The number of fine words in any political statement is inversely proportional to the progress of negotiations. British Foreign Minister David Lammy received his Spanish counterpart, José Manuel Albares, in London on Monday. The former announced his desire to soon achieve greater “prosperity and security for the people of Gibraltar” by reaching a new treaty with the EU to establish the status of this territory in the post-Brexit era. The Spanish minister, for his part, announced his intention to “ensure that common prosperity is created between Gibraltar and the 300,000 Andalusians connected every day in their normal lives” with the Rock.
But the truth is that neither Lammy nor Albares were going to negotiate anything at their bilateral meeting on an issue that remains stalled and whose scope of discussion now falls to the EU. The meeting in London has only served to announce the resumption of four-way talks in Brussels next Thursday, under the auspices of the executive vice-president of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič, “at ministerial level”. That is to say, as already happened in the last stage of the previous Conservative Government of the United Kingdom, which sent the Minister of Foreign Affairs, David Cameron, to Brussels to meet with José Manuel Albares, David Lammy will also go to the community capital. As will the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo.
Lammy and Albares have indicated that their meeting would focus on security issues in Europe, such as the war in Ukraine and urgent matters such as energy and climate change. The new Labour government has made a point of hoping to restart a new era in relations with the EU, after years of tension and rivalry over Brexit.
Some signals on the Gibraltar issue, however, suggest that negotiations remain deadlocked, and that Lammy has no intention of pushing through any initiative that might deviate from the will or purposes pursued by the Gibraltar Government in these negotiations. At Thursday’s meeting, the British Foreign Secretary will make clear the new Labour Government’s unwavering commitment to the “double lock”, according to British sources. That is, the UK Executive “will never enter into agreements whereby the people of Gibraltar would come under the sovereignty of another State against their freely and democratically expressed wishes”, the same sources indicate, adding that it will never enter into a process of sovereignty negotiations with which the Rock does not agree.
Gibraltarians still hope that a new treaty can be concluded before the Schengen Area’s enhanced border control system comes into force on 10 November. For the first time, it will be applied to Gibraltar, as is the case with third-party countries, and the Rock will no longer be in the legal limbo it has been in since the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU.
“There are still technical issues to be resolved, but I remain optimistic about the possibility of reaching a secure agreement that is beneficial to all and brings renewed and improved prosperity to the entire region,” Picardo said.
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However, the perception of those familiar with the negotiations over the past few months points to an unnecessary stalemate, and even some steps backwards, on key issues.
The talks were halted following the UK election on 4 July, which produced a new Labour government.
The most thorny point in the negotiations is Madrid’s demand that Spanish agents who are going to control passengers arriving in Gibraltar be able to be armed and in uniform, and to move freely around the entire border perimeter. The British side rejects the idea that they should be armed, arguing that by tradition their police do not carry weapons, while the Chief Minister of the Rock, Fabian Picardo, does not want to hear about the possibility of Spanish uniforms being seen inside the British colony. “There will be no Spanish boots on the ground,” he said. For its part, Spain argues that a specific protocol cannot be designed for Gibraltar and that if Gibraltarians want to join the European border-free area they must accept the Schengen procedures.
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