The Diplomat
The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, met yesterday in Brussels with the Vice President of the European Commission responsible for relations with the United Kingdom, Maros Sefcovic, to “coordinate positions between Spain and the European Union” regarding Gibraltar.
“Today I met with Commissioner and Vice President Maros Sefcovic to coordinate positions between Spain and the European Union in the negotiations between the EU and the United Kingdom, with special attention to Gibraltar,” Albares stated via his Twitter account.
“Glad to have met Spain’s Foreign Affairs Minister, José Manuel Albares, to discuss EU-UK relations and particularly the ongoing negotiations on Gibraltar,” the commissioner said via the same social network. “Our EU and Spanish teams continue to work hand-in-hand to advance the talks,” he added.
The future relationship between the EU and Gibraltar is not included in the trade agreement reached between London and Brussels on Christmas Eve 2020, so the European Commission and the British government are negotiating a separate agreement on this issue that will ultimately require Spain’s approval. Although the policy framework was agreed on December 31, 2020, the actual negotiation process did not begin until October 2021, after the EU completed its own internal procedures. The aim at this stage is to conclude an agreement before Easter. So far, four rounds of negotiations have already taken place and the next one will take place between February 1 and 3 in Brussels.
Last December, Albares received his British counterpart Elizabeth Truss in Madrid, with whom she agreed that “the first four negotiating rounds have made significant progress” and that it is “in everyone’s interest to conclude these talks in the first quarter of 2022”. In any case, the two parties reaffirmed their respective positions regarding the sovereignty of the Rock.
Precisely, Sefcovic also met yesterday with Truss to address the controversial Protocol for Northern Ireland included in the Brexit agreement. At the end of the meeting, the commissioner and the minister reaffirmed, in a joint statement, “their shared desire for a positive EU-UK relationship underpinned by our shared belief in freedom and democracy and cooperation on common global challenges.”
