PP asks that the Spanish delegation on Gibraltar includes municipalities and the Junta

Eduardo González The People’s Parliamentary Group in Congress has requested that the Spanish delegation participating in the negotiations on the future fit of Gibraltar in the EU after Brexit include “representatives of the affected municipalities, as well as the Junta de Andalucía (regional Government of Andalusia)”. In a non-legislative motion presented on 12 September for debate in the Joint Committee for the European Union, the People’s Group recalls that “almost three and a half years” have passed since the signing of the New Year’s Eve Agreement between Spain and the United Kingdom, “which is the basis of a future Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom on Gibraltar” prior to an agreement “between Spain and the United Kingdom”. During this period, the text continues, “negotiations for Gibraltar have still not been concluded, despite the fact that the current Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (José Manuel Albares) has been announcing an imminent agreement for over a year”. Likewise, “beyond the general lines, the specific details that make up the draft that Spain has put on the table during the negotiations in Brussels are unknown”, it adds. The PP also recalls that, “until now, 18 rounds of negotiations have been held in which the Government of Spain has been present”, to which are added the latest tripartite meetings at the highest level in Brussels between Albares, the vice-president of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom (the conservative David Cameron and, after the last British elections, the Labour David Lammy). The motion also highlights that the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabián Picardo, was present at the tripartite meetings in Brussels, and that, in an interview, Albares justified the attendance of the Gibraltarian leader with the argument that “it is also important for there to be an agreement”. “Following the minister's thesis,” warns the People’s Group, “this global agreement must also take into account the mayors of Campo, the president of the Community and the Junta de Andalucía, that is, all the parties with a direct interest in the territory, so it is at least unfair that the presence of these authorities is not counted on in meetings such as the one that took place in Brussels on April 12.” “These authorities are only summoned punctually and to inform the general lines of the draft agreement and not to share the total content, in which technical and substantive issues are specified, such as taxation, control of goods, exercise of powers of the Schengen area in Spanish waters, social security system, among others,” adds the motion. “In addition, this parliamentary group has asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs to provide the draft document proposed by Spain in Brussels. However, this document has not been shared. Even so, the Minister of Foreign Affairs intends that the parliamentary groups support an agreement whose details are not known and in which the Cortes Generales (Spanish Parliament) have not been taken into account for its drafting and/or contributions. All this makes it impossible to have precise, clear and accurate information on the agreement”, he continues. For this reason, the Non-Law Proposal urges the Government, among other requests, to inform “the Congress of Deputies in detail of the content of the draft agreement between the Government of Spain and that of the United Kingdom and in any case of the content of the Spanish and British proposals under discussion” and asks “that the Government of Spain include in its delegation representatives of the affected municipalities, as well as of the Junta de Andalucía”. Delegate for Campo de Gibraltar Likewise, the motion urges the Executive to “appoint a new special delegate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation for Campo de Gibraltar”. The last delegate was Juan José Sanz, who left office at the end of 2023 to take over as Spanish ambassador to Serbia. The position has remained unfilled since then. Albares has summoned the eight mayors of Campo de Gibraltar and the Junta de Andalucía for 9 October to inform them of the recent tripartite meeting in Brussels on Gibraltar's future fit in the EU. In addition, the minister himself has requested his appearance in the Congress of Deputies to speak on this issue. This will be the third meeting between Albares and local representatives so far in 2024, after two years without any meeting. In the first meeting, which took place on May 13 at the Foreign Affairs headquarters in Madrid, the Junta de Andalucía asked Albares “why Gibraltar is participating at the invitation of the United Kingdom and why the Government is not inviting the Junta”.

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