The plan to open an office in Brussels “to be funded on a joint basis with our Guernsey colleagues” is currently being evaluated, a statement released on Wednesday evening by the office of Jersey chief minister Terry Le Sueur said.
The States of Guernsey Policy Council released a similar statement today, which said that funding for what was called “Guernsey’s external relations initiatives in the EU” had been agreed by the States during its 2009 States Strategic Plan debate.
“A key part of strengthening Guernsey’s representation in Europe will be the establishment of a Brussels office”, the statement added.
Neither Guernsey nor Jersey are members of the European Union, of which Brussels is effectively the capital city, although they are both crown dependencies of Britain, which is.
Same lobbying firm
Guernsey and Jersey already make use of the same lobbying firm in Brussels, the well-known and politically-connected Brunswick Group, which was founded in London in 1987 by Alan Parker.
Having their own office in Brussels would enable Guernsey and Jersey to be able to “build deeper relationships and networks, and not just receive advice but actually [respond to it],” States of Guernsey chief executive Mike Brown said in an interview.
He pointed to the City of London Corporation’s Brussels office as a model of the kind that the Channel Islands would seek to emulate.
Brown said the Brussels office could open as early as this summer, although he stressed that the plans still require the approval of various authorities in both islands before going ahead. He also indicated that the joint office demonstrated the increasing level of cooperation between the two islands, which are only about 30 km (20 miles) apart.
Follows Gibraltar meeting
News of a possible joint office in Brussels comes two weeks after talks were held in Gibraltar by the chief minister of that jurisdiction and those of Guernsey and Jersey.
The Gibraltar meeting was officially described as “a fact-finding and familiarization visit in relation to taxation, [the] EU, financial services and political matters”, and was seen as potentially significant because it followed months of increased scrutiny of Britain’s offshore jurisdictions by authorities in the UK and other G20 countries.
The Gibraltar talks also followed Britain’s decision to end its reciprocal healthcare agreements with the three crown dependencies – Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man – as well as its unexpected announcement in October to slash the IoM’s annual budget by 24%, or £140m, by changing the terms of a long-established customs revenue-sharing agreement.
Over the past two years Guernsey and Jersey have opened marketing offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong, respectively, and Jersey opened one in London, through their Guernsey Finance and Jersey Finance marketing arms.
