EU plays down corporate tax dispute
The European Union commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner says Brussels is confident it will find a solution with Switzerland in a row over corporate tax rates.
Her statement came ahead of a meeting on Sunday with Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey to discuss bilateral relations, including asylum, police and electricity as well as trade in agricultural.
Ferrero-Waldner told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper that discussions among experts as well as plans by the Swiss finance ministry to reform the corporate tax system were encouraging signs.
She reiterated that Brussels did not set a deadline for the changes to be implemented.
The foreign ministry said it would publish a statement on Monday on the talks with the EU external relations commissioner.
Both sides have been at loggerheads over preferential tax rates for companies from the EU based in Switzerland, which is outside the 27-nation bloc.
Parliament is currently discussing extending and continuing a key labour accord with the EU amid opposition by the rightwing Swiss People’s Party.
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