Portugal Web Summit news - What are the implications of the Web Summit 2023 cancellations in Portugal?
The Web Summit 2023 that is held in Lisbon Portugal on November 13-16 is organized by Connected Intelligence Limited (CIL) that is based in Ireland. The Portuguese Government has signed a contract with CIL through the Lisbon City Council that includes a provision for the Web Summit to be held in Lisbon for 10 years.
What are the implications of the Web Summit 2023 cancellations in Portugal?
The Agreement signed in 2018 by the Web Summit organizers and the Government of Portugal includes a Termination clause that is currently being examined by the Portuguese Government. This is due to the news of possible cancellations by large corporations following accusations against Israel by its CEO at the time, Paddy Cosgrave. Following news of the possible withdrawal of major corporations including Google, Meta, Siemens, IBM and Volkswagen, the Portuguese Government is assessing the possible consequences, including whether the organizers of the Web Summit will be able to fulfill their obligation to hold the event in Portugal for the remaining six years.
The Web Summit hosting agreement between CIL and the Portuguese Government does not have a provision for terminating the contract based on political changes that have a global impact, such as the dismissal of the event’s CEO, as being a justified cause for Termination.
According to the contract between the Web Summit organizers and Portugal, a justified cause for Termination includes serious infractions such as tax evasion and money laundering, which would then obligate the Web Summit organizers to refund an amount of 22 million Euros to the Portuguese Government, since this is the amount of financial support that was provided for the Web Summits that were already organized. The Termination clause also states that CIL would then have to compensate Portugal for the losses caused by the economic impact, that is computed by the revenues obtained by the most recent Web Summit multiplied by the number of remaining years.
Portugal’s current assessment of the implications of whether the Web Summit will still be held in Portugal is not being done due to any dispute between the parties, but only due to the possibility of a fallout following the anti-Israel statement made by the former CEO.
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