Brussels, 19/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - Extending the scope of application of the directive on tax on savings is one of the priorities of the new Hungarian Presidency. It wishes to move quickly on this dossier, which is subject to unanimity and has been at deadlock for some years. However, it is likely to face many difficulties in sticking to its timetable.
At Tuesday's Ecofin Council, the Presidency gave itself until 17 May to reach a political agreement between ministers on the revision of this directive, which aims to fight fraud and tax evasion. It announced initial discussions at the high-level group on 31 January to prepare a first debate at the Ecofin Council of 15 February. If the Council did manage to reach a political agreement in May, it could give the Commission a mandate to open negotiations with five third countries (Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Andorra, San Marino and Monaco) and 10 dependent territories of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, in the hope of adapting the agreements between them and the EU on tax on savings.
Some, however, feel that the determination of the Hungarian Presidency, which was hailed on Tuesday at the Council by the European Commission and the Belgian and Swedish delegations, could still be derailed by the resistance of countries such as Luxembourg and Austria, which are still reluctant to allow concessions on their status of tax havens for savings and to remove their banking secrecy rules, at least whilst the automatic exchange of information on savings and revenue is not also applied by third states such as Switzerland and other tax havens.
In this field, however, the Union is still moving forward at different speeds: Member states such as the United Kingdom and, above all, Germany (although this country does support the automatic exchange of information), have agreed to negotiate bilateral agreements with Switzerland, to allow that country to bypass the automatic exchange of information and maintain banking secrecy (EUROPE 10244). In exchange, Switzerland would apply a final tax (Rubik proposal) on a range of revenue (interest from savings, dividends, etc), proceeds from which will be paid to the German and British authorities. In view of the German authorities, this agreement would be a transitional stage pending the application of the automatic exchange of information on savings revenue in 2015-2017, but the association of Swiss bankers has very different opinions on the subject. Nobody has any doubt, therefore, that the position of the German decision-makers at the meeting of the high-level group on 13 January (see above) will be very delicate, given that it will practically coincide with the opening of negotiations between Germany and Switzerland on bilateral agreement. It is also worth noting that Switzerland has made similar offers to France and Italy as well, but these have so far been rejected.
There is every chance, therefore, that Luxembourg and Austria will want to play for time and that future talks on this dossier will be tricky. (F.G./transl.fl)