Eduardo González
The program on State action abroad included in the draft General State Budget (PGE, for its acronym in English) 2022, recently submitted by the Government to the Congress of Deputies, has as one of its objectives the “recovery of sovereignty over Gibraltar and, with it, of Spanish territorial integrity”.
According to the Operational Qbjective 1.15, entitled “To maintain an active bilateral policy aimed at the recognition of the right of Spain to the recovery of sovereignty over Gibraltar and, with it, of the Spanish territorial integrity”, the United Nations doctrine on the decolonization of Gibraltar establishes that “Gibraltar is a colony” that “destroys the national unity and territorial integrity of Spain”.
Likewise, it continues, “the United Nations clearly stated that in the decolonization process the ‘interests’ of the inhabitants of the territory, and not their ‘wishes’, must be taken into account”, which “precludes the possibility of applying the principle of self-determination to the colonial situation of Gibraltar, condemning without reservation in this regard the referendum organized by the administering power of the colony in 1967”. Therefore, “the question of Gibraltar is a question of sovereignty and territorial integrity for Spain” in which “only the principle of territorial integrity must be applied, and not that of self-determination” and which “must be resolved through bilateral negotiations between Spain and the United Kingdom”, warns the Executive of Pedro Sánchez.
In this context, “the Spanish foreign policy, in the development of bilateral relations with partner countries, both EU members and non-members, maintains as one of its objectives to achieve support for Spain’s right to the recovery of its sovereignty over Gibraltar, within the framework of the doctrine established by the United Nations, which requires the application of the principle of territorial integrity”. “This active policy is multidimensional, and is applied both in contact with EU and non-EU countries and within the international forums and organizations of which Spain is a member (UN, EU, Council of Europe, OECD, etc.),” it adds.
“The Treaty of the EU protects the territorial integrity of Spain”
Apart from that, the Operational Qbjective 1.16 of the PGE, related to the defense of “Spanish interests in the question of Gibraltar during the negotiations derived from the exit of the United Kingdom from the EU”, warns that “the territory of Gibraltar is not a part of the territory of the United Kingdom and, consequently, cannot be included in the territorial scope of the future agreements between the United Kingdom and the EU”.
Therefore, it continues, “any agreement with the United Kingdom on Gibraltar needs the prior agreement of Spain, as recognized in the Declaration of the European Council (art. 50) and the European Commission on the territorial scope of future agreements, made at the European Council of 24 and 25 November 2018″, and any agreement or legal act of the EU “must respect international law and, more specifically, the status of Gibraltar in the United Nations”. “Within the European Union, the special status of Gibraltar no longer exists” and “Article 4.2 of the Treaty on European Union protects the territorial integrity of Spain,” it adds. On the other hand, and “as regards the waters, the isthmus and the airport, additional safeguards and requirements will be necessary, since Spain claims sovereignty over these spaces”, the Executive assures.
The Government also recalls that in the framework of the negotiations to ensure an exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union as orderly as possible, Spain and the United Kingdom negotiated an International Agreement on taxation and four Memoranda of Understanding on citizens’ rights, police and customs cooperation, environment and tobacco and other products. Likewise, Spain and the United Kingdom reached last December 31 an understanding regarding Gibraltar which should serve as the basis for a future agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom in relation to Gibraltar and “whose ultimate objective is the creation of an area of shared prosperity”.
However, the text warns, “nothing in that understanding nor any action or measure taken in application or as a result of it, implies a modification of the legal position of Spain with respect to sovereignty and jurisdiction in relation to Gibraltar”.
