I’m told that speaking to journalists on the condition of anonymity, an EU official said August 21 that the EU and the EU member states plan to contact Swiss authorities to formalize an agreement that would enable the transfer of bank account information of EU citizens suspected of tax fraud and evasion by depositing large amounts of funds in secret bank accounts.

They said:

We do welcome favourably the fact that it was possible [for Switzerland] to assist the United States in [the UBS] case. We expect a similar request from EU member states to Switzerland would not receive different treatment. Any action to seek to improve good governance and transparency in the area of tax affairs is to be welcome.

More progress.

But when will smaller countries, transition states and developing countries get a look in? No one has more to gain from the opening up of Switzerland than they do.