Eduardo González
The European Commission has assured that the British Government has “failed to meet” with the Memorandum of Understanding on tobacco included in the Protocol annexed on Gibraltar to the UK’s Withdrawal Agreement from the EU. In addition, the Spanish Government assured that the memorandum on the environment is also “pending” compliance.
On April 16, the third meeting of the Specialised Committee on the Protocol of Gibraltar, co-chaired by officials from the European Commission and the UK Government, was held by videoconference. The EU delegation included representatives from member states, including Spain. The Committee was established by the Withdrawal Agreement to facilitate the implementation of the Protocol on Gibraltar, which includes four memoranda of understanding (MOUs, signed on November 21, 2018) on citizens’ rights, tobacco, environmental cooperation, and police and customs cooperation, in addition to a Tax Agreement negotiated bilaterally by Spain and the UK and which entered into force last March 1.
As reported by the Commission last week in a statement, the EU and the UK exchanged during the telematic meeting updated information on the Protocol and shared “the objective of ensuring the correct application of the Protocol to provide continued security and prosperity to Gibraltar and the surrounding area, in particular the territory of the municipalities that make up the Mancomunidad de Municipios del Campo de Gibraltar”.
Also, the EU and the UK “reaffirmed their commitment to uphold the citizens’ rights commitments outlined in the Protocol” and the EU recalled that “the UK has failed to meet its obligations stipulated in Article 3(3) of the Protocol on Gibraltar, related to the establishment of a system of traceability and security measures relating to tobacco products” in order to prevent smuggling, the statement added.
For his part, the State Secretary for the EU, Juan González-Barba, said yesterday during a press conference with his Austrian counterpart, Karoline Edtstadler, at the ministerial headquarters of the Palacio de Viana in Madrid that during the meeting of the Specialized Committee “the representative of Spain reported that the obligations on the traceability of tobacco and on the environment are still pending compliance”. “That’s all I have to say”, he added.
