The Diplomat
The Government has not clarified whether it inspected the contents of the 150 kilos of packages that the United Kingdom sent to Gibraltar through the Fence and which, after being held for 16 days, it finally agreed to allow to cross to the Rock.
After the Vox parliamentary group asked the Executive a series of questions about this incident, which was reported by The Diplomat, the reply received acknowledges that it authorised, at the end of October, the passage of “parcels” that the British government sent to the Governor of Gibraltar and which it intended to pass through the fence as a “diplomatic pouch”.
The Government also points out that the United Kingdom informed Spain that it had “mistakenly” sent this parcel through the fence and that, exceptionally, it was requesting that it be sent to Gibraltar.
In its reply to Vox, the Spanish government states that ‘in the spirit of the good relations that exist between Spain and the United Kingdom, and as a sign of the courtesy that the Spanish authorities extend to the British authorities, the Spanish customs authorities carried out the appropriate customs formalities expeditiously’.
It also points out that it was the Ministry of Finance, in accordance with the legislation in force, which was responsible for giving “authorisation for the exit from national territory of the aforementioned consignment of parcels”, which had “the favourable opinion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation”.
However, the reply does not specify, at any point, whether the packages were inspected, like any other merchandise, since they were not diplomatic bags, which are inviolable, but which can only be used between a State and its diplomatic representations in another State, which was not the case in this instance.
The Government itself indicates that the aforementioned parcel “in no case has nor can it be considered a diplomatic bag, under the terms of the Convention on Diplomatic Relations, signed in Vienna on 18 April 1961, nor benefit from the privileges or facilities that this Convention provides for diplomatic bags”.
This message has been “officially” conveyed to the United Kingdom “through the usual diplomatic channels”. Furthermore, the reply continues, “the competent authority was also informed that the said consignment was not considered to be a diplomatic bag and, therefore, could not enjoy the privileges and facilities of the same”.
Finally, the government stresses that what happened “does not constitute any precedent”, given that one of Vox’s questions wanted to know “how this precedent will affect future cases, especially when the Gibraltar border is now a Schengen border with a third country”.
