The European Union however seems opposed to this project

The new fell, steep, in the afternoon by the voice of the Finance Minister Swiss Hans-Rudolf Merz. In view of the situation in the case of HSBC, "The Switzerland will suspend the process to ratify the new convention on double taxation with the France by the two federal houses," he said. Pulling a line by itself on several months of negotiations between Paris and Bern. The Minister of Justice, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, said that a note of protest should be officially sent to the France. To serve in Paris that the Switzerland did not like the manner in which the French authorities had recovered the name of thousands of taxpayers suspected fraud: through files pirated by a computer of the HSBC Bank in Geneva. The Attorney for Nice, Eric de Montgolfier, who opened an investigation after an arrest warrant issued by the Switzerland against the former employee of HSBC, said last weekend that the France had 130,000 French names (including 3,000 to 5,000). "If the Switzerland was not to this ratification, it would send a somewhat ambiguous signal on his willingness to respond to a global appeal to cooperation between tax administrations and the lifting of bank secrecy culture", explained at Bercy.

Beyond the diplomatic clash related to the case of HSBC, the ratification process was already wrong committed. This is more than six months that the Switzerland and the France were initialled on 12 June, a convention revised against double taxation, in accordance with the standards of the Organization for cooperation and development (OECD). Upon signature, many experts have questioned the viability of this text. "There is a big controversy in Switzerland to determine whether the agreement negotiated with the France is well consistent with article 26 of the convention model tax of the OECD," explains Henri Schwamm, Honorary Professor of Economics at the University of Geneva and co-author with Philippe Braillard of a book entitled "Swiss financial-L' strategy."

A sensitive point

Main grievance advanced: the agreement would be too strong in Paris because the Minister of the Budget, Eric Woerth, have obtained favourable terms limiting obligations for French tax services to Swiss names and banking counterparts in the Confederation of possible fraudsters. A sensitive point which aroused the opposition of many parliamentarians who do not want to leave the text in the State. What was there before even the HSBC case, a slow voting process, even if the agreement negotiated with the France part of the first five texts (with foreign countries) sent to the Parliament for consideration.

The suspension of the ratification process could reinforce the Swiss Association of bankers (ASB), who always try to convince Brussels of the benefits of his project called "rubik" planning to impose a tax at source which will be returned to their countries of origin on account of their foreign clients. The European Union, however, seems opposed to this project. The Confederation therefore appears still want to play the shows. The threat of sanction of the twenty - seven seem not scare him. "To be launched, these sanctions must be passed unanimously by the EU but for the moment, the Switzerland still has the Luxembourg and the Austria as allies in Brussels, notes Michel Habib, researcher at the Swiss Banking Institute." "Cannot therefore be said today that bank secrecy has disappeared in the Confederation."