Deutsche Welle, 27 April 2013
Chancellor Werner Faymann has said he's aiming for Austria to agree to loosen its banking secrecy laws before an EU summit next month. The May 22 meeting will take on the fight against tax evasion in the bloc.
Chancellor Werner Faymann has said he's aiming for Austria to agree to loosen its banking secrecy laws before an EU summit next month. The May 22 meeting will take on the fight against tax evasion in the bloc.
Faymann
told broadcaster ORF on Saturday that on the issue of banking secrecy he wants
Austria "to achieve a result for an exchange of data in the interest of
fighting fraud in Europe."
The EU has
said it wants to curb tax dodging, which is estimated to cost the bloc around 1
trillion euros ($1.30 trillion) each year in lost income. Austria became the
EU's last holdout on banking secrecy after Luxembourg changed its position on
the issue last month.
But on
Friday Faymann, of the center-left Social Democrats, and his Vice Chancellor
Michael Spindelegger, of center-right coalition partners the People's Party,
announced that they were open to negotiations over the automatic exchange of
foreigners' banking data in the EU.
"The
biggest economic damage would be if we got the reputation of protecting
frauds," said Faymann. "Austrians don't find this necessary and I
have spoken with bank managers who also don't find it necessary."
Even
Finance Minister Maria Fekter, who has been Austrian banking secrecy's most
ardent defender, said she supported the joint action, which entails three points
of "decisive relevance."
Those
points require an exchange of bank account data at least in line with
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development standards, revealing
owners of trusts and mailbox companies and taking into account bilateral tax deals
already in place with Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Faymann
assured Austrians that despite the shift in stance, banking secrecy for
citizens would be preserved.
"Our
own banking secrecy is not affected," he said. "We ourselves want the
exchange of data to make it easier to fight fraud."
dr/jm (Reuters, AFP)
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| Offshore Secrets |
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