Luxembourg, Tour de France and Schleck and Schleck.

Luxembourg, Tour de France and Schleck and Schleck.

There are many reasons for this feature about the Tour de France to appear in this blog.

There is first of all the best performance of Luxembourg participants in the Tour in more than fifty years by Andy Schleck, finishing second and his brother Frank Schleck finishing fifth in the overall race. Never since Charly Gaul won the Tour in 1958 has there been such a successful Luxembourg presence.

Egide Thein, Cyclo Cross Millebaach, Luxembourg, ca 1963.

There is also a bit of personal nostalgia, as a long time ago I was among the handful of aspiring champions in my small hometown of Beckerich, Luxembourg, dreaming about winning the Tour de France one day. My comrades in pedals were Johny Wiltzius, Marcel Holtgen and Gusty Petry. We joined the Union Cycliste de Dippach as Cadets and Juniors. It was a prestigious club to which belonged Charly Gaul and a certain Johny Schleck, Frank’s and Andy’s father. So far, I haven’t won the Tour de France yet. But Lance Armstrong is not foolish enough to count me out yet.

Emile Lamberty, Pierre Meyer, Marcel Holtgen and Egide Thein of Union Cycliste Dippach, Luxembourg ca. 1963.

And finally, there is the unavoidable link between banking and Luxembourg. The Schleck brothers ran for team Saxobank, a sexy bank in Denmark. This makes our two brothers, Banker’s Schlecks. They traveled 3,500 km over the Tour, and that makes them Traveler’s Schlecks. Over time Frank became Andy’s water bearer: he was the Bearer’s Schleck, whereas Andy saw his second place guaranteed. Yes, you got it. Andy was the Guaranteed Schleck. As the best young rider, he earned the white Jersey, which made him the Blank Schleck.

It is really a marvelous story for the Schleck Book.

I watched the Tour daily and with great pleasure, on a US channel, “Versus”, with outstanding professional comments, and on French TV5 America, great pictures and endless meaningless verbiage. It took an interview with French President Sarkozy on TV5 to get some excellent comments about the great event and indeed about the riders. The news even trickled down to my local newspaper, the “Naples Daily News”, which showed pictures of Frank and Andy. Of course there was one with Andy showing his now legendary tongue. Did you know that if kids do that, they are told in Luxembourgish that they let the “Schleck” out?

Congratulations to Frank and Andy! This was hard work, good tactics and good emotions. Thanks for a very good job. How come you are not at UC Dippach?

Egide Thein

PS. I hear that Lance Armstrong, for his next year’s team, wants to sign the Schlecks?

Luxembourg: Peace Broke Out

It is hard to believe, that only days after the world held its breath, because Luxembourg was drumming the tam-tam with Swiss and Austrians, and shouting “Delaware, Delaware” dancing around the sleeping tiger that the tiger would just yawn and push a paper across the table, saying: “sign here!”

Teddy Roosevelt is quoted as saying:”Speak softly, but carry a big stick.” Some people have not learned the lesson correctly and went around yelling, but had no stick at all. As a consequence, the Luxembourg Minister of Finance had quite logically to go to Canossa, in this case to the US Embassy in Luxembourg and sign the paper that was shoved over to him across the table by the US Ambassador. After fierce “negotiations” probably about the color of the ink, black or blue, there was a sigh of relief on the US side, when it was finally done. After having been placed under the ban, the Luxembourg Minister of Finance, Luc Frieden, finally had performed the required penitential ritual. Peace has now broken out.

I’m not sure about the protocol in force here. Why would a member of a sovereign Government go to an Embassy to meet an Ambassador? I concluded that if Canossa doesn’t come to you, you have to go to Canossa.
But what are those gloating comments about avoiding a generalized information exchange? Each and every bank in Luxembourg has committed to the”Qualified Intermediary” exceptions already 8 years ago. So technically it is true that in 2009 generalized information exchange was avoided. The question wasn’t on the table anymore.

Usually promises only commit the believers. The good news is that Luxembourg has kept its promise to engage on a path to comply with OECD standards. But there remains the danger that Luxembourg’s chivalry in this case will not be sufficient.

1. Some agreements live the lifespan of a rose: only a moment in time. Proof is the European Union’s commitment to keep all its members off the OECD’s lists. Several member states were duped into believing that.

2. There is more to come. Under the push of various interest groups and mostly NGOs, other aspects of the haven nature will be brought to the forefront, such as judicial havens, corruption, international transfer pricing, money laundering, extortion, piracy. Each of those controversies carry the potential of international finger pointing, of redefining existing standards and agreements and promote new regulations and compliance requirements. It is now the time to do a thorough review of Luxembourg's future exposures. For sure there are some serious shortcomings that will be highlighted with ongoing examples and personal experiences on this blog.