Elections: Swiss People's Party on track for record seats

Switzerland's largest party, the populist rightwing Swiss People's Party, is set for record results in Sunday's parliamentary election, with media projecting it will take a third of seats in the lower house. 
 

Based on final vote counts in half of Switzerland's 26 cantons, and partial counts in 11 others, the ATS news agency projected the party would take 11 additional seats in parliament with about 29.5 percent of the vote.

That would give it 64 of the 200 seats in the lower house, beating its previous record high of 62 seats after the 2007 election.

Along with advances made by the centre-right Liberal Party, Switzerland's third largest party, SVP's gain should tip the scale in parliament from the centre-left towards a centre-right majority.

The Socialists, the country's second biggest party, appeared set to lose two of their 46 seats, while the Liberals were poised to boost their representation to 33 from 30 MPs.

The Christian Democrats, meanwhile, were expected to lose one of their 29 seats.

The biggest loser, according to projections from the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation were the Green Liberals, on track to lose six of their 12 MPs, and the Greens (ten seats, down from 15).

Read more: wiss People's Party on track for record seats - The Local

" 2013, year of truth for EU tax harmonisation says Algirdas Semeta, EU taxation commissioner "- by Tanguy Verhoosel

"Will bank secrecy soon be a thing of the past? Do Depardieu and others in Europe have reason to be worried? Is it game over for Google, Starbucks, Amazon and others?"

The following are  excerpts of a wide-ranging interview with  Mr. Algirdas Semeta, the EU  commissioner for taxation." -  by Tanguy Verhoosel

Q: Would creating a common consolidated corporate tax base be a miracle cure for a lot of the Union’s problems?
" don’t believe in miracle solutions in any sector. But it is true that setting up the CCCTB could help resolve certain difficulties related to the distribution of companies’ earnings for tax purposes, and consequently to erosion of the tax base. The question of transfer pricing, in particular, would be settled, at least at EU level. So the debate absolutely has to be shifted from the technical level to the political level on certain key elements of the CCCTB proposal: the consolidation of results, mandatory application of the proposal to certain types of undertakings, etc." 

Q: Eleven countries will be launching enhanced cooperation on the FTT. Do you think the same scenario is possible on other tax issues, like the CCCTB?
"In theory, yes. But before we discuss that eventuality, let’s wait to see how the debate by the 27 evolves."

AQ: The new directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation contains a most favoured nation clause. Will it require Luxembourg and Austria to abolish their bank secrecy if they make concessions to the United States on automatic information exchange as part of the FATCA negotiations?
"Under this clause, a member state that offers better information exchange conditions to a non-EU country than to its European partners is obliged to offer them the same treatment if they so request. Legally, things are clear. Politically, in any case, it is hard to imagine a non-EU country being given better conditions than Union states".

So Luxembourg and Austria are trapped?
"Luxembourg’s Finance Minister, Luc Frieden, recently showed a somewhat open attitude. So I’m expecting positive developments. The debate on FATCA has changed the international atmosphere."
 
Q: If the 27 manage to strike a deal on savings taxation in the European Union, won’t we still have the stumbling block of certain non-EU states, in particular Switzerland? Luxembourg and Vienna insist on being on an equal footing with Berne.
"I don’t think so. Switzerland is negotiating an agreement with the United States. Given its proximity and close relations with the Union, Switzerland should logically have to offer similar treatment to the 27".
 
Q: Is the Rubik model, based on the withholding principle, dead and buried, in your opinion?
"I don’t know, but what is certain is that there has always been too much importance attached to Rubik. The scope of the agreements Switzerland has signed with the UK and Austria had to be pared down to the areas not covered by existing and future EU legislation on savings taxation. This legislation is being revised and the three countries were obliged to take this into account."
 
Swiss private bankers recently proposed to trade Switzerland’s bank secrecy for access to the EU’s financial services market. What do you think of that idea?"
"I don’t want to speculate on concessions that might be made to Switzerland in other policy areas. But I don’t see why we couldn’t discuss any proposals Berne may present. Meanwhile, let’s be clear: exploiting bank secrecy to do business is an obsolete concept when you consider what is happening today, in particular with the United States, and what is going to happen. On the one hand, the UK has committed to make tackling tax fraud and evasion a top priority of its G8 presidency in 2013. On the other, we’re working actively in the OECD to make automatic information exchange between administrations the international standard on tax transparency."

Read more: 28/01/2013 2013, year of truth for EU tax harmonisation

Particle Physics: 'God Particle' rumours strengthened by Tevatron data -by Nick Collins

Results from the US Tevatron, a smaller cousin of Cern's Large Hadron Collider, "strongly point" towards the existence of a Higgs Boson, scientists said.

Telltale signals which could indicate the Higgs were identified within the same search region where the LHC identified promising “hints” of the particle last December.

Although the Tevatron’s results are nowhere near strong enough to qualify as a discovery, they will fuel growing speculation that LHC scientists are set to make a conclusive announcement on the particle’s existence on Wednesday.

The Higgs Boson is the most sought-after prize in particle physics, representing a crucial missing piece of evidence for the Standard Model, the most widely accepted theory on how the Universe works.

Finding the particle, first proposed by Peter Higgs in 1964, would prove the existence of the Higgs Field, a mysterious force which interacts with particles to give them their mass.

Read more: 'God Particle' rumours strengthened by Tevatron data<br/> - Telegraph

Switzerland: ‘God particle’: Scientists close in on evidence of Higgs Boson existence - by Makiko Kitamura

Scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research have narrowed the range where the hypothetical “God particle” created at the beginning of the universe may be found, closing in on evidence of its existence.

The particle, also known as Higgs boson, most likely has a mass in the region between 116 and 130 gigaelectronvolts of energy being studied by one research team and between 115 and 127 gigaelectronvolts under observation by another team, according to data presented today by the Geneva-based research institute. Independent measurements point to a range of 124 to 126 gigaelectronvolts, researchers said.

‘God particle’: Scientists close in on evidence of Higgs Boson existence - The Washington Post

Switzerland rejects bid to ban investment banking

SP parliamentarian Susanne Leutenegger Oberholzer on Monday asked parliament to discuss a ban on investment banking as part of a debate on tough new capital laws aimed at preventing a repeat of the government bailout of UBS in the financial crisis.

"One of the large risks for the financial centre is investment banking," she told parliament, adding that the threat which a single staff member can pose to a large bank was clearly demonstrated by the UBS alleged rogue trade incident.

But parliament narrowly rejected her bid to reopen the debate with 55 votes against the motion, 42 in favour and six abstentions, meaning she will have to present her proposal to ban investment banking in a new legislative process.

For more: Switzerland rejects bid to ban investment banking | Reuters

Swiss divided over free movement of people agreement. with EU - by Jean-Michel Berthoud

The free movement accord between Switzerland and the European Union has become a major discussion point in the lead up to this autumn’s federal elections.

While some politicians are calling for it to be thrown out so the country can regain its freedom of manoeuvre, unions are demanding better wage protection and warning there will not be enough staff in some sectors in the years to come.
Since the free movement accord became effective in 2002, the equivalent of more than 286,000 full-time positions have been created in Switzerland.

For more: Swiss divided over free movement of people agreement. - swissinfo

Swiss freeze euro 648 million ($1bn) in Gaddafi, Mubarak, Ben Ali assets

Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said some euro 648 m (830m Swiss francs) had been discovered. Of that, the largest proportion - euro 320 (410m SFr) - was linked to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his circle, the minister said.

Another euro 280 m (360m SFr) was believed to belong to Col Gaddafi's regime. A further euro 47m (60m SFr) was tied to former Tunisian leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his associates.

For more: BBC News - Swiss freeze $1bn in Gaddafi, Mubarak, Ben Ali assets

On the Awesomeness of the Swiss - by Michael Labeit

What do Europeans think of the penchant of many Americans to unilaterally declare that their's is the greatest nation of all. I gather that as many Europeans think and speak of their own respective nations as affectionately, however it seems to me that Americans are the most emphatic about it. These are all personal sentiments of course; some, I guarantee, are based upon what some sociobiologists refer to as an anti-foreigner bias, an evolutionarily manifested, naturally selected aversion to people who are not of one's tribal group. Some are undoubtedly the result of nationalistic influences from one's education or culture.

Nevertheless, the notion of America's supremacy arises as I consider a quaint Alpine ally of ours that most Americans aged 18 to 24 probably cannot locate on a map.My interest in Switzerland first began after I noticed how consistently well it had performed on past Indices of Economic Freedom. In the 2011 Index of Economic Freedom, Switzerland ranked as the economically freest nation examined in Europe and readily trounced the United States.

Maybe the biggest contributor to Swiss civil liberties is its decentralized political configuration. Switzerland is a confederation of 26 autonomous cantons. Jurisdictions (including the federal one) are small, the assignment of tasks to local authorities is maximized, popular referenda are a staple of political life, and political power is decentralized within the federal government itself where, instead of a president-dictator, the Swiss have a seven-member executive called the Federal Council. Hence, the obstacles to government aggrandizement are significant.

For more: On the Awesomeness of the Swiss - Ricochet.com