Swiss Bankers Association Issues Statement Against Joining the EU

Ulrika Lomas, Tax-news.com, Brussels

22 February 2001

With Swiss citizens due to vote on whether Switzerland should join the EU, the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) this week issued a press release saying it was against the "YES to Europe" initiative. The initiative goes before the Swiss electorate on March 4 2001.

The SBA did point out that its statement did not mean that it is in principle against Switzerland joining the EU at a later date, nor that the SBA is against a "further political opening of Switzerland to the outside world", for example by joining the United Nations.

However, the SBA said that it was in full support of the Federal Council and Switzerland's business sector, which have given a resounding "No" to the initiative. The press release stated: 'The SBA believes the bilateral treaties must first be ratified within the EU so that Switzerland and the EU can both gather experiences. Furthermore, in the run-up to the vote on the bilateral agreements it was pointed out that they did not represent a first step towareds EU membership. Rather, they were meant to regulate economic relations between Switzerland and the EU. A "No" would therefore serve to maintain political credibility. Furthermore, it is up to the Federal Council to choose a suitable time to begin negotiations with the EU and it should not be forced to do so as would be the case should the initiative be accepted.'

The SBA concluded that any future entry of Switzerland into the EU would be an "eminently political decision" based on political considerations rather than having any correlation to bank customer confidentiality, which the SBA deems to be "economically important". The Association also raised concerns about Switzerland's position should it abandon the Swiss franc in favour of the Euro, saying such a move would result in the loss of the country's current low interest rates.

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