Picardo to speak at New Economy Forum this Thursday, eleven years after being vetoed by Margallo

Eduardo González The Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, will speak this coming Thursday, April 23, at a New Economy Forum breakfast briefing in Madrid, eleven years after the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel García-Margallo, prevented him from speaking at this same forum, at a time of high tension between the Gibraltarian authorities and the Spanish Government. Picardo will speak at the forum, which will take place at nine in the morning at the Palace Hotel in Madrid and will be presented by journalist Xabi Fortes, just four months after the European Union and United Kingdom negotiators completed the drafting of the treaty on Gibraltar's future relationship with the European Union after Brexit, and less than a month after the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU Member States (COREPER) approved the text and the decisions regarding its signature and provisional application. The agreement on Gibraltar, which completes the legal framework for relations between the European Union and the United Kingdom, provides for the removal of the border fence and the elimination of passport controls between the two territories. Spain will assume control of Schengen Area border controls at Gibraltar's airport and port, as well as the final decision on residence permits. On April 9, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares assured the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Congress that the Spanish government is "working" to ensure the agreement can begin to be implemented from July 15, "once both the Union and the United Kingdom complete their internal procedures for approving and signing the text." The Picardo government welcomed the agreement's approval because it "provides greater security and authority to the agreed framework and reflects the shared commitment of the entire European Union to implement these new provisions in a lasting and orderly manner." However, and this point should be addressed in Picardo's speech at the New Economy Forum, Spain and the United Kingdom (including Gibraltar) have offered their own interpretations of the agreement's implications for both parties' sovereignty claims. In fact, both governments have affirmed that the treaty maintains their respective positions on this matter. The text establishes that the elimination of physical barriers to the movement of people and goods and cooperation between the parties will be implemented without prejudice to the sovereignty and jurisdiction of either country, and that the agreement does not modify Spain's legal position. Furthermore, the treaty includes a chapter on sovereignty stipulating that any supplementary agreement, measure, or action derived from it will not affect the legal positions of the United Kingdom and Spain, nor will it serve as a basis for assertions or denials of sovereignty, including in legal proceedings. Margallo's veto and Vox's "sabotage" Picardo had already attempted to speak at the Nueva Economía Fórum in February 2015, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by José Manuel García-Margallo (PP), took steps to prevent it. After the event's cancellation, the Chief Minister organized his own conference the following day at the Palace Hotel in Madrid. The Gibraltarian Chief Minister's last public appearance in Madrid took place in June 2021, when he participated in an informational event hosted by the Club Siglo XXI. The event's start was interrupted by shouts of "Gibraltar is Spanish" from an unknown source. After the initial confusion, security personnel located a speaker connected to a mobile phone that someone had brought into the room to try to disrupt the event. The incident was later claimed on Twitter by the youth wing of Vox, who declared that "Pirate Picardo must be received as he deserves." Picardo participated this weekend in Barcelona in the Global Progressive Mobilisation conference, the international summit organized by the PSOE to denounce Trumpism and the advance of the far right, at the invitation of the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez.

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