GENEVA — Swiss lawmakers have signaled their willingness to compromise in a long-running dispute over whether to give the United States files on thousands of suspected American tax cheats.
“We’re prepared to talk,” Ursula Wyss, a key figure in the left-wing Social Democratic Party that voted against the U.S.-Swiss treaty last week, was quoted as saying by Swiss weekly Sonntags Blick.
Swiss People’s Party lawmaker Bruno Zuppiger called for an end to the “dishonorable spat” between those in favor and those against the deal, telling Zurich-based Sonntags Zeitung, “For economic and political reasons we have to bite the bullet” and approve the treaty.
Zuppiger’s nationalist party also had voted against the treaty after its demands for amendments weren’t met, but their ranks appeared to be splitting ahead of today’s second — and possibly final — ballot in Switzerland’s lower house.
The votes of the two parties were enough to block approval last week for a deal the government had hoped would end, once and for all, the threat of prosecution looming over Swiss bank UBS AG if the country refuses to honor its agreement to hand over the names of 4,450 U.S. clients.
Swiss authorities have already transmitted the names of about 400 UBS clients who signed waivers as part of the Internal Revenue Service’s voluntary disclosure program, according to a spokeswoman for the Swiss Federal Tax Administration.
Another 100 UBS clients gave their consent directly to Swiss authorities, Esther Schoenenberger Bloch told The Associated Press on Monday.
