The Gibraltar fence commemorate this Sunday 42 years since its reopening for pedestrians, a day that put an end to the most traumatic and cruel period in the history of what is considered one of the smallest border crossings in the world.
The opening of this gate allowed the reestablishment of the intense relationships that historically unite citizens from both sides of the fence
Now, almost seven years after the Brexit referendum and four since the New Year’s Eve agreement in which their future was outlined, they continue to wait in suspense to find out if their future depends on this fence. disappear or harden.
A closure ordered by Franco
It was in 1969, when the dictator Francisco Franco ordered the closure permanent of the Gate and the cutting of communications, in response to the referendum by which the Gibraltarian population had unanimously shown their desire to belong to the British crown and the entry into force of the Constitution that expressed it.
A period of thirteen years then began in which hundreds of families from both sides of the fence they were separated and they had to go to the border to communicate shouting or take a boat to Morocco to reach Algeciras as the only possible way out of isolation.
A nightmare that is over December 15, 1982when it was reopened to pedestrians after a decision by the first Council of Ministers of the first government of Felipe González. Vehicles and goods would have to wait two more years.
Eternalization of negotiations
The nightmare once again threatens the population of the area, given the eternalization of negotiations between the United Kingdom, Spain, the European Union and Gibraltar to provide a solution to the situation on the Rock after the British exit from the EU, Brexit. Since then, Gibraltar and the neighboring Spanish region of Campo de Gibraltar have maintained a cross-border relationship in legal limbo, pending an agreement that never comes.
In just two weeks, on December 31, it will be four years since the New Year’s Eve Agreement in which the parties set out to draw up a solution: Gibraltar will join part of the Schengen areahand in hand with Spain (since the United Kingdom does not belong to this alliance) and, as a result, the fence would disappear and the borders would be located at the airport and port of the British colony, monitored by agents from Frontex, the European Agency of the Border and Coast Guard.
After four years of meetings and numerous ministerial summits and changes in the different governments involved, the negotiations for the development of this agreement they seem to still be stuck.
The last summit in Brussels took place on September 19. So, the executive vice president of the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic; the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares; his British counterpart, David Lammy; and the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, issued a brief joint statement in which they limited themselves to speaking of ambiguous “progress on complex issues of the negotiations”.
A month later Albares spoke of “the importance of reach a generous and balanced agreement now that Spain has offered in relation to Gibraltar”, delving into the fact that “there is no reason for the United Kingdom not to now say yes to this agreement”. That same day Picardo replied: “the ball is in Spain’s court” and that it was the Gibraltarian proposals that “are fair, balanced and respectful with the Schengen and single market acquis”.
‘Status quo’ at the border
Meanwhile, the cross-border relationship remains fluid thanks to the status quo which makes it possible for citizens on both sides of the fence to be the only ones who can enter and leave the European Union without being asked for their passport.
The result that the absence of an agreement would have for the border was staged on November 22, when the decision of the National Police agents assigned to the border of ask for passports caused a collapse of the border crossing. “We fear that it could happen at any moment,” says the mayor of La Línea de la Concepción, Juan Franco, the Spanish municipality most affected by Brexit, where thousands of residents cross the border daily to work in the Rock.
“This status quo allows us to continue livingbut I have been desperate about this issue for seven years and I believe that the negotiations should be more than closed,” he says. The absence of an agreement keeps the more than 300,000 residents of the Gibraltar countryside, and the more than 30,000 of the colony.
The president of the Commonwealth of municipalities of Campo de Gibraltar, Susana Pérez, appeals to the negotiators “to have the commitment and the height to look to reach an agreement that will benefit both communitiesthat we are already united by family, cultural, social and work ties, ties that must be fostered”
“If we have been enjoying these contact facilities for 42 years, it would be a shame if in the world we live in today we were deprived of the opportunity to grow and create wealth together”concludes the president.
#Gibraltar #fence #commemorates #years #opening #suspense #future
