In a move that could be construed as in indecent haste, Portugal’s government has set up a task force to ‘lure investment away from Britain’ following the British public’s desire to leave the European Union.
In the swirl of Brexit fog that surrounds every news item and opinion on what will happen, when and to whom, the Portuguese have decided to that many companies in the UK are pondering a shift of jobs and investment to continental Europe, and that many apparently are “thinking that London risks damaging its status as Europe's biggest financial centre after Britain formally began its divorce from the European Union on Wednesday.”
That’s according to the government relations minister, Maria Leitao Marques, who told a news conference that, "The cabinet approved the creation of a temporary structure named 'Portugal In' that is designed to attract investments that want to stay in the EU after the United Kingdom's exit. It will report directly to the prime minister."
The mandate of the task force will run through to the end of 2019, after the British exit comes into effect in March that year.
Portugal, which emerged from an international bailout in 2014 after a debt crisis, is seeking more direct foreign investment to help the economy grow so that the country can leave its debt woes behind.
The new task force will busy itself with "promoting factors that differentiate Portugal, namely in terms of human resources and its geo-economic position, so as to dynamise entrepreneurial capacity and jobs creation," said the minister.
