The Diplomat
The resumption of the negotiating rounds between the European Commission and the United Kingdom on the future of Gibraltar after Brexit has not served to advance an agreement.
Brussels and London resumed contacts on Wednesday and Thursday in the British capital, after an eight-month hiatus as a result of the elections in Spain and the British colony, but no progress has been made on the thorniest pending issues, such as the joint use of Gibraltar airport and the presence of uniformed Spanish agents at both the port and the airport.
At the end of the new round, which makes it the fourteenth so far, the Rock’s chief minister, Fabian Picardo, told the Gibraltar Chronicle that officials from both sides, along with those from Spain and Gibraltar, “could not be working harder” to finalise the outstanding issues “as soon as possible”.
Negotiations are likely to continue next week, with the aim of trying to reach an agreement before Christmas.
Picardo said he was “very satisfied” with the mood of the talks and the progress he claims to be seeing. “I know that the four parties involved could not be working harder to reach an agreement as soon as possible,” he said, without commenting on whether there could be an announcement before Christmas. “We wanted to do it before last Christmas, we would love to do it before Christmas. But the right thing to do is to do it when it’s appropriate,” he said.
