The associations of Campo de Gibraltar warn Albares that the lack of agreement would be a “failure”

Eduardo González The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, met this Thursday with the associations of Campo de Gibraltar to inform them of the progress of the negotiations on the future fit of Gibraltar in the EU after Brexit. The meeting took place a day after the minister received the eight mayors of Campo de Gibraltar and representatives of the Junta de Andalucía to address the same issue. “Today I met with associations from Campo de Gibraltar to inform them about the negotiation of the agreement in relation to Gibraltar after the last meetings,” declared the minister through his account on the social network X. “We continue to join forces for the good agreement that benefits everyone in Campo,” he added. The meeting took place at the headquarters of the Ministry in Madrid, as did the previous day. On Wednesday, Albares declared to the press, after his meeting with mayors and the Junta, that he hopes that the Government of the United Kingdom will accept the “balanced and generous” agreement proposed by Spain and the EU on Gibraltar before the new entry and exit controls come into force on November 10 throughout the Schengen Area. According to the minister, the “shared coexistence agreement” presented by Spain “and by the EU” includes Gibraltar within the Schengen Area, but, he warned, it is the United Kingdom “that has to decide whether it prefers that or prefers that from November 10 there be this entry system for Gibraltar.” There is one month left for the new controls within the Schengen Area to come into force, which could generate long queues at the entrances and exits between Gibraltar and Campo de Gibraltar. Since the United Kingdom left the EU, and pending the conclusion of the negotiations, the border crossing has been governed by the same rules as before Brexit, but the authorities of the Rock have already warned that, from November 10, Spain will be forced to apply the new conditions of access to the Schengen Area, which could cause significant queues and traffic jams at the border crossing, in both directions. Under these rules, non-EU citizens who want to cross the border must show a valid passport, justify the purpose and conditions of their stay in Spain, have sufficient means of subsistence and prove that they do not intend to remain in the Schengen Area for more than 90 days in any 180-day period, which would greatly complicate the life of the many Gibraltarians who have a second residence in Spain. The almost immediacy of the entry into force of the new rules was, precisely, one of the main issues addressed by the ten Spanish and Gibraltarian trade union and business entities that met this Thursday with Albares, within the framework of the Cross-Border Group. "Any scenario without an agreement or with an agreement that unbalanced or harmed one of the parties, would be devastating for the interests of the citizens of Campo de Gibraltar and Gibraltar. It would mean an enormous political failure for the actors involved," said the spokesperson for the group, Lorenzo Pérez Periáñez, quoted by the newspaper Europa Sur. For this reason, Pérez Periáñez expressed his hope that, “within a month”, an agreement can be reached, which at the moment is pending on some “details” that affect “sentimental issues, not even economic ones” and that are “remediable”, in reference, without mentioning it, to the opposition of the Gibraltarian Government to the presence of uniformed Spanish National Police officers in the port and the airport of La Roca, which would be the entrance and exit of Schengen if the demolition of the Fence were to take place. On the Spanish side, the Cross-border Group is made up of Comisiones Obreras, the General Union of Workers, the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises of La Línea, the Association for Business Consulting and Development of La Línea, the Confederation of Entrepreneurs of Cádiz and the Chamber of Commerce of Campo de Gibraltar. On the Gibraltar side, there are the Unite the Union, the teachers' union, the GGCA union, the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Chamber of Commerce.

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