The Diplomat
The State Secretary for the European Union, Pascual Navarro, travelled to London yesterday to meet with the British Minister for Europe, James Cleverly, according to the latter’s Twitter account.
Cleverly added that they discussed their “shared determination” to make progress in negotiations between the UK and the EU on Gibraltar.
Navarro’s visit to his British counterpart comes just hours after a new round of negotiations between London and Brussels on Gibraltar’s future relationship with the EU, which have ended without visible results.
According to EU observers, the progress of these negotiations appears to be at a standstill, as a result of the ongoing standoff between the United Kingdom and the European Commission, which is preparing for the possibility that the British might decide to unilaterally break the Northern Ireland Protocol, as Boris Johnson’s government has suggested.
If the British finally adopt such a measure, the European Commission could respond by suspending trade agreements with the United Kingdom and, in addition, paralysing the negotiations on the Gibraltar Treaty.
The Gibraltarian authorities are very concerned about this scenario and, in fact, the chief minister, Fabian Picardo, travelled to London last Wednesday to meet with the British foreign minister, Liz Truss, and with Cleverly, to explain their fears. After the meeting, Picardo said he remained optimistic that an agreement could be reached between London and Brussels.
