A war of words between Switzerland and Germany over banking secrecy escalated on Wednesday when a Swiss member of parliament compared German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck to the Nazis.
“He reminds me of the generation of Germans from 60 years ago who went through the streets wearing leather coats, boots and [Nazi] arm-bands,” Thomas Mueller said to gasps in a heated Swiss parliament debate on banking secrecy.
Mueller, a member of the center-right Christian People’s Party that is part of the Swiss coalition government, said Steinbrueck’s behavior recalled the image of the “ugly German.”
The debate was called after Switzerland, the world’s biggest offshore center, offered to relax strict bank secrecy on Friday as part of a global crackdown on tax havens led by Germany.
Switzerland said it took the move for fear of being put on a blacklist of uncooperative tax havens ahead of a G20 summit in April.
Steinbrueck, who already angered Switzerland last year by calling for a “carrot and stick” approach on the tax issue, prompted new outrage on Saturday when he compared Germany’s southern neighbor to “Indians” running scared from the cavalry.
Speaking at a news conference in Paris on Wednesday, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheleine Calmy-Rey said Steinbrueck’s comments were “totally unacceptable in both form and substance.” She had summoned the German ambassador to protest on Tuesday.
Asked about the row at a government news conference, German Finance Ministry spokesman Torsten Albig denied that Steinbrueck had said anything disrespectful.
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