The interview So the answer to your question is that the
state should spend in bad times and save in good times but the spending should not be higher than the saving in an economic circle in order to maintain public debts at a fixed level. Rising public debts without limits means living at the cost of the future gener- ation. However, states which did not save in
good times cannot avoid austerity measures in order to find a balance. Lastly, austerity measures should not be
confused with implementation of good gov- ernance. The latter is required also in a spending phase.
How does Switzerland’s insolvency regime compare to others you have encountered? We have a speciality in our country in which we have public bankruptcy offices that use administrators as trustees. This has shown to be very helpful because the main bankrupt- cies are consumer bankruptcies or those of little companies handled better by a public official than a private attorney. In Switzerland there usually is not a pri-
vate trustee appointed; it only happens in large cases. Creditors may appoint a private liquidator, but as it costs more it’s only a good solution in larger cases. We have tried to reform Swiss bankrupt-
cy to introduce more restructurings like Chapter 11. I was a member of the expert group which introduced that proposal and it was brought to parliament and the first chamber declined our proposition. The left side of the parties were against it because they say everything in a bankruptcy case should go to labour, while the right side said
the law should not force creditors to give up their positions. The second chamber has approved the
reform. Now it seems that our amendment is underway and that the first chamber will reconsider its position. I think the amend- ment will pass. The position was a classical unholy alliance between the left wing and right wing who were against it with different arguments. That made me laugh. Both were wrong. The amendment would make bankrupt-
cies in Switzerland more like Chapter 11 bankruptcies in the US, but not as far as to ignore the importance of liquidation. If you make restructuring too easy, it will become more complicated for companies to receive credit from banks because banks will be fear- ful of not being paid back. We also think that maybe the US went
too far. It is too easy to restructure in the US. Liquidation is important. If there are too many businesses in the economy, then some of them must disappear, and this is only possible through liquidation.
What are your goals as president of Insol Europe? The first goal is to deliver good conferences with interesting content and good network- ing opportunities. Then we should continue to serve as a platform for our different wings (academics, judicial, lenders, turnaround, anti-fraud, Eastern Europe, and regulators). Finally, I am trying to involve more
members and attract more members from countries that are underrepresented in our association. We can only be a pan-European organisation if all European states are repre- sented equally.
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IFLR|RESTRUCTURING & INSOLVENCY 007
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