* The EU target: the adoption of the norms for eliminating the banking secret by the end of 2013
The elimination of tax havens all over the world will be a Herculean task, but that will bring huge benefits, says the president of the European Parliament, (PE), Martin Schulz, who went on to say that for that reason, the EU needs to promise that it will take steps towards that goal.
Yesterday, the European leaders at the EU summit in Brussels, were to looking to set a deadline by the end of the year to eliminate the banking secret, in hope of recouping the "lost" taxes of thousands of billions of Euros in a time when the Eurozone is in a recession.
According to a document obtained by AFP, the region's leaders were going to ask for the adoption of the norms concerning the automated exchange of information about bank accounts "prior to the end of 2013".
Before the summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "Tax fraud and the prevention of a real exchange of information needs to end".
But achieving an automated exchange of bank data in the EU depends on the negotiations on that subject which that the European bloc will conduct with Switzerland and other tax havens.
We keep reminding that Austria and Luxemburg recently tried to postpone the elimination of banking secret, as the officials of the two countries explained that they can't accept an automated exchange as long as other countries that are not in the EU do not follow the same set of rules. On the other hand, Austria and Luxemburg have accepted to grant a mandate to the European Union to lead negotiations in that regard with Switzerland, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Liechtenstein.
Luxemburgese prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker yesterday said that his country will only eliminate banking secrecy only if other countries do the same: "We will abandon the banking secrecy an
