Schwarzenberg backs Swiss on banking secrecy in newspaper interview

The Czech foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, has backed Switzerland in a row with other European countries over Swiss banking secrecy, the newspaper NZZ am Sonntag reported. Mr Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the presidency of the European Union, said a couple of million euros certainly escaped one tax coffer or another, but he said the country’s independence and the tradition of an autonomous and neutral Switzerland’s had a greater value. Due to the financial crisis France and Germany have proposed new measures against non-cooperative tax centres and have demanded new criteria to determine whether Switzerland should be added to the list, Reuters reported.

Author: Ian Willoughby