Commentary: Paradise Papers fuel Swiss responsible business initiative
The "Paradise Papers" [...] are increasing conversations around a people’s initiative, on which Swiss citizens are set to vote in the next couple of years... The initiative text is currently being examined in Bern. For the Federal Council (executive body), the initiative goes too far. It fears that extra regulations could hurt Swiss businesses, which may simply move abroad, and that existing rules suffice. The government does not plan to issue a counter-proposal to the campaigners’ text, but a Senate commission announced on Tuesday that it wants one. If the House of Representatives’ Legal Commission makes a similar request, parliament will be forced to draw up a counter-proposal. This seems to suggest that senators are more open than cabinet ministers to the campaigners’ demands and that, in theory, some of those demands could be incorporated in a counter-proposal.