First, using monthly data from 1981 onwards of 3 months Euro rates it is shown that there is a long-run equilibrium relation between the Swiss and the German/Euro-area interest rates which has neither been destroyed by the rejection of Switzerland joining the European Economic Area nor by the introduction of the Euro nor by the events of September 11, 2001. It implies an interest rate bonus of about 1 percentage point. At the end of the 1980s this bonus seemed to vanish, but in the 1990s it came about again, and has been transferred from the German Mark to the Euro. In the second part of the paper, using daily rates, it is shown that the short-run impact of the US on the European interest rates is stronger after September 11, 2001, than in the period before. A long-run impact in the sense of an equilibrium relation between the US and the European interest rates which might be dominated by the US rates can, however, neither be found in the monthly nor in the daily data.
