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Property owners and residents living in Portugal continue to wait for information about how Brexit could potentially affect their position within the country, however the Portuguese minister for foreign affairs has assured that Portugal is looking to act with a “spirit of openness” in the negotiations.

With Brexit negotiations paused while elections take place in the UK, details about how Brexit will affect visitors, property owners and residents from the UK in Portugal continue to remain sparse.  However, there have been positive reactions coming from Augusto Santos Silva, the minister for foreign affairs in Portugal.

Speaking at a meeting with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Avrault, the minister told the Portuguese news agency that he was looking for “a negotiation with firmness but with a spirit of openness” when it came to the future of Europe and the Brexit situation.

One of the issues at the top of the list for the minister was to deal with the situation regarding European citizens living and working in the UK and that of British citizens living in Europe.  Portugal is looking to safeguard the rights of all the people in this situation as was previously stated by the Portuguese Prime Minister shortly after the Brexit referendum returned a vote to leave.

When asked about the financial cost Brexit would represent to the UK, Santos Silva said that the figure of 100 million euros was purely “journalistic speculation” he did however add that there would be a cost to leaving the union.

“From our point of view, things are clear,” he went on. “The United Kingdom - like Portugal, like Germany, like Ireland, like the Czech Republic – made commitments in the framework of the current financial outlook. Some imply payments until 2019, others imply payments after 2019. 
“The United Kingdom should take on these commitments.”

He added: “What the British are saying is that, from their point of view, the commitments they must keep are those payments that are made until 2019,” but this is not “the most correct” way to do things. Let’s agree on this first, politically, and then the technicians will do the sums,” he said. “It’s not hard to do them. Until then it’s speculation.”