The Austrian Finance Minister, Maria Fekter, said to a newspaper that she will fight like a lion to protect the country's banking secrecy. She also promised to veto any steps that threaten the country's centuries-old tradition.

Austria is strongly against the idea of automatically exchanging information about depositors with fellow European Union member to demise bank secrecy in order to end cross-border tax evasion.

Luxembourg is the only European Union member that has refused to automatically share data on banking clients with the EU members. However, it is ready to ease the secrecy rules and coordinate with foreign tax authorities by working closely, said Finance Minister Luc Frieden to a German paper at the weekend.

"I am a hunter of tax cheats but also the protector of honest savers. It is unjustified to open all the savings accounts of those who have done nothing wrong. That is why I am fighting like a lion for banking secrecy", Fekter said.

She said that as a minister she will not approve anything that intends to jeopardize the country's bank secrecy. Austria has already been reported to have struck deals with Switzerland and Liechtenstein that protects tax secrecy.

European tax commissioner Algirdas Semeta condemned the bank secrecy polices of Austria in January.