Unwelcome Immigrants: Bank Data Spat Fuels Anti-German Sentiment in Switzerland

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Resentment over the data theft scandal is only one manifestation of the deeper mood in Switzerland, which is characterized by an odd mix of outrage and resignation. Switzerland comes across as an insecure country, struggling to defend its position within Europe and worried about its prosperity -- in light of the economic crisis, immigration and challenges to its status as a financial center.

After countless scandals, large segments of the population and the political world have had enough of banks and tax evaders. The furious statements coming from politicians reflect unease about the country's changing identity, now that banking secrecy is under threat.

"The middle-class elite of Switzerland finds itself in a painful process of adjusting to the new reality. This leads to aggression," says Social Democrat Rudolf Strahm, who, as a former member of the Swiss parliament, has always fought against the protection of tax evaders. "For decades, the elite have cultivated banking secrecy as a myth and have incorporated it into the Swiss identity." This, says Strahm, has led to "a cultural dominance of the banking lobby, which has, in a sense, colonialized the way we think about this issue." Strahm also believes that the immense importance of this myth is the source of a "twisted concept of injustice," under which the Swiss morally condemn the German data purchase but do not condemn the protection of foreign tax evaders.

The aggressive reaction of many Swiss politicians is also surprising, because in reality the government already abandoned banking secrecy a year ago. In response to massive pressure from the American authorities, it handed over the names of 250 presumed tax evaders who had invested their money with the Swiss bank UBS. A few months ago, it also agreed to provide Washington with the names of another 4,450 wealthy Americans.

Providing Assistance

Fearing that it would end up on a blacklist compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Switzerland even announced last year that it would provide foreign officials with assistance in tax evasion cases. In the past, it had only provided such assistance in cases involving fraud, that is, when bank customers had falsified documents, a distinction that was the core of the Swiss principle of banking secrecy. The Swiss government has already negotiated corresponding bilateral agreements with 18 other countries.

Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz, who was initially irate over the German move, adopted a more diplomatic tone last Wednesday, when he said that while the government was disconcerted and would not provide administrative assistance in the case of the stolen data, it did plan to continue treaty negotiations with Germany. Merz, who had consistently defended banking secrecy, even raised the possibility of an automatic exchange of data with foreign authorities -- and in doing so violated a strict taboo.

That evening, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey participated in a podium discussion in Basel. When she was asked whether she would ever purchase stolen bank data, she smiled and said: "If I were the finance minister, I would give serious thought to such an offer, because one is constantly searching for money and doesn't like to see people committing tax evasion."

The Desire to Not Be German

The front of those who are still fighting to defend the remnants of the country's previously invulnerable banking secrecy is crumbling. In recent days, even representatives of Switzerland's centrist parties, the CVP and the FDP, have suddenly started talking -- contrary to the official positions of their party leaders -- about completely lifting the distinction between tax evasion and tax fraud.

Meanwhile, the media are still savoring the spat with the Germans. Conservative journalist Markus Somm wrote in Weltwoche that wanting to not be German lies at the core of Swiss identity, and that this is something the Germans do not understand. Perhaps this is why Switzerland's German-speaking population is reacting so much more aggressively to the doubts being voiced in Germany about banking secrecy than it does to similar threats coming from the Italians, French or Americans.

At the podium discussion in Zürich's "Kaufleuten" Club, the panel members were unable to agree on whether Zürich had already become too German, nor could anyone offer a solution to the diplomatic row between Switzerland and Germany. Nevertheless, Vanessa Matthiebe of the German Club of Zürich said she still likes living in Switzerland.

SVP politician Roger Liebi even said he felt sorry for neighboring Germany -- because so many Germans feel the need to flee such a horrible government.

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• Part 1: Bank Data Spat Fuels Anti-German Sentiment in Switzerland
• Part 2: Outrage and Resignation