The Diplomat
The appearance of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha Gonzalez Laya, in the Congress of Deputies to inform the parliamentary groups of the content of the principle of agreement reached with the United Kingdom on Gibraltar is already dated. It will be on the 20th, in the Joint Committee for the European Union, three weeks after it was reached, last 31st December.
The Minister’s appearance is at her own request and the date has been set after PP and Citizens expressed their complaints upon learning of the content of the principle of agreement through a leak in the newspaper El País.
González Laya was forced to call a videoconference with the spokespersons of the parliamentary groups in the Foreign Affairs and EU Commissions to explain to them, since she had refused to offer details of what had been agreed upon before the press, alleging that she had to give them to the groups first. However, the pre-agreement, which will facilitate the inclusion of Gibraltar in the Schengen area of free movement, was sent before to the European Commission and from there it reached all the Community capitals, since for its implementation a treaty must be signed between the EU and the United Kingdom.
The opposition parties are upset with the actions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and, in particular, the PP called for a meeting of the Permanent Delegation of the Lower House to be the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who gives explanations of the pre-agreement with London in an extraordinary plenary session of Congress, as this is not in session.
