Albares, Lammy and Sefcovic announce “further progress” on Gibraltar relating to “people and goods”

Eduardo González The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares; the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic, and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, David Lammy, have assured that the meeting this Thursday in Brussels on Gibraltar has concluded with “additional progress on complex matters of the negotiation, in particular on issues relating to people and property” “Building on significant progress of 12 April and 16 May, today’s discussions were constructive and productive, resulting in further progress on the complex issues of negotiations, namely in the area of people and goods,” the participants said in a joint statement. The meeting was also attended by Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, as an observer. This was the third meeting at political level and the first meeting in this format with the new UK Government. “The meeting reaffirmed their shared commitment to concluding an EU-UK Agreement to bring confidence, legal certainty, and stability to the people of the whole region, while safeguarding all parties’ legal positions,” the text continues. “They all agreed to remain in constant contact, with teams to work closely and intensely on outstanding areas,” it concludes. The European Commission (with direct participation from Spain) and the Government of the United Kingdom have been negotiating for more than two years the agreement for the future relationship of Gibraltar with the EU after Brexit, based on the so-called New Year’s Eve Agreement reached by the Spanish and British governments on December 31, 2020. Spain and the EU have presented a proposal for a “balanced” agreement and have assured that the next steps depend on London. Although all parties agree that the final objective of the agreement must be the creation of an area of shared prosperity between the Rock and Campo de Gibraltar, which includes the removal of the Fence, the British and Gibraltarians have warned that they are not willing to accept that Spain assumes access controls to the Schengen area, which should be moved to the port and airport of Gibraltar. Initially, the presence of agents from Frontex, the European border agency, is planned at these points. The first meeting in April concluded with a joint declaration in which the three parties merely announced that the negotiations had been “held in a constructive atmosphere” and that “significant progress” had been made. At the second meeting, held in May, “significant progress” was made based on “the political lines already agreed on April 12, which referred to mobility, goods and the airport,” according to Albares, who also warned that, although the prospect was that there would be “an agreement,” there was still “no possible time frame.” In fact, the process came to a standstill after the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the conservative Rishi Sunak, announced on May 22 the end of the legislature and the advancement of the elections to July 4. A few days before the British elections, David Lammy, still the Labour Party’s Foreign Affairs spokesman, said that if he took up the post of Foreign Minister he would address the agreement on the future of Gibraltar from the point where David Cameron had left off.

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