The Diplomat in Spain

The Diplomat

The Socialist Parliamentary Group wants the Popular Party to support in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Congress of Deputies a non-legislative proposal that supports the Government’s negotiations to promote an agreement between the European Commission and the United Kingdom on the future of Gibraltar after Brexit.

This can be deduced from the content of the parliamentary initiative presented by the Socialists to be debated in the Commission, and to which Europa Press had access.

If the text is successful, Congress will urge the Government to “promote a framework of friendly relations and good neighbourliness with the United Kingdom, particularly with regard to Gibraltar, without renouncing Spain’s positions on sovereignty”.

It also supports the government maintaining “diplomatic efforts to reach an agreement between the EU and the UK that will ensure the establishment of a zone of shared prosperity that will benefit the inhabitants of the Campo de Gibraltar and the Rock”.

And finally, it encourages the Executive to continue “these negotiations on the basis of the physical elimination of the fence; the free movement of people; the free movement of goods and the joint use of the airport”, in line with what the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has been calling for.

The initiative has little chance of being backed by the PP, which has been reproaching the government for its obscurantism and lack of information to the Andalusian institutions about what is being negotiated between Brussels and London, especially after a meeting on 12 April between the EU’s chief negotiator, EU Vice-President Maros Sefcovic; the British Foreign Minister leading the British delegation, David Cameron; the head of Spanish diplomacy, José Manuel Albares, and the chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabián Picardo.

This meeting was the first to be held at such a high level since the negotiations began nearly two and a half years ago, during which 18 rounds of contacts have been held at a technical level. The “broad outlines” of the agreement were agreed and the parties undertook to continue working in the coming weeks.