Brussels / Madrid, 19/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, the Ecofin Council is likely to adopt a report on the "taxation package", in which it "regrets" that Switzerland refused to undertake to set an automatic information exchange system in place on savings income. Switzerland confirmed its position of always during the opening of negotiations on 18 June in Bern. It does not wish to negotiate a system of information exchange on savings income as the EU requests and keeps to its withholding proposals. In the draft report to be forwarded to the European Council of Seville, the Council is expected to regret this attitude which, given the latest international developments, increasingly "isolates" Switzerland. It will call for the "EU's essential interest" to be taken into account in these negotiations. We recall that Luxembourg makes the adoption of the "tax package" end 2002 subject to the conclusion of the agreement with third countries (Switzerland, United States, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino) so that they adopt "equivalent" measures to those implemented by the EU in the context of this package. The United States concluded an agreement with the Swiss banks on information exchange, that is not automatic, on savings taxation.