Albares and Picardo discuss the implementation of the Agreement in the first-ever bilateral meeting in Madrid

Eduardo González Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares met with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, in Madrid this Wednesday to discuss preparations for the implementation of the EU-UK Agreement and will travel to Campo de Gibraltar this Thursday “to meet with mayors and social partners.” According to sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Albares met with Picardo “within the framework of preparations for the provisional entry into force and implementation of the EU-UK agreement regarding Gibraltar.” Albares was accompanied at the meeting by Carlos Moreno Blanco, Secretary General for the European Union, while Picardo was accompanied by the Minister of Business, Gemma Arias-Vásquez, and the Attorney General, Michael Llamas. Also, according to the same sources, the Minister will travel to the Campo de Gibraltar region this Thursday, where he will meet with the mayors of La Línea de la Concepción, José Juan Franco Rodríguez, and San Roque, Juan Carlos Ruiz Boix; and visit the construction work at the border fence in La Línea de la Concepción. He will also participate in an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Campo de Gibraltar Area Group in Los Barrios (Cádiz); and inaugurate an information seminar on the EU-UK Agreement regarding Gibraltar at the Campo de Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce in Algeciras. and will hold a press conference in this same town in Cadiz. In statements to the media after the meeting with Albares, Picardo explained that the discussion had focused on the political and technical aspects of the practical requirements necessary for the provisional implementation of the treaty starting July 15. “I'm very pleased to say that today was not about negotiation; that time is over.,” declared Picardo. “This is now about the implementation of the treaty, about the work that we want to do together, about the brave new steps that we are taking together to see these esoteric things that you see set out in the treaty as articles become the reality of day to day life in Gibraltar and in the Campo de Gibraltar,” he continued. In a subsequent statement from the Gibraltarian Government, Picardo declared that the meeting with Albares was “a cordial opportunity to reflect on the start the process of working together to deliver on our respective obligations under the Agreement that we have both championed.” “That includes the process of removal of all physical barriers between Gibraltar and Spain that will commence ahead of the 15th July to ensure that Gibraltar is in full compliance with the obligations set out under the Treaty,” he continued. “There is a lot more we also need to do and meetings of this nature should soon become the norm as we deliver the positive results on the ground for people in Gibraltar and the Campo,” he added. The meeting was held at the ministerial headquarters in the Palacio de Viana in Madrid, and, in fact, it is the first time that the Governments of Spain and Gibraltar have held a bilateral ministerial meeting in the capital. In this regard, Picardo expressed his hope that these types of situations will become normalized. “I hope in future this is not something that generates headlines, but rather is the most normal thing in the world,” he added. José Manuel Albares has met with Picardo several times, but always in the context of the multi-party negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom for the conclusion of the Agreement on Gibraltar's future role within the EU after Brexit. Separately, both the Chief Minister and the Foreign Minister met this past Saturday in Barcelona, at the Global Progressive Mobilization conference, which Picardo attended as a guest of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez. At the conference, Picardo stated that the EU-UK Agreement is a "vaccine" against Brexit and the far right. The last bilateral meeting between Picardo and a Spanish Foreign Minister took place in the Campo de Gibraltar in July 2020, when he met with the then Minister, Arancha González Laya. That meeting was harshly criticized by the People's Party (PP), Citizens (Ciudadanos), and Vox. The then-president of the People's Party (PP), Pablo Casado, called it a "historic error" because it constituted an "unacceptable recognition" of Picardo "as a valid interlocutor" and implied a "renunciation of Spain's historical rights." Vox, for its part, described it as an "unprecedented break with Spain's diplomatic position regarding the sovereignty of the Rock of Gibraltar." In June 2021, during his last public appearance in Madrid (organized by the Club Siglo XXI), Fabian Picardo praised the "dialogue-oriented" attitude of some of the Spanish foreign ministers before and after José Manuel García-Margallo. The meeting with González Laya, he stated, "provoked many negative and inappropriate comments from those who seem to never want us to meet." “Then I find (Fernando) Morán, (Miguel Ángel) Moratinos, (Alfonso) Dastis, (Josep) Borrell, and González Laya even braver, since they have all met Chief Ministers of Gibraltar, and I think it's fair to say that none of them has yet expressed regret,” Picardo asserted. Picardo is scheduled to speak this Thursday, April 23, at a breakfast briefing hosted by the New Economy Forum in Madrid, eleven years after then-Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo prevented him from speaking at the same forum amidst heightened tensions between the Gibraltarian authorities and the Spanish government. That evening, the Chief Minister will be interviewed on "La Noche en 24 Horas," the current affairs program hosted by Xabier Fortes on TVE's 24-hour news channel. Fortes will also introduce Picardo at the New Economy Forum event. 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 borders at Gibraltar's airport and port, as well as the final decision on residence permits. On April 9, José Manuel Albares assured the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Congress that the Spanish government is "working" to ensure the agreement can be implemented by July 15, "once both the Union and the United Kingdom complete their internal procedures for approving and signing the text." Despite the satisfaction expressed by all parties involved, Spain and the United Kingdom (including Gibraltar) have each offered their own interpretation of the agreement's implications for their respective sovereignty claims. In fact, both governments have affirmed that the treaty maintains their respective positions on this matter.

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