The Diplomat
The mayor of Algeciras and People’s Party senator, José Ignacio Landaluce, has provoked the ire of the chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, by calling on the Government of the Rock to “change its attitude if it wants to seek a common future” with the Cadiz region of Campo de Gibraltar.
Landaluce’s statements follow the Gibraltarian protest at the actions of a Spanish Customs Surveillance Service (SVA) patrol boat in the waters of the Bay of Algeciras last Monday, when it tried to identify a vessel that was sailing without lights or the automatic identification system (AIS) activated. It was an auxiliary vessel of the port of Gibraltar, the ‘Ultimate Predator’, which fled and was finally intercepted by the Spanish agents.
Landaluce, in his statements, limited himself to asking the Picardo government “to change its attitude if it wants to seek a common future that benefits the whole area of Campo de Gibraltar and Gibraltar”. He added that the waters surrounding the Rock are Spanish: “They are not theirs, far from it. They were never ceded, they were never included in the Treaty of Utrecht and they will never be recognised by Spain, because they are Spanish waters, not in dispute, but clearly Spanish property”.
Despite this, the Gibraltarian government has responded with “indignation” in a communiqué that includes a lengthy response from Picardo.
The chief minister describes Landaluce’s statements as “as erroneous as they are outrageous” and insists that “the waters surrounding Gibraltar are exclusively British”, citing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It was precisely Spain that submitted a diplomatic reservation to this convention, which, according to Picardo, has no effect whatsoever.
