Oostenrijk valt Groot Brittannië aan in bij financieel overleg (en)

BRUSSELS - Austria has accused the UK of being a haven for money laundering on the eve of an EU meeting in Dublin, with Cyprus, Ireland, Portugal and Slovenia's (potential) bailout needs also on the agenda.

The Austrian finance minister, Maria Fekter, described Britain as "the island of the blessed for tax evasion and money laundering" in an interview with her country's Kurier newspaper on Thursday (11 April).

Comparing the UK and its list of "protectorates" - Caribbean micro-states subject to British law - to Cyprus in terms of hosting secretive foundations and trusts used to hide the true identity of their owners, she noted: "Just as we urged the abolition of sealed foundations in the Cyprus rescue to drain the money laundering swamp, we must demand the same of the United Kingdom."

She added: "We want a trust registry for the Channel Islands, but also for countries where British law applies, such as the Cayman Islands, the [British] Virgin Islands or Gibraltar … These are all areas that are havens for tax evaders."

She repeated her message in a second interview with the Die Presse newspaper, saying: "What we demand of Cyprus, a small island, we also demand of the UK."

Fekter spoke on the eve of an informal meeting of EU finance ministers in Dublin on Friday and Saturday set to discuss a joint initiative by the UK, as well as France, Germany, Italy and Spain, to introduce "automatic exchange" of information on foreigners' bank accounts.

Luxembourg earlier in the week gave in to pressure from fellow EU countries by saying it will abolish bank secrecy in 2015, leaving Austria isolated on the subject months ahead of national elections in September.

But Fekter said she will not throw in the towel just yet.

"This [automatic exchange] is a massive invasion of privacy, which we do not want … Austria is not a haven for tax evaders, we are a high tax country," she told Kurier.

Despite the prominence of the tax haven debate - fuelled by the massive leak of secret bank data by US-based journalists and by revelations of tax-dodging by France's former budget minister - EU officials told press in Brussels on Thursday that "in political terms, probably the most important agenda item" will be Cyprus.

Ministers are to give a quiet nod to the Cypriot bailout model, agreed in March, pending formal approval in April, with the first payments expected to be made in the first half of May.

Leaked documents drafted by the troika of international lenders - the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - earlier this week show that the financial situation on the island remains highly volatile.

The March model spoke a €10 billion troika loan and a €7 billion contribution from Cyprus. But the latest blueprint says Cyprus will need to find €13 billion from its own pocket, with "final touches" still being added to the deal.

Another troika paper obtained by the FT on Thursday, has recommended that fellow eurozone countries give Ireland and Portugal a seven-year extension on the repayment of their bailout loans.

The two countries had asked for a 15-year extension to help restore market confidence and lower the price of borrowing.

But the troika paper noted: "An extension of the average maturity by seven years would provide a balanced compromise between the lender and creditor constrains."

The paper noted that the decision should be announced "early" and implemented "quickly" because of the "current volatility in the markets."

An EU official noted on Thursday that the talks on easing Portugal's terms will be "more exciting" because its constitutional court struck recently down €1.3 billion worth of austerity measures needed to meet lenders' demands.

"We await a report from Portuguese finance minister on this. Implementation [of the bailout] by the Irish authorities continues to be exemplary," the source noted.

Meanwhile, Slovenian news agency STA reports that Bratislava's finance chief, Uros Cufer, will meet with officials from the commission, the IMF and the EU's Luxembourg-based bailout-fund, the ESM, on Friday.

The news added to speculation that Slovenia is lining up to ask for outside help with its own failing banks - an idea vigorously denied by its top politicians.

The EU official noted that there is "need for significant reforms in the Slovenian banking sector" and that its minister, making his EU debut after recent elections "will give a presentation of policy plans."

He added that there is "no intention of Slovenia applying for such a [bank rescue] programme, and any comparison with previous bailouts is simply wrong," however.

He also said the Cypriot bailout - the first one to hit bank depositors - is "not a template."

With Austria, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovenia trying to fight off comparisons with Cyprus in terms of bank secrecy, non-performing loans or imbalance in the banking-sector:GDP ratio, the official said: "You will find no other banking sector that is even vaguely similar [to Cyprus]."