The Brussels puzzler
WHAT price Guernsey's international reputation? And how are we best going to ensure it remains intact?
WHAT price Guernsey's international reputation? And how are we best going to ensure it remains intact?
Two questions deputies are likely to be asking themselves when the next stage of the States Strategic Plan in published.
The answer will not be simple.
It is widely discussed in States circles at the moment that the Policy Council will ask for around £200,000 a year for the next four to establish an office in Brussels.
Taken together with other spending decisions on the cards, including the £250,000 being put aside for the firefighters investigation, members could find themselves not pressing ahead with some much trumpeted social initiatives, such as the domestic abuse strategy.
The groundwork has already been laid for the island to establish an office in Brussels to represent it.
Go back to May and Chief Minister Lyndon Trott set out to Jersey's Institute of Directors the case for a joint Channel Islands presence.
He said there would come a time when the European Union would become more important to the islands than the United Kingdom.
Obviously, a joint initiative would halve the costs.
But it does not appear in Jersey's latest business plan.
The islands currently share an adviser in Brussels to help them engage with Europe.
'A Brussels office is not something we have ever put in the business plan,' said Jersey States chief executive Bill Ogley.
He said Jersey Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur and Deputy Trott were regularly in contact over international issues.
'We have a positive programme of engagement with Brussels, which we believe is working well,' said Mr Ogley.
Any detailed case for an office would not be released until the Strategic Plan was published.
Although in Deputy Trott's absence – he, like Deputy Le Sueur, is on holiday at the time of writing – Deputy Chief Minister Bernard Flouquet has given more signs that an initiative to increase engagement with the European Union is on the horizon.
'Guernsey's domestic success is dependent on its ability to engage and trade with the rest of the world,' said Deputy Flouquet.
'At present, this engagement happens at both an operational and a political level on a regular basis.
'However, with the increasing importance of supranational bodies such as the EU and OECD, more direct engagement is becoming increasingly necessary to ensure Guernsey's views are heard and its position is understood.'
This was one of the External Relations Group's key strategic objectives, he added.
But the price will be too much for some.
How can it be justified at a time when deputies have been warned that money for new initiatives will have to be found from elsewhere, they will ask?
How popular will it be coming at a time when taxpayers will be asked to dig further into their pockets to cover the States' budget deficit when it shows little sign of getting its own spending under control?
If the Policy Council is going down the Brussels-office route, it faces an uphill battle because many in the States are focussed more on the domestic agenda than any international one.
They will have to be convinced that there is a real payback.
But Guernsey's economic wellbeing is fully dependent on being a player in the global finance world.
It cannot turn its back on the international agenda.
Ernst & Young tax partner Graham Parrott said the only drawback of setting up an office in Brussels would be the cost.
'I don't see a lot of downside. Although I'm not convinced there would be a lot of benefit, it shows we're trying to communicate,' he said.
