Right-wing UDC strategist was not told ahead of search for breaking banking secrecy laws
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Zurich public prosecutor Andreas Brunner says “pertinent” material was found during a search of the home and office of Christoph Blocher, a UDC People’s Party leader. Blocher was not told in advance that his home and office would be searched on suspicion that he had broken banking secrecy laws, news agency ats reports.
Brunner does say, according to the agency and other Swiss media, that Blocher’s attorney was told Monday evening his client was under suspicion and would be called in for questioning.
When the attorney said that Blocher would use his parliamentary immunity, Brunner and the police, who were not convinced the immunity applies to the case, moved quickly to do the search Tuesday.
Blocher is suspected of breaking Swiss banking secrecy laws in December when he was the recipient of information about the private bank account of Philipp Hildebrand, then chairman of the Swiss central bank, the SNB. He then told Micheline Calmy-Rey, who was the Swiss president in 2011, that Hildebrand may have acted illegally in buying and selling currency. Hildebrand subsequently resigned to allow an investigation to go ahead; his name was cleared but in February the SNB changed its rules for members of the board’s own financial transactions, to improve transparency.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A rundown of some of this week’s news highlights:
Nestlé charged with lack of protection, death of former worker
Charges were filed against Vevey-based multinational Nestlé in Zug by a Colombian trade union and a human rights group for not adequately protecting a former employee, Luciano Romero, who was murdered in Colombia by paramilitaries in 2005. The case could have broad implications according to Germany-based human rights group ECCHR (European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights) because it is the first filed against a Swiss company in Switzerland for a crime committed outside the country. ECCHR – Nestle, Newsletter French, pdf (Fr)
The charges come as world media are focused on the safety of foreign multinational workeres in conflict areas, notably in Nigeria, with the deaths Thursday 8 March of two foreigner workers in Nigeria. In separate news, Nestlé announced Friday morning that it is offering scholarships to a number of its trainees in Nigeria, to bring them to Switzerland to see home office operations.
Solar Boat evades pirates, navigates way to world record
PlanetSolar, the world’s only entirely solar-powered boat, whose home is Yverdon, made it through the pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden. The MS Tûranor PlanetSolar is now navigating the waters of the Red Sea and expects to arrive 4 May 2012 in Monaco, at which point it will become the first solar boat to circumnavigate the globe.
Crans-Montana says yes to Women’s World Cup in 2013 in a turn-about (correction)
World Cup in Crans-Montana, 2012
The Valais resort of Crans-Montana said Monday it would not be hosting the 2013 Women’s World Cup in skiing, despite the success and nearly 50,000 visitors to the men’s event in late February.
A turn-around was announced Thursday 8 March after a meeting Wednesday night when the concerns of some players about hosting the event at the height of the ski season, which could mean closing to the public the popular Nationale run for several days.
The group of communities in the region, ACCM, has thrown its support behind not only a bid for the Cup next year, but an investment of CHF400,000 a year to keep Crans-Montana on the World Cup circuit. The funds require final approval, but the signal at the end of the week was clear: the resort is ready to fight to get the events.
Also under discussion are the re-creation of two or three significant runs.
One former Swiss president gets pie in face, another joins Rousseau protesters in NY
Micheline Calmy-Rey, who completed her year as president of Switzerland in December 2011, was shocked, as were many in the political world, by a pie that was shoved in her face earlier this week by a man angry over her role in the losses incurred by bank BCGE several years ago. The incident, outside the human rights film festival in Geneva, appeared to be more a form of aggression than a humorous incident.
Another former Swiss president, Pascal Couchepin, joins a group in New York Friday 9 March, for Occupy Rousseau, to hold up the Geneva philosopher’s example of fighting inequality and social injustice.
Cern technology behind Geneva airport’s solar panels
The airport in Geneva Friday received delivery of the first of some 300 high-temperature solar thermal panels that will cover a surface of 1,200m2 on the roof of the main terminal building. The panels will be used to heat the buildings during winter and cool them in summer. Their vacuum technology was developed at Cern for particle accelerators.
Nuclear power plant told by judge it must close early
Muehleberg, Switzerland’s aging nuclear power plant that has been the focus of protesters’ calls for closure because of the high cost of keeping it safe, was told it must shut down by June 2013. Safety issues were cited as the reason. The decision was made by the Swiss Administrative Court 1 March but announced the 7th, Wednesday. It is one of five nuclear power plants in the country and was scheduled to be phased out as Switzerland gets rid of its nuclear energy programme, but the decision speeds up the process by several years.
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:
Photo: Shangrila Farms, Yunnan Province, China
BERN, SWITZERLAND – “Switzerland’s free trade agreement negotiations with China are in a rather early stage but they are well underway” following the third round of talks between the two countries, Swiss Ambassador and Delegate for Trade Agreements Christian Etter has told GenevaLunch.
Switzerland, which has a trade surplus with China despite the former’s small size, has taken a European lead in working out a free trade agreement (FTA) with Asia’s giant economy since the two signed a Memorandum of Understanding 28 January 2011, says Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey.
“It shows we’re not afraid,” she said, smiling, at a press conference in Geneva 28 November. She was treating it lightly, but Switzerland is keen to keep the negotiations moving, particularly in the wake of a slowdown in negotiations between China and Iceland and China and Norway.
Both sides have said they would like the talks to move swiftly.
EU’s Almunia says stable trade framework is the way forward
The comments come as the European Union’s anti-trust boss called for less bickering and a better trade framework between the EU and China, at the EU-China Forum held in Brussels this week, organized by the Friends of Europe. Joaquın Almunia is quoted by Dow-Jones 29 November as saying that “everything linked with intellectual property rights, innovation, know-how, is not well-solved in our relations, we are discussing with our Chinese partners but I don’t find we have a stable framework to benefit from both sides of our common understanding.” He added that “playing this same kind of game means these pressures, these intensities will increase.”
Swiss-China trade picks up while Swiss-EU trade slows
Switzerland is China’s ninth largest trading partner in Europe, with the smaller country having a trade surplus for 2011 of CHF2.13 billion by the end of October. China is Switzerland’s largest trading partner in Asia. During the first 10 months of the year Switzerland’s exports to China grew by 26.2 percent, while imports from China slipped by 3.3 percent.
China is Europe’s largest trading partner and its trade surplus with Europe is €160-€180 billion in 2011, according to the Wall St Journal.
Trade has been stagnant between the EU and Switzerland during the first 10 months of the year, with exports to the EU down 0.5 percent and imports up 3.1 percent.
Iceland was the first European country to start FTA negotiations with China but its talks have cooled down, with Iceland’s application to join the European Union. Negotiations began formally in July 2010; EU membership would exclude implementing a separate FTA with China.
And talks with Norway have slowed down since China expressed its displeasure over the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
Third round of negotiations covered hefty list of topics
The latest round of talks in the free trade negotiations between Switzerland and China took place in Montreux 8-10 November. The talks were launched in Davos in January, with talks held once in Bern and once in Beijing.
The two teams in Montreux held expert level discussions and exchanged information on respective regulatory systems and FTA-practices covering several areas: trade in goods, trade in services, rules of origin, customs procedures and trade facilitation, technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), trade remedies, intellectual property rights, competition and dispute settlement.
The heads of of the two delegations and experts discussed investment promotion, cooperation on trade and sustainable development, and cooperation on government procurement, and agreed on follow-up work in all areas.
The fourth round of negotiations are expected to take place in China in early 2012.
Background
- World Trade Organization, most recent trade policy review for China, June 2010
- EU / China Partnership and Cooperation Agreement
Vienna comes out number one, Paris is 30 and London 38, Geneva sixth safest
Bern's new bear park on the riverfront; Bern is the world's second safest city in 2011
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Mercer’s list of top cities in the world in terms of quality of living shows three Swiss cities in the top 10 in 2011 and three German cities, but Austria’s Vienna remains in the number one slot.
Zurich is second, Geneva and Bern are eighth and ninth respectively, with Munich and Dusseldorft fourth and fifth and Frankfurt in seventh place.
Completing the top 10: Auckland, New Zealand is third, Vancouver, Canada ties with Dusseldorf for fifth and Copenhagen, Denmark ties with Bern for ninth place.
Personal safety puts Bern and Zurich in world’s top five
The theme of this year’s Mercer report is personal safety as a result of upheavals in many parts of the world and growing concern on the part of companies and organizations about the safety of their employees. “The information and data obtained through the Quality of Living Reports (the “Reports”) are for information purposes only and are intended for use by multi-national organizations and government agencies. They are not designed or intended to use as the basis for foreign investment or tourism,” London-based Mercer notes in publishing its rankings.
Geneva’s media reports of a less safe city at odds with sixth-safest city in the world rank
Tourists snapping iPhone shots of the jet d'eau in Geneva, sixth safest city in the world
The Mercer survey ranks Geneva sixth in terms of personal safety worldwide, a number that will reassure Geneva’s authorities, who were in a for a barrage of media fire earlier in the year for a perceived decline in safety.
Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey, whose home is in Geneva and whose political career as a Socialist Party member was built in the city, said Monday that a joint federal-cantonal commission she pushed for earlier in the year is reviewing safety in the city.
It is currently taking an inventory of the situation, she said, without giving a date for the commission to provide its report.
But the federal government, which contributes CHF50 million directly to support “international Geneva”, is “concerned” about reports that the city is less safe than it used to be, she told journalists at a press conference.
Calmy-Rey is retiring from the federal government this week, but she said Monday she expects to remain active in politics.
Swiss president says concern over legality of UK, German deals is EC’s “internal” problem
Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey in Geneva 28 November
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland is looking for an agreement with the US that will draw a line on the past, where banks and US tax fraud or evasion is concerned, Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey said Monday 28 November. It should include an agreed method for the US to collect tax money in the future while Swiss banking secrecy laws are respected.
“We don’t want to be a place for people who are trying to evade taxes. But we want to sort out past issues, once and for all, and put some order into [things],” she said, referring to ongoing problems between Swiss banks and the US tax arm, the IRS.
“And in the same agreement, we want to deal with the future,” for example through the kind of withholding tax agreement Switzerland struck in August with German and the UK.
“That, in essence, is our position, and it’s the same as it was with the UK and Germany.”
Her remarks were made at a press conference in Geneva Monday afternoon, 28 November where the president was presenting an overview of International Geneva, and its growth in size and importance in the past decade. She earlier attended the opening of the International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Geneva.
EU tax commissioner suggests to UK paper the EU might sue Britain
Switzerland, under the UK and German agreements, which have yet to be ratified, is to collect withholding taxes on transactions by financial institutions, then turn over the money to the other countries without divulging the name of the account owners.
But European Union Tax Commissioner Algirdas Semeta told the Financial Times in an interview published Monday morning that he believes Britain and Germany went too far in signing their own bilateral tax agreements with Switzerland. The FT writes that:
“Brussels is threatening to sue Britain unless ministers significantly alter a landmark tax deal with Switzerland, in a dispute that will cast doubt over the £4bn to £7bn of expected proceeds for the Treasury. European Commission lawyers concluded that the bilateral deal, which recovers billions of unpaid taxes in return for protecting the prized secrecy of the Swiss banking system, is in breach of European Union laws that are tougher on tax evasion.”
Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss president
Calmy-Rey says this is an internal matter for the European Union, and it’s not for Switzerland to comment on who is competent in this area, the EU or its member states.
Switzerland and the European Union have a tax agreement covering “taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments”, signed in 2004 and revised in 2008 and again in January of this year.
The FT reports indicates that the EU’s pressure on Britain and Germany to renegotiate their deals with Switzerland is causing some friction.
Whether or not Switzerland would be open to new negotiations remains unclear, although the Swiss Bankers Association CEO Claude-Alain Margelisch said last week that “our view is that there can be no renegotiation” and the organization’s priority is to see that all parties are convinced that the agreements are true and fair compromises.
US talks could create new agreement, but form is still unclear
The US-Swiss talks are widely expected to be completed within weeks if not days, but the ultimate form an agreement might take is not yet clear, Mario Tuor, spokesperson for the Swiss Federal Tax Office told GenevaLunch Monday evening. The two countries have a treaty dating back to 1996 that covers tax fraud, still in place, and a new treaty covering tax evasion, which goes before the Swiss parliament in December 2011.
Tuor repeated Calmy-Rey’s assertion that Switzerland also wants an agreement which covers the banks not currently being investigated by the US Justice Department for helping Americans evade US taxes. “The form [it would take] is not yet clear. But it is clear now that we will not need a parliamentary agreement,” which a treaty would require. “We won’t need an agreement that calls for a treaty because it will be based on existing law.”
Switzerland and the US signed a treaty in 2009 that covered an American request for assistance with UBS 4,450 bank accounts, whose owners had not been identified, thus putting the demand outside the existing legal framework.
The talks are raising questions among many Americans who live overseas and who are grappling with the implications for them of tax reporting changes that were designed to prevent fraud by wealthy Americans who live in the US and have offshore accounts.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The deadline of Tuesday given over the weekend by two Swiss media, for the Swiss to hand bank data to the US, has not resulted in Switzerland sharing any data it appears. The question of whether the deadline was really given has not been answered by Swiss authorities.
President Micheline Calmy-Rey, in announcing that she will step down from the cabinet at the end of the year, fielded questions at a press conference after her announcement, and Reuters quotes her as saying “no bank client data has been transferred to the United States. Switzerland will not give any other details on the ongoing negotiations.”
Calmy-Rey, fifth from left in front row, meeting with the foreign press association committee in May 2011, has headed Swiss foreign affairs since 2003 (GL editor Ellen Wallace, 3rd from left)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss president for 2011 and long-time foreign affairs minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, is expected to tell the Federal Council today that she is stepping down from the government. The regular meeting of the council this morning will be followed by a news conference.
Calmy-Rey, 66, is in her second term as president, a one-year post that rotates among the seven members of the Federal Council. The French-speaking Socialist from Geneva joined the council in 2002 and has headed the foreign affairs department since 2003. Her departure, to be announced before the October parliamentary elections that are held every four years, will require a cabinet shuffle at a time when Switzerland’s relations with the US are taut over banking secrecy but are generally in better shape with the country’s European neighbours than they have been in recent years.
She was heavily involved in Geneva politics before taking up her posts in Ber; the president was born in Sion, canton Valais.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - One of the two Swiss women critically injured in the blast a week earlier in Marrakesh, Morocco, has died, Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey announced late Friday afternoon 7 May. She expressed her sadness and distress at the “brutal disappearance” of those killed by the “senseless and ugly act of violence”, the bomb that exploded at a cafe popular with tourists, in the town centre 28 April.
The two men who were with the Ticino woman and another female companion, were killed in the explosion. The other woman remains hospitalized.
Police in Marrakesh have arrested three suspects.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey, in Tunisia Monday 2 May for a meeting of regional ambassadors from Switzerland, told Swiss news agency ATS that to date a total of CHF830 million in funds linked to three Middle Eastern dictators have now been identified and therefore frozen.
The Swiss Foreign Ministry had previously said only that “tens of millions” of assets linked to Mubarak had been found in the week after the government sent the order to financial institutions to block the funds. The government had not until Monday given figures for Ben Ali or Qadaffi and those close to them.
Banks and other financial institutions must try to identify and freeze assets immediately, once the order to do so is sent by Bern. The fine for not providing information is CHF20,000 plus a fine of 10 times the value of the object, whether it is bank funds or real estate or other assets.
The amounts Calmy-Rey announced appear small compared to many estimates for the wealth of the three. The Financial Times‘s Haig Simonian in Zurich writes that the CHF360 million mentioned in connection with Qadaffi is “a surprisingly high figure, considering Colonel Muammer Gaddafi had declared he had withdrawn all funds – amounting to some $5bn – from Switzerland after a bitter dimploatic spat between the two countries two years ago.”
The Wall Street Journal points out that the Qadaffi assets in Switzerland are far smaller than the $30 billion frozen by the US.
The amounts given by Calmy-Rey, who is also Switzerland’s foreign minister:
- CHF360 million Libya’s Muammar Qadaffi, frozen 21 Frebruary 2011
- CHF410m Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, frozen 2 February 2011, about 10 percent of all Egyptian assets in Switzerland that the Swiss central bank could identify as originating from Egypt at the end of 2009.
- CHF60 Tunisia’s Ben Ali, frozen 19 January 2011: this is about 10 percent of the assets the Swiss central bank said were in Switzerland and that originated in Tunisia at the end of 2009.
The amount of money in Swiss banks, from Libya and Egypt, has fallen steadily since 2005, according to the Swiss National Bank, possibly reflecting Switzerland’s increasingly tough stance on actively identifying dictators’ assets.
In addition to the three listed above, Switzerland in 2011 also froze the assets of former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbabgbo, 19 January.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Jebril El-Waalfarvi, a representative of Libya’s new opposition group, the National Transition Council (NTC), met Wednesday with Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey, who also heads the foreign affairs ministry. The NTC was formed in the eastern Libyan city of Beghazi 27 February.
El-Waalfarvi presented the group’s political programme and a list of its needs, part of a European tour by NTC representatives, who have also made a presentation to the European Union.
Calmy-Rey expressed Switzerland’s concern over the impact on the population of Libya’s civil war and expressed Switzerland’s commitment to providing diplomatic and humanitarian assistance to help the Libyan population.
Update 15 February Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Assets that may have been deposited by Hosni Mubarak and those close to him were the target of a Swiss government directive to banks and other financial institutions within 30 minutes of the announcement of his resignation Friday 11 February.
The Swiss government’s decision but not the amount of assets that could be affected were confirmed by Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey Friday evening 11 February, at 17:45 Swiss time, while she was on an official visit to Madrid, Spain.
The Federal Finance Department issued a new ordinance to banks to seek and freeze any assets with a link to the newly-resigned president. This includes any real estate holdings, which cannot be sold or transferred.
The announcement by Bern falls in line with Switzerland’s programme to freeze assets of deposted dictators to determine if they were legitimately gained.
Estimates have varied widely for the amount of money Mubarak and his friends and family may have in Switzerland and elsewhere. Ed. note: GenevaLunch incorrrectly implied in an earlier version of this post that CHF3.6 billion in Egyptian money in Switzerland may have belonged to Mubarak. The figure covers all Swiss bank liabilities to Egypt and Egyptians in 2009.
2011 Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey, currently Foreign Affairs minister
Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf will become vice-president in 2011
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland continues to improve its score where women in politics are concerned, with the election by the parliament Wednesday 8 December of Micheline Calmy-Rey, Socialist, as president of the country for 2011 and Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf of the center-right Conservative Democratic Party as vice-president. The Swiss presidency is a one-year term that rotates among the members of the seven federal councillors who make up the cabinet, with parliament selecting the leader.
Calmy-Rey, who served as president in 2007, will follow another woman, Doris Leuthard, president in 2010.
Swiss media are focusing on the fact that Calmy-Rey received the lowest number of votes since 1919, which TSR public television attributes to her tendency to act alone, “notably in managing the affair with Libya, which irritated more than one member of parliament.”
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey says she is “relieved” at the release of Sarah Shourd from an Iranian prison, the Swiss government announced 14 September.
Swiss diplomats were heavily involved in the negotiations to free the three hikers who Iran says were on Iranian territory near the border with Iraq when they were detained in 2009.
Switzerland represents US interests in Tehran, since the USA has had no diplomatic relations with Iran since 1979.
Moritz Leuenberger, Switzerland's Socialist minister for the environment, energy, transport, resigns
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – Moritz Leuenberger, Socialist Party member who has been one of Switzerland’s seven federal councillors for the past 15 years, announced Friday morning that he will step down at the end of 2010. Leuenberger, 63, from Zurich, has headed one department, the Detec (environment, transport and energy) during his tenure and his left-leaning views have had a significant impact on the country’s approach to climate change.
He insisted in a press conference that journalists should not seek to find tactical reasons, that after 15 years as part of the government, he feels the time has come to leave. Leuenberger was scheduled to be the next president, taking up the post that rotates among the federal councillors in January 2011. Micheline Calmy-Rey, also a Socialist, from Geneva, will now become president in 2011, for the second time.
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.
Update 19:00 [Video] Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Max Goeldi, the Swiss businessman held by Libya for nearly two years on what eventually became charges for visa irregularities, flew home to Switzerland via Tunis late Sunday night, arriving at Zurich Airport at 01:20 for an emotional reunion with his family (TSR, Fre). Monday he gave a press conference, saying he was tired, but very happy, and that he remains unaware of any wrongdoing on his part that led to his detention.
His release signaled the end to a diplomatic standoff between Switzerland and Libya. Foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, who flew back with him, publicly thanked Germany and Spain (Ger) for their help in ending the affair.
Their foreign ministers accompanied her for meetings with Libya’s foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, and his leader, Muammar Qadaffi.
Background, 13 June, GenevaLunch
Video SF: Goeldi arrives in Switzerland
Update 3 / 14 June Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss businessman Max Goeldi, freed from prison in Libya 10 June, is en route home to Switzerland, news agency AFP reports his lawyer as saying Sunday night, possibly via Tunis.
Switzerland and Libya signed a “plan of action” Sunday in Tripoli, with Germany and Spain also signatories, to end the diplomatic impasse between the Swiss and Libyan governments. Max Goeldi, Swiss businessman and ABB employee who has been held in Libya for nearly two years, is scheduled to fly home from Tripoli, via Madrid, Sunday. Goeldi’s prison sentence in Libya for visa irregularities has been at the centre of the diplomatic tussle that began with the arrest in Geneva in July 2008 of Hannibal Qadaffi, son of Libya’s leader.
Swiss Secretary for Foreign Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey made the announcements about Goeldi’s flight home and the action plan as she came out of a meeting in Tripoli with her Libyan counterpart, Moussa Koussa. She also met with Libya’s leader Muammar Qadaffi in his reception tent, along with Spanish leader Miguel Angel Moratinos and Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, as well as other European leaders.
The plan of action includes the following:
- a tribunal will be created to investigate the circumstances surrounding the arrest in Geneva of Hannibal Qadaffi in July 2008, to which then-Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz agreed in principle in August 2009;
- Switzerland will offer Libya an official apology for the theft of a police mug shot of Hannibal Qadaffi from police files, and for their publication in the Tribune de Geneve newspaper, and those who stole the material will be prosecuted (it was revealed that a criminal case has already been opened);
- Max Goeldi’s request for a judicial pardon from Libya will be expedited.
TSR, Swiss public television, reports that Tripoli says Geneva has already paid CHF1.5 million euros to Hannibal Qadaffi, a sum that has not been verified and that runs counter to statements made earlier by Bern.
Swiss Secretary for Foreign Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey made the announcements about Goeldi’s flight home and the action plan as she came out of a meeting in Tripoli with her Libyan counterpart, Moussa Koussa.
Background, GenevaLunch
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government late Wednesday 24 March said it is “willing to lift the ban on entry into and transit through Switzerland for particular Libyan citizens as quickly as possible. In return, it expects Libya to lift its entry ban on citizens of countries from the Schengen area.” The Federal Council emphasized in its statement that it is willing to take this step to ensure the release of Max Goeldi, a businessman who has been held in Libya for 19 months.
The announcement came after a Brussels meeting between Switzerland’s foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, and Catherine Ashton, head of foreign and security policy of the European Union (EU.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The foreign ministers of Switzerland, Spain and Libya met Thursday 18 February in Madrid to discuss the impasse over the return of two Swiss citizens from Libya and the issue of visas not being issued to some Libyans. Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss foreign minister, said after the meeting that “We have been working well” and the talks are continuing.
She is meeting with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and Libyan Foreign Minister Mousa Kousa. Spain is hosting the talks as the president of the European Union for 2010. Calmy-Rey also noted that she has had discussions in the past few days with several EU foreign ministers.
Which way in Davos for the world economy. © 2010 World Economic Forum swiss-image.ch/Photo by Michael Wuertenberg
Davos, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The World Economic Forum (WEF) runs from 27-31 January in the snowy Swiss resort of Davos, and, ostensibly, the leaders will be discussing the state of the world and ways to improve it. Behind the scenes, they will be networking.
It isn’t every day that so many movers and shakers come together in one place.
The WEF is dedicated to bringing together the “world’s business and political leaders. . . to discuss the issues facing the world today.” It aims to bridge cultures and countries, and bring the best minds and experts to “allow leaders to make decisions that can bring about change for the better,” the Geneva-based non-profit group says on its web site.
World Economic Forum facts and figures
Swiss Federal Council (cabinet), 2010
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s cabinet, the seven-member Swiss Federal Council, which governs as a body of equals, has published its official photo for 2010. Left to right: Didier Burkhalter, the chancellor for the Swiss Confederation Corina Casanova, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, Ueli Maurer, Micheline Calmy-Rey, Hans-Rudolf Merz, Swiss President Doris Leuthard, Vice-president Moritz Leuenberger. The presidency is a one-year rotating position, while the chancellor’s job is to oversee the smooth functioning of the administrative side of the government.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss Foreign Affairs ministry late Friday 9 October confirmed officially that Turkey and Armenia will sign two Protocols, normalizing relations between the two countries, Saturday morning 10 October, in Zurich. Heads of foreign affairs from the US, Russia, France, Slovenia will be attending, as well as the EU’s secretary-general, underscoring the significance of the event.
Official statement confirming Zurich event
The official statement from Bern:
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.
Coming into Nyon, surrounded by small craft (Photo: © Dinah Roberts)
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Nyon, Vaud, and Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The crowds lined up along the shores of Lake Geneva to see the giant catamaran that represents the America’s Cup holder, Alinghi 5, Saturday 1 August.
The small boats that were invited to accompany it as it sailed from Lausanne to Geneva before it moves on to the open seas, struggled to keep up whenever it put on speed.
Its destination: Geneva, where Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey had just stepped off the plane from a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, DC.
Alinghi tears away from Nyon, heading for Geneva (photo: ©2009 Dinah Roberts)
The Swiss cabinet member welcomed the new boat to its home base, the Société Nautique de Genève.
Di Roberts, who lives near Nyon, said watching the boat was “fantastic” but the crowd in Nyon groaned as one of the large steamboats came into port just as as Alinghi sailed past their ready cameras. And as it sailed out, picking up speed and leaving smaller craft behind, the lake police had to come to the rescue of people on small paddleboats who were unprepared for the enormous wash Alinghi 5 leaves in its wake.
Background: “Alinghi 5, ahhh, what a beauty of a boat!”, 26 July, GenevaLunch feature
Alinghi 5 in Geneva, jet d'eau fountain, image ©2009 Guido Trombetta/Alinghi
Alinghi 5, Ernesto Bertarelli, president of Alinghi, Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss foreign minister and Fred Mayer, vice-commodore of the SNG in Geneva, image ©2009 Guido Trombetta/Alinghi
Alinghi 5, image ©2009 Guido Trombetta/Alinghi
Washington, DC (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met in Washington, DC Friday 31 July for their second working visit since March 2009 when the two met in Geneva, Switzerland. The two had little to say to the press following the meeting, followed with more than usual interest because of the announcement earlier in the day that the two governments had reached an Agreement in Principle for an out of court settlement in the UBS bank court case.
According to the Swiss foreign affairs office, the talks covered mainly “the situations in the southern Caucasus, the Near East and the Middle East. Secretary of State Clinton took the opportunity to thank Switzerland for representing the USA in countries such as Iran as well as for Switzerland’s commitment to many internationally important issues, in particular in its role as a mediator.”
UBS case mentioned, not discussed
The Agreement in Principle in the UBS case was mentioned, but was not discussed, with the two saying that teams from the two governments will be working out details of the agreement in the coming week.
Transcript of the post-meeting press briefing in Washington
Video from the US State Department
UBS New York headquarters
Update 3 17:25 Bern and Zurich, Switzerland/Miami, Florida and Washington, DC, USA (GenevaLunch) - Shares in UBS rose more than 4 percent in the minutes following the news that Switzerland and the UBS have reached an Agreement in Principle in the civil case brought by the US Treasury department against Swiss bank UBS. The case will now be settled out of court, the Swiss government says in a statement issued late Friday afternoon. (background)
The two governments have reached an agreement in principle on the major issues in the case involving UBS and the IRS tax authority, US Justice Department attorney Stuart Gibson told the judge presiding over the case Friday 31 July. Neither he nor Judge Alan Gold provided details about the agreement, and the Swiss government says that “confidentiality has been agreed for the full duration of the negotiation process.”
Some early media reports noted that the judge has postponed the evidentiary hearing, whose opening had been delayed to Monday 3 August, until a week later, 10 August, with the parties scheduled to hold a status conference 7 August. But according to the Swiss government, the court has simply asked for an update on the details of the settlement Friday 7 August, and has scheduled a conference for this purpose.
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meet today in Washington, DC.
Update 27 July 11:15, Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – US authorities may be taking a new approach to going after the names of US-based clients of Swiss bank UBS. They are reportedly asking for the names of clients its advisors saw in the US. Reuters carries a lengthy article that states this, citing Swiss newsweekly Sonntagszeitung.
The move, if confirmed, may be a compromise in the legal dispute involving UBS and the US tax authority IRS, which wants the bank to divulge details on 52,000 of its US clients. Reuters reports that 60 UBS client advisors visited the US on average three times a year, for three weeks each visit, and saw four clients a day. John DiCicco, acting assistant attorney general in the tax division of the US Justice department, in March 2008 testified to a senate subcommittee investigating the case that “An internal UBS memorandum filed with the court demonstrates that, in 2004 alone, UBS bankers traveled to the United States where they held approximately 3,800 separate meetings with US clients to discuss their clients’ Swiss accounts. (Ed. note: the Sonntagszeitung article speculates that UBS hopes that the US Dept. of Justice may acccept the names of clients visited by UBS client officials as a way to avoid violating Swiss law by having to hand over all client data demanded by the IRS).
The number of account holders has been an issue since the case began, with the US putting forth the number of 52,000 US citizens evading taxes through UBS accounts as an educated guess.
DiCicco, using provocative language, made the announcement in February 2009 that the Department of Justice was seeking 52,000 client names from the bank, a day after the DOJ and UBS appeared to have reached an agreement.
The DOJ statement sparked the diplomatic and legal standoff between the two countries, moving the issue from a banking one into a diplomatic tiff over the bilateral tax treaty.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Micheline Calmy-Rey, Switzerland’s minister for foreign affairs, will meet with Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, in Washington, DC, 31 July. The two countries and Swiss bank UBS have been given until 3 August by a US federal court judge in Miami, Florida to find an out-of-court settlement for the IRS legal demand that the bank hand over client information on 52,000 accounts. The Washington Post carries an editorial that says the issue is emotional on both sides:
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Israel’s ambassador to Switzerland, Ilan Elgar, will meet Thursday in Bern with the Swiss foreign affairs department to discuss a recent visit by a Hamas delegation. Israel’s foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Ygal Palmor 15 July strongly criticized Switzerland for receving the group, which he says visited Geneva two weeks go to meet with an NGO (non-governmental oreganization). He noted that although Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, Hamas is on an EU list of groups banned for terrorist activities.
