The Diplomat
Gibraltar’s chief minister, Fabian Picardo, yesterday expressed optimism that negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union on the future of the Rock will soon be concluded.
In an address to the Gibraltar Parliament, Picardo, following eight rounds of negotiations, the last one last week, indicated that he believes that an agreement is “within reach”.
The chief minister explained to the parliamentarians that the two parties are close to beginning to draw up a draft, because there are already concrete and clear proposals on the table, and he ventured that a couple of more rounds will be necessary to conclude the agreement.
According to Picardo, significant progress has been made in the last four weeks, although he acknowledged that the main problem centres on the mobility of people and that ‘the location and manner of carrying out Schengen controls has been a key issue throughout the negotiation.
Picardo also assured that at no time have the European negotiators put on the table aspects that compromise British sovereignty over Gibraltar.
As for the possibility that the disagreement between London and Brussels over the Northern Ireland Protocol could hinder the talks on Gibraltar, he said that he did not believe that this would happen, because they are “completely different” negotiations.
