Widmer-Schlumpf and Burkhalter in Brussels

To defend Swiss banks

Above door – European Union

"... we don't talk about money!"

Under the watchful gaze of the European Commission, Switzerland's finance minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf and foreign minister Didier Burkhalter have signed a bilateral tax agreement with the United Kingdom that regulates the issue of tax-evading British funds deposited in Swiss banks. The text, which comes into force in 2013, and similar to that signed between Berne and Berlin in August 2011, should serve as a model for future agreements with other countries.