The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, yesterday assured the mayors of the eight municipalities of the Campo de Gibraltar that the differences that have arisen in the negotiations between the EU and the UK over the Irish border will not prevent an agreement on the border of Gibraltar because “they are two separate negotiations and there should be no collision between them.”
Albares received yesterday at the Palacio de Viana, in Madrid, the mayors of the Campo de Gibraltar, one of the regions most affected by the Brexit, days after the start of negotiations between London and Brussels to define the relationship of Gibraltar with the European Union, negotiations that could be contaminated by the discrepancies between the two parties regarding the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. If no agreement is reached on Gibraltar, the result would be a hard Brexit in the region, with border controls on passengers and goods that would affect the thousands of Spaniards working on the Rock.
During the meeting, the minister told the mayors that the Government’s priority is to reach a good outcome of the negotiations in order to create an area of “shared prosperity and development that provides opportunities” and assured them that there is “a clear commitment” to reach the agreement and that, “for the moment, there is nothing worrying” that prevents it, as he told the press after the meeting,
He also reiterated, as he did 24 hours earlier, that “the negotiation on Northern Ireland should not influence that of the agreement on Gibraltar” because “they are two separate negotiations and there should be no collision between them”. The United Kingdom and the European Union have until the end of the year to sign the final agreement on the conditions for the exit of the United Kingdom from the Union. In any case, Albares assured that the Government is prepared “for any eventuality and, of course, there is a plan B” in case negotiations stall, “but plan A is to achieve a win-win agreement before the end of the year”.
For his part, both the mayor of Algeciras, Jose Ignacio Landaluce, as the president of the Commonwealth of Campo de Gibraltar, Juan Lozano, demanded during the meeting the Government to implement investments to improve the development of the area, in which 15,000 people come every day to the Rock to work.
“We need certainty and that Foreign is the Ministry of Campo de Gibraltar to be responsible for remembering the investments to be made in the area” and that the special development plan of Campo de Gibraltar and the general state budgets “are put in place” to ensure an “area of growth and security,” said Landaluce. For his part, the mayor of La Linea, Juan Franco, left the meeting with the minister “hopeful and confident that we get to December 31 with the agreement, if not closed, in the absence of bangs” and the president of the Provincial Council of Cadiz, Irene Garcia, thanked the “sensitivity shown by the Minister Albares to the Campo de Gibraltar in particular and the province of Cadiz in general.
