Switzerland - Banking Secrecy

[Stone1]

It's been in the news for some time now that banking secrecy is being focused on apparently because of the financial crisis. Switzerland and, to a somewhat lower degree, Austria, among others, are being targeted. I'm an austrian citizen and, as one probably can imagine, it might produce some irritation if you find your country on another list of "rouge nations".

All of that came to a recent summit when the german finance minister insulted both the swiss and native americans at the same time.
I found that for example:

What a diplomatic genius (sigh).

Here politicians say (at the moment; one never knows what they come up with tomorrow) that's no big deal, accounts of local citizens stay secret, but access to foreign accounts via the EU will be facilitated.
In Switzerland, on the other hand, a not inconsiderable amount of their national product is procured via such accounts.
Switzerland is the closest we've come towards democracy till this day, so that's why I thought the topic could be posted on this forum.

I just watched a broadcast where two Swiss where interviewed. Summed up, one said that giving up on the banking secret would be a good thing because Swiss is the 2nd richest country and most of the money would be somehow illegal anyway, so in consequence Switzerland would become "more normal" and would possibly enter the EU in the long run (he is left-wing oriented). The other, being a right-wing journalist, said something like their system wouldn't change anytime soon, as there's no quick way to do so. I don't remember him saying that he was completely against it, I guess he probably is. Note that I'm not quoting literally here, though I think I remember correctly.

So I wonder, if the swiss system changes, and they finally vote on entering the European Union, and my guess is that sooner or later they will, will that be a good or a bad thing? What consequences will it have on the development of democracy? Will the swiss example raise the level of people participation in Europe or will the weeds that are growing there get trampled down by the smelly feet of authoritarians?

Any opinions are appreciated.

[HarryStottle]