if certain conditions are fulfilled, notably in times of economic difficulty, but the rest of the seven-member cabinet refused to accept the justice and police minister’s recommendations.
Related: notice from Bern, TSR, Fre
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Federal Council (cabinet) in Bern is backing a number of health care cost containment proposals, including a controversial charge of CHF30 to visit a doctor. The measures, recommended by the Federal Department of Home Affairs, are designed to reduce Switzerland’s increasing health costs. The cabinet 6 May announced that it will also ask the home affairs office to draw up the legislation that will be presented to Parliament.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch), The Federal Council yesterday rejected calls to extend the carbon tax to gasoline and diesel fuel, but said it would commit to a 20 percent reduction of greenhouse gases over 1990 levels by the year 2020, in line with the European Union. The decision is part of the council’s recommendations to Parliament to revise Swiss energy laws.
Bern, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – Christoph Blocher, former federal councilor, could be elected to the cabinet again if his right-wing UDC party’s discussions with parties of the centre go well, UDC leader Toni Brunner says.
Lausanne, Switzerland (l’Hebdo, Fre) - L’Hebdo news magazine this week carries an analysis of the financial crisis and how it is affecting Switzerland: the political world, long “lethargic,” is slowly waking up to a ticking time-bomb.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Hans-Rudolf Merrz, Switzerland’s finance minister, left the hospital Wednesday, following major heart surgery 10 days earlier, and he informed the Federal Council that he will be take up his duties again when doctors say he is ready.
