The Diplomat
The Government of Gibraltar, which feared that the arrival of Alberto Núñez Feijóo at La Moncloa would complicate a possible agreement on the future of the Rock after Brexit, does not hide its relief at the results of the elections held in Spain.
The Gibraltarian media have widely echoed the results, and both the chief minister, Labour’s Fabian Picardo, and the leader of the opposition, the Conservative Keith Azopardi, are pleased that Pedro Sánchez will be able to continue governing, because they believe it will make it easier for Spain to accept a hypothetical agreement between the European Commission and the United Kingdom.
Negotiations between Brussels and London were paralysed from the very moment Sánchez announced the call for the general election and everything points to the fact that they will not resume until the uncertainty in Spain is resolved.
Sánchez and the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, claimed a couple of months ago that an understanding could soon be reached, but obviously the early elections in Spain put paid to any forecasts. If the instability created in our country by the election results is added to the fact that elections are scheduled for this autumn in Gibraltar, everything suggests that there will not be much progress before 2024.
Meanwhile, Brussels continues to look the other way in the face of the situation in Gibraltar regarding the application of access controls to the Schengen area. As a sign of goodwill, for the duration of the negotiations, after Brexit in February 2020 and the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, Spain has suspended certain obligations at the border, such as the passport requirement for Gibraltarian citizens. This was done, with the confidence that it would be for a few months, but successive extensions have now exceeded three years, a time in which, on a daily basis, Gibraltarians enter European territory without any kind of control, something that other citizens who are not members of Schengen countries cannot do.
