The Diplomat
Gibraltar’s chief minister, Fabian Picardo, insisted on Monday, in a message to mark the beginning of the year, that the Rock will continue to have “exclusive competence” for entry into its territory, following the principle of agreement reached on December 31st between Spain and the United Kingdom.
Picardo’s words represent a different vision from the one held by the Spanish government, whose Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, states that it will be Spain that has the final word on entry into an area that will remain in the Schengen area of free movement.
In his message to the Gibraltarians, Picardo said, in relation to visas and the migration issue, that “all aspects” of this type of activity “will take place only as a result of the reversible permit granted by the United Kingdom and Gibraltar in the final treaty to be signed” between Brussels and London.
The chief minister explained that “the Member States of the Schengen area, including Spain, will maintain the competence to issue visas for the Schengen area when the entry is made by Gibraltar, as is the case with all other points of entry to the Schengen area,” but stressed that “only Gibraltar will maintain the competence to grant entry visas to the territory.
“Entry to Gibraltar will remain our exclusive competence and will be the priority key to access Gibraltar or access to the Schengen area through Gibraltar,” he reiterated.
And he said: “We will exercise that priority control over access through the Border and Coast Guard Agency of Gibraltar, which will become the main agency of control over all access via Gibraltar.
In addition, Picardo referred to the issue of claims on the sovereignty of Gibraltar and the assistance of Frontex agents to control access to the Schengen area.
The chief minister was very pleased with the principle of agreement reached on December 31, stating that it does not “cross any of the red lines” of Gibraltar in terms of “jurisdiction, sovereignty and control.
Thus, he said that the sovereignty claim of Spain over Gibraltar was “removed” from the discussions of this pre-agreement, which recalled that “it is not legally binding”, while it is the Treaty to be signed between the United Kingdom and the EU, “which does not maintain any claim to the sovereignty of Gibraltar.
“All aspects of immigration-related activity,” he added, “will take place only as a result of the reversible permission granted by the United Kingdom and Gibraltar in the final Treaty to be signed. And he warns: “We will be able to undo the Treaty, which also represents a demonstration of sovereignty”.
And referring specifically to Frontex, with whose assistance Spain will be assisted in matters relating to the Schengen area, he assured that, regardless of the provisions of the agreement or treaty, none of the agents of that European Agency of Border and Coast Guard, “will be able to operate in Gibraltar, except with permission provided by an act passed by the Parliament of Gibraltar.
Picardo said he will never present to Parliament a law that allows “any agent of the law of Spain to have executive jurisdiction or any other type in Gibraltar.
