Belgium could end up with as many as eight parties in a coalition government, after the NVA Flemish Separatist party appears to have won at least 27 of 150 seats in parliament, 30 percent of the vote, as ballot counting draws to a close. The strong result gives the party more seats than any other, but outspoken NVA leader Bart de Wever looks likely to have to tone down his rhetoric to participate in a coalition government of several parties.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The outcome of the Swiss-US treaty covering 4,450 UBS bank accounts is unlikely to be decided before Monday or Tuesday, 15-16 June, following a recommendation from a lower house of Parliament commission to reject the treaty or to add a clause to the parliamentary project requiring a popular referendum vote on it. The lower house economic commission, which recommends action to the house as a whole, voted 14-12 Thursday morning against accepting the treaty.
A popular vote, which would take time to organize, would jeopardize the treaty, which requires Switzerland to act on the US request for judicial assistance by completing its review of the 4,450 cases and delivering information on the accounts by the end of August 2010.
Reconciliation committee will get it Wednesday to attempt political parties’ compromise
Swiss parliament in session Photo®Swiss parliament
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government’s painstaking efforts to come to a settlement with the US over the handling of 4,450 UBS bank accounts was dealt a serious blow Tuesday 8 June. The lower house of Parliament voted against the Swiss-US treaty 104 to 76, with 16 abstentions. The treaty must now go to a special committee of the two houses, which will try to find grounds for an agreement.
The US in 2009 asked for judicial assistance to obtain data about the accounts and their owners based on suspicions of tax fraud. Swiss banking secrecy laws normally prevent any data about bank accounts from being shared.
The upper house had approved the treaty last week.
Political tug of war
In the lower house the treaty, which covers one specific request for judicial assistance from the US, faced a left-right standoff over stronger control of the country’s two big banks, UBS and Credit Suisse. Socialists tied it to legislation that would limit bankers’ bonuses and a tougher policy on too-big-to-fail banks, moves that were firmly rejected by the right-wing UDC (People’s Party). The UDC is the largest party in the lower house, often a staunch defender of what it sees as Swiss cultural values, one of which is banking secrecy.
The parties of the centre have backed the treaty, saying it is in the national interest of Switzerland to do so, while insisting that it must be a one-time agreement that does not give ground on banking secrecy.
Switzerland’s banking secrecy laws are widely perceived to be linked to the right to privacy in Switzerland.
Year-long deadline to deliver the data looms
The treaty was drawn up in August 2009 and Switzerland has one year to review the bank accounts’ requests from the US and determine if the data should be delivered to the US Treasury Department. But a Swiss high court ruled in February that the federal government could not sign the treaty without consulting Parliament, which meant that the votes in the two houses would take place only in early June.
The parliamentary session ends 18 June and a “reconciliation” committee will meet only 9 June to try to hammer out an agreement that will allow the bill to pass a second vote, ensuring that the final days of the parliamentary session will be fraught with tension.
Links to other sites: Le Temps (Fre), NZZ (Ger), TSR (Fre) in Switzerland; Financial Times and New York Times, Corporate Justice blog discussion
Federal Palace in Bern, image from Wikipedia
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Federal Council, the country’s seven member executive, comes in for heavy criticism for its handling of the UBS affair with the United States late 2008 and early 2009. The report is published by the parliamentary joint Control Commissions (CC) 30 May.
The report documents a crisis of leadership at the very top and takes to task both then Finance Minister, Hans-Rudolf Merz for isolating himself and failing to involve his colleagues, and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey and Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, who were involved in aspects of the case.
The government responded yesterday by saying it was aware of the structural reforms necessary in the government, and that it had already named a new state secretary for international finance before the release of the report.
The impact of changing tax laws
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Tribune de Geneve Thursday 27 May carries a feature story on the impact of the changing US tax collection system on Americans who live overseas, but also on Swiss who have worked in the US.
The article, entitled “US tax collector disgusts many dual nationals in Switzerland”, is linked to the upcoming 7 June debate in Parliament over the US-Swiss tax agreement covering UBS.
The article mentions several of the issues that have come up at US citizens’ meetings in Geneva, such as the 15% exit tax that must be paid by Americans who give up their citizenship, but it also points out that many Swiss who have worked in the US and did not declare income according to new IRS interpretations may be at risk for heavy penalties.
Background, GenevaLunch series on US citizen meetings over tax issues, in Geneva in 2009-2010
The Queen’s speech to Parliament Tuesday 25 May laid out the agenda of the new coalition government, with the accent put on reducing the budget. A new Office for Budget Responsibility is part of the plan. The new government’s agenda also includes higher capital gains tax, limiting the number of non-European Union immigrants and making UK airports more competitive.
Links to other sites, with highlights of the speech: BBC, Reuters, UK, Telegraph
Michael Ambuehl meets US press at end of two-day visit
UBS agreement and new tax treaty were on the agenda
Michael Ambuehl, Switzerland's State Secretary for International Financial and Tax Matters
Washington, DC, USA (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s new Head of the State Secretariat for International Financial Matters in the Federal Department of Finance Michael Ambuehl Tuesday concluded two days of meetings with a number of high-level US tax, treasury, justice department and foreign affairs officials in Washington. The US-Swiss double taxation treaty and the treaty covering the UBS agreement were on the agenda, Bern said Tuesday evening.
Ambuehl met with US reporters at the end of his visit and said that if the Swiss parliament rejects the agreement with the US over the UBS case, a new legal battle between Switzerland the US would be likely, and the double taxation treaty would also be at risk.
The latter could have major repercussions for Switzerland as a place of business, he noted.
Bern said in a press release issued late Tuesday that:
Heavy shelling broke out in the capital of Somalia, Mogadishu, Sunday 16 May, as the parliament met for the first time this year. Reports vary. of 13 to 24 people dying in the fighting. The Islamist opposition called for the Western-backed government to step down.
Links to other sites: AllAfrica, Aljazeera, BBC, National Post, Canada
British voters today will elect 649 member of Parliament and more than 4,000 local council representatives. Polls opened at 07:00 Thursday 6 May and remain open until 22:00, UK time, with the first results expected an hour after the polls close. Attention outside the country has focused on the three men seeking the job of prime minister, which is traditionally awarded to the leader of the party that has a majority of the seats in Parliament. Current Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party appears to be slipping in the polls, with David Cameron’s Conservative Party moving ahead. Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats may well win enough seats to stop any party from having a majority, in which case negotiations would begin for a coalition government.
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
The Ukraine parliament erupted into a free-for-all where the Speaker, Volodymyr Lytvyn “sought refuge behind an umbrella as he was pelted with eggs” according to CNN and smoke bombs were thrown during a debate and vote on allowing the Russian Navy to remain in a Ukraine port until 2042. The motion passed, but amid shouts from the Opposition. A budget for $12 million was then rushed through without discussion “because of the mayhem”, writes the Moscow Times.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss Federal Council Wednesday afternoon 14 April formally asked Parliament to approve the treaty signed with the United States in August 2009. The treaty is an agreement whereby Switzerland will provide judicial assistance to the IRS, the US tax authority in the case of 4,450 UBS clients suspected of tax fraud.
The message goes to Parliament as the country’s left and centre political parties appear to be lining up to approve the treaty, although the right-wing People’s Party insists that it flies in the face of Swiss banking secrecy law.
Bern / Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Marcel Ospel has told Swiss magazine Blick that he is ready to appear before a Swiss commission to answer questions about the debacle of the bank he headed two years ago, UBS. He has refused to comment or answer questions from political bodies since he left the bank in April 2008.
Political parties have begun wrangling, widely expected in Switzerland, over the US-Swiss agreement which covers UBS providing information to the US about 4,450 client accounts. Parties on the left are lining up to approve it only if pay caps are placed on bankers’ salaries, while the centre-right is arguing in favour of Parliament approving it, to secure the future of Switzerland as a financial centre.
Cantonal votes: Genevans could see rents go up
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Retirement benefits should not be cut, research on human beings should be coordinated at the federal level and the Swiss Confederation does not need a lawyer to represent animals’ rights: these were the three decisions by Swiss voters Sunday 7 March. The Swiss went to the polls in the first of four federal voting sessions in 2010. The strong popular vote against cutting pensions offered a good reminder to the government and parliament of how direct democracy continues to give the people a say in legislative changes.
Strong Catholic Church opposition was not enough to defeat Spain’s new abortion law, which was passed by the parliament 132-126 Wednesday 24 February. The new law, which goes into effect in four months, allows women, starting at age 16, to have abortions without parental consent, and gives women the right to abortion on demand up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, bringing Spain into line with its northern European neighbours on the matter.
Abortion was decriminalized in 1985, but only in cases of rape or when a woman’s life is in danger. The number of cases of abortion doubled in the decade that followed, according to government statistics.Opposition to the government’s proposal to liberalize the law has been strong, with thousands marching on the capital in October 2009 to protest.
Links to other sites:El Mundo (Spa), MSNBC, Latin American Herald
A1 heading into Lausanne, from Morges, three lanes as a temporary measure, January 2010
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The problem of congested roads in regions where some of Switzerland’s worst traffic jams occur inched closer to a solution Friday, when a commission of the Swiss upper house of Parliament agreed to modify regulations governing how certain national road funds are spent.
The commission had asked for a report on how cantons would help fund projects in congested road areas, such as the stretch of A1 autoroute between Versoix and Geneva, and the A1/A9 roads around Lausanne, which routinely have heavy traffic buildups. The problems are expected to worsen in the next 10 years, with the Lake Geneva region one of the fastest growing in Switzerland.
Peter Robinson, Northern Ireland’s first minister, is taking a six-week break from his duties, six days after the astonishing details emerged of his 59-year-old wife’s affair with a 19-year-old and the dubious financial dealings linked to it. The British media have had a hay day with the story, which the Guardian describes as “truth stranger than fiction.” It brings together conservative northern Irish politics, graft, political power, Pentecostal Christian religion, Catholocism, sex, adultery and more. Peter Robinson’s future is in question and the temporary handover of his powers to Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster comes at a critical time for power-sharing talks between Sinn Fein and Robinson’s DUP party.
Iris Robinson, who has been a Member of the Stormont Parliament, is now receiving medical treatment. She has said publicly she’s been fighting a battle with depression, and she attempted to commit suicide after the affair ended. Kirk McCambley, the young man who had the affair with her, has shot to sudden fame and is being wooed as a pinup boy.
Lovely for football fans, but not the real thing: Swiss flag is a square
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss flag, the word “Swiss” and “Made in Switzerland” are getting logo-like protection, with tighter restrictions on their use in Switzerland and abroad. The Swiss Federal Council Wednesday 18 November recommended key changes to intellectual property coverage for “Swissness” that are designed to make up for a current lack of precision.
Consumers will benefit, says the government, noting that more than 50 percent of consumers in a recent poll said they would be willing to pay up to twice the price for several Swiss food products. Letter box companies will be hurt, says Bern, since they will no longer be able to say they are Swiss.
The legal changes are designed to ensure that the CHF6 billion a year, or 1 percent of Swiss GDP attributable to the idea of Swiss quality, has stronger legal backing.
The government calculates that the value added by a Swiss label can be as high as 20 percent for agricultural goods such as food and wine.
Jet d'eau, Geneva
Update 10:15 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Canton Geneva elected its new 100-strong Grand Conseil, or parliament, Sunday and voters approved a multi-party mix that sees the power of the Socialists waning and a stronger centre-right. Geneva has long had a centre-left leaning. The biggest winner was the centre-right MCG, Mouvement Citoyens Genevois, which nearly doubled the number of seats it holds, to 17.
Media in French-speaking Switzerland are putting the accent on the populist nature of the party, pointing to its strongly anti-frontalier (workers who cross the border) platform. Le Temps notes that the party has taken advantage of a chink, growing concerns along the border about security and jobs, where many thought it did not have the strength.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Sunday 20 September is a national holiday in Switzerland, Jeûne Fédéral, which is also honoured Monday 21 September in cantons Vaud, Neuchatel, and parts of Jura, where shops will be closed.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Motorists who fail to have a current year autoroute sticker correctly plastered to their cars risk a fine that will rise to CHF200. The upper house of parliament has approved a measure already passed by the lower house, that will increase fines from the current CHF100. The 6 percent of cars that travel on the highways without the sticker cost the government an estimated CHF20 million a year.
Peter Brabeck, chairman, Nestle
Vevey, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Peter Brabeck, chairman of Vevey-based multinational, says the company could reconsider Switzerland as its home base if the government responds to pressure to cap executive salaries.
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.
Not for armchair adventurers
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government has decided to table a bill that would have governed safety rules and responsibility at the federal (national) level in extreme sports. The government judges that existing and future cantonal legislation as well as the self-regulation of the extreme sports industry is adequate.
New Swiss Army knife © 2009 Photopress AG Victorinox
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss customs officials near Basel 3 August seized boxes with 558 kg of imported goods for Victorinox, one of Switzerland’s two Swiss Army knife manufacturers. Acting on a judicial complaint filed eight months ago by Thomas Minder, the boss of mouthwash maker Trybol, the customs at Muttenz, canton Basel State, held 116 boxes of bags, locks, and umbrellas made in China and Taiwan with the Victorinox logo.
Victorinox markets a number of goods that have nothing to do with pocket knives, including perfume. Production of many of these products are outsourced abroad. The pocket knives are all produced in Switzerland.
Japanese prime minister Taro Aso bowed to the inevitable and dissolved the Diet, Japan’s parliament, and called for fresh elections 30 August. His ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party, LDP, did poorly in local elections earlier this month and the government’s approval ratings have plummeted as Japan has entered its worst recession since the 1990s. A week ago, Aso survived a no-confidence motion in the lower house of parliament, where the LDP has a majority. BBC, CNN
Taro Aso, prime minister of Japan, has called for elections in August and says he will dissolve the parliament 21 July after his ruling LDP party lost badly in weekend local elections. The party has now lost the dominant role it held for four decades and Aso’s approval rating in polls is at about 20 percent, reports the BBC. Financial Times
Members of Parliament (MPs) in the UK must now disclose income from second sources as well as the time spent on non-parliamentary work, according to new rules. MPs were not previously obliged to list the amounts they made nor the time they spent away from parliamentary affairs. British MPs have been caught up in an expenses scandal that has tarnished the reputation of politicians from all parties. Commons leader Harriet Harman told Parliament 30 June that disclosure was a step forward in making MPs pay and allowances more transparent. BBC
Britain’s Parliament is in turmoil. Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin says he will resign 21 June because of the current scandal over Members’ expense accounts. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is calling for an independent body to oversee expenses amid public outrage at abuse in claims made by several Members of Parliament, apparently from all parties. “Westminster cannot operate like some gentlemen’s club,” Brown said of Parliament. “There has got to be transparency. There has got to be a proper audit.” CNN, Reuters
Bern, Switzerland (NZZ, Ger) – Zurich newspaper NZZ reported Thursday 30 April that the vignette, Switzerland’s autoroute use tax that comes in the form of a windshield sticker, will keep its present form, but fines for those who get on the road without a sticker could double.
