CHIEF Minister Tony Brown has welcomed support for plans to open a Manx government office in Brussels. He said a decision on how the office would be staffed would be made within six months.
Mr Brown said:
‘We are not part of the European Union but decisions they make can have a big influence on us. ‘We are aware of things that happen in Brussels that might affect us long term and having an office there will give us an opportunity to lobby on these issues.’
What’s exercising the pundits is that this comes when the EU is having another spat about the crown dependencies’ Zero 10 business tax rate and at a time when the IoM is having to cut costs and services. Also if you look at the comments under this article there’s a suggestion that this is part of some advance planning for an ambassadorial role. Remember, the IoM is not a member of the EU and is not a part of the UK.
