Council calls on Swiss authorities to commit themselves in savings tax negotiations

Luxembourg, 16/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - Monday's General Affairs Council held a very brief discussion on negotiations with Switzerland. It was concluded by Josep Piqué who told his colleagues: "this is where the work begins". The Council welcomed the adoption by the Commission of the last proposals for a negotiating brief (EUROPE of 10 April, p.13), and called for "immediate and swift examination of these recommendations by the relevant preparatory groups in order to adopt the mandates as soon as possible". The Council urged the Swiss authorities to become actively involved in negotiations on savings taxation and called on the Swiss authorities to work to achieve substantial results in the negotiations under way on action against fraud. For this, the Council calls for a meeting at a "high political level" as soon as possible between the President, the Commission and the Swiss authorities. Commissioner Patten specified that a first contact by telephone on savings taxation between the Commission and Switzerland had taken place on Friday. He also rapidly presented the four proposed mandates and gave a report of the meeting between Commissioner Bolkestein and Kaspar Villiger last Wednesday. The Commissioner insisted on the importance of not linking the different negotiating chapters into a single package - a method that took years in the previous negotiations with Switzerland - but to move forward according to the rate of each issue. Switzerland, he reminded the Council, seeks to link all the negotiations (and, with some success, to divide the Member States, Community sources stress with some irritation). The Fifteen recalled in their conclusions on Switzerland the conclusions of the European Summit in Feira, whereby they hope to reach a European agreement on saving taxation by the end of this year, and, in order to do so, need to conclude their negotiations with third countries by the end of the month of June. Only Austria took the floor to ask the EU to grant special advantages to Switzerland and to insist on the obligation of providing information.