The Diplomat
The President of the PP, Pablo Casado, yesterday accused the Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, of not having taken advantage of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union to negotiate the co-sovereignty of Gibraltar.
In his Twitter account, Casado publishes the request submitted by the Popular Parliamentary Group in the Congress of Deputies to meet the Permanent Delegation of the House in order that Sanchez appears in an extraordinary plenary session and explain the situation of Gibraltar, after the principle of agreement reached with the British Government.
The agreement, which would materialize in a Treaty to be negotiated in the next six months between London and Brussels, implies the inclusion of the British colony in the Schengen area of free movement of people and goods and the suppression of the Fence that separates the Rock from the Line of the Conception.
Pablo Casado emphasizes that “the PP left an agreement with the European Union that allowed to take advantage of the Brexit to negotiate the co-sovereignty, in addition to specific plans for the Campo de Gibraltar and the Rock on investments and taxation”. And he adds, in reference to Pedro Sanchez: “Once again, he has failed”.
The principle of agreement reached in the early hours of December 31 has been received with great satisfaction by the authorities of the United Kingdom and, especially, by the Government of Gibraltar. The Spanish Executive has also shown itself to be very satisfied with what has been achieved, although it has not provided all the details of what was agreed, arguing that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, will explain them in an appearance before the Parliamentary Groups.
However, in recent hours, statements have already emerged in a different sense about who will have the last word on access to Gibraltar for passengers arriving at the port and airport of the colony. While Gonzalez Laya stated that it will be Spain who has the last word, the Chief Minister of the Rock, Fabian Picardo, wrote on his Twitter account a strong statement to the contrary: “According to the New Year’s Eve Agreement only Gibraltar decides who enters Gibraltar and no Spanish agent will carry out checks of any kind at the airport or port of Gibraltar, neither now nor in the next four years. This is our land”.
And yesterday, in an interview with the newspaper El País, when asked about the words of the minister, Picardo revealed aspects of the agreement, as follows: “I still don’t want to open Pandora’s Box on the subject of the negotiations. Gibraltar accepts that entry into the Schengen area is the responsibility of its authorities and that the agent of the Schengen authority in Spain is the Government of Spain. That responsibility over its database lies with it, but only once Gibraltar, which has primary control, has allowed entry. We have reached an important balance that allows both parties to have the security and control of their respective borders. There is not one, there will continue to be two: that of Gibraltar and that of Schengen. Before being able to cross the European border, a person must have crossed the Gibraltarian border. He or she will then arrive at the EU border where Frontex agents will be stationed and will have access to the database maintained by Spain. That is where Spain has its remote responsibility, because it will not be at the airport or port”.
In any case, Picardo assured that Gibraltar and the United Kingdom “have not ceded sovereignty, jurisdiction or control”.
