Albares summons mayors for October 9 to discuss Brussels meeting on Gibraltar

Eduardo González The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has summoned the eight mayors of Campo de Gibraltar and the Junta de Andalucía for October 9 to inform them of the recent tripartite meeting in Brussels on the future fit of Gibraltar in the EU, according to sources from Foreign Affairs informed The Diplomat, who added that the minister himself has requested to appear in Congress to speak on this issue. This is the third meeting between Albares and local representatives so far this year, after two years without any meeting. In the first meeting, which took place on May 13 at the Foreign Office headquarters in Madrid, the minister explained the progress of the negotiations after the high-level meeting on April 12 in Brussels between Albares himself, the vice-president of the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic, and the then British Foreign Minister, the conservative David Cameron, in which, he said, “general political lines were agreed that include the airport, goods or mobility, among other issues”. In that meeting, the Junta de Andalucía asked “why Gibraltar is participating at the invitation of the United Kingdom and why the Government does not invite the Junta”. Likewise, all the interlocutors asked him for measures to guarantee the economic balance between the two sides of the border, including the granting of a fiscal status similar to that of the Canary Islands or Ceuta and Melilla. Three weeks later, Albares called the Junta and mayors to a meeting in Algeciras (at the headquarters of the Commonwealth of Municipalities) to explain the progress of the negotiations following the early elections in the United Kingdom. During the meeting, the minister confirmed to the local authorities that it would not be possible to close an agreement on Gibraltar's future membership in the EU before the British elections, but insisted that the negotiations "have not stopped at a technical level." On this occasion, Albares will explain to the Junta and mayors the results of the meeting held on September 19 in Brussels between the minister himself, Sefcovic, and the new Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, the Labour Party member David Lammy. At this meeting, the first since the British elections last July, the three participants limited themselves to announcing, in a brief statement, that "additional progress had been made on complex matters of the negotiation, particularly on issues relating to people and property." The European Commission (with direct participation from Spain) and the Government of the United Kingdom (with the presence of the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabián Picardo, as an observer) 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 minister reiterates that Schengen controls are Spain's responsibility “On the part of Spain, our totally constructive position has been made clear, totally in favour of achieving this agreement and making it clear that we want and consider that it is good for Gibraltar and for the 300,000 Andalusians of Campo de Gibraltar that there is freedom of movement of people and goods,” declared Albares last Friday, during a meeting with journalists at the headquarters of the Ministry. “Of course, we want an agreement,” he continued. “We have put on the table a balanced and generous proposal, but, at the same time, we want the Schengen and Customs Union controls to be respected” by the agents of the European border country, in this case, Spain, “just as in any other point of Schengen and the Customs Union,” he warned. In statements reported by the local newspaper ‘Europa Sur’, the mayor of La Línea, Juan Franco, warned at the end of the last meeting in Brussels that “uncertainty continues to exist for both companies and workers and, ultimately, for the economy and the way of life that we have at the moment.” “Let us hope that the agreement finally crystallizes, something that we long for. I am left with the fact that the minister has announced that he will call us again to give us explanations or information about the state of the negotiations,” he added. “We are the ones who live here and who will be most affected if an agreement is reached,” declared the mayor of Algeciras, José Ignacio Landaluce, on Monday. “We have to have information so that we have the same response that Gibraltar is having with the support of the United Kingdom,” he continued. For this reason, he asked that the mayors not only be “in the loop” through the meetings called by the minister, but that they can also “be in the negotiations”, since “it could have a very negative impact on Campo de Gibraltar if the negotiations go badly”.

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