Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann has hit back at threats by a French politician of a "blacklist" should Austria not loosen its banking secrecy legislation and adopt automatic information exchange.

"We definitely do not need any unsolicited advice from outside when we know that we will put ourselves at the forefront of the fight against tax evasion," Faymann said in response to comments from French Junior Minister for Budget Bernard Cazeneuve Thursday, the Kurier newspaper reported.

Former Austrian politician and European Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries Franz Fischler joined the debate Thursday, saying he was stunned by the Austrian political debate surrounding banking secrecy, data exchange, and tax havens.

He spoke of "renewed evidence of the neglect of politics," Kleinen Zeitung reported, and said fears by the coalition government, such as those of Finance Minister Maria Fekter that privacy would become a thing of the past under an information exchange system, were "nonsense."

The data exchange would not apply to Austrian citizens with their savings in Austria, but would apply to foreigners with money in the country that could be there "with the idea of tricking the Treasury," he said. Endi

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