The Diplomat
Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and Deputy Chief Minister Joseph García travelled to Madrid yesterday to take part in “technical and practical discussions” related to the agreement being negotiated between the European Commission and the United Kingdom on the future of the Rock after Brexit, according to the British colony’s Government Information Service.
The latest round of negotiations between Brussels and London was held last week in the British capital, but no major progress has been made.
The contacts held yesterday and which will continue today, by a British delegation including Picardo and García, have Spanish officials responsible for the Gibraltar dossier as interlocutors, and the aim is to try to clear up some issues so that they can be addressed with greater guarantees of success in the next round of negotiations between the EU and the United Kingdom, according to reliable sources consulted by The Diplomat.
Some of the issues preventing an agreement from being reached have to do with the joint use of the airport and the presence of Spanish agents in the port and airport terminals, as well as everything to do with military aspects, including the British naval base on the Rock.
In the press release in which the Gibraltarian authorities announced Picardo and García’s visit to Madrid, they insist that the Government of Gibraltar remains “fully committed” to achieving a pact to develop the agreement reached three years ago between Madrid and London, whereby the fence could disappear.
On 28 November last, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and the British Secretary of State, former Prime Minister David Cameron, coincided at the NATO summit in Brussels, where they held a bilateral meeting in which they agreed to resume talks on the relationship with Gibraltar after Brexit.
As Albares explained at the time, Spain and the UK are “very close” to finalising the agreement in the absence of “a few details”.
Shortly afterwards, the head of the European negotiating team for the agreement on Gibraltar after Brexit, European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, said that Brussels and London had to achieve “the final push” in the talks on the British colony and its relationship with the EU, and warned that the last stretch is the most difficult.
