Luxembourg announces end of bank secrecy with EU states - TrustLaw

   My Orchids. Phalaneopsis. Shining with transparency. Photo ET

http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/luxembourg-announces-end-of-bank-secrecy-with-eu-states/

This blog hasn't stopped talking about the necessity to get rid of tax havens. So for the principle we are getting there.

As for how things came about in Luxembourg, I'm worried about the sanity and just the timeline in which this came together:

• End of March, Luxembourg's Vice Prime Minister Asselborn lambasted Germany for treating small countries' financial centers with disrespect.

• About the same time, Luxembourg's Minister of Finance gives an interview published 2 weeks later to the German FAZ, announcing the end of Luxembourg's banking secrecy. One has to wonder if this was planned and agreed upon with the coalition partner, Mr. Asselborn's party? No member of Parliament seemed to be prepared to read that type of news in a German newspaper either. Nothing seems to have been negotiated with other member states either, a lost opportunity: you give something, get at least something. Even if it is only amnesty for your lifelong foreign tax cheaters who paid a withholding tax every year. Well after an ominous Cargolux deal, where Mr. Frieden sold a significant stake to the LOWEST bidder, negotiating seems to be his key strength.

• On Wednesday, no doubt, says Prime Minister Juncker in his speech to the state of the nation, this was a coordinated decision. Alright? And it will be effective as of January 2015. Good. I thought that the decision was an excellent thing in principle, but the public affair's issue was a blunder. I'm glad to learn that the blunder was coordinated.