Picardo assures UN that EU Treaty leaves sovereignty “aside”

The Diplomat Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, assured the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization on Monday that the agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom on the future of the Rock creates “a better modus vivendi” between the neighbors on both sides of the border “leaving sovereignty aside and untouched and leaving our right to self-determination entirely uncompromised.” “The right of the people of Gibraltar to self-determination is inalienable,” Picardo declared in New York during his final address as Chief Minister to the so-called “Committee of 24.” “I come here in hope. Because something historic has happened since I last addressed you,” Picardo stated. “The United Kingdom and the European Union have now concluded a Treaty in respect of Gibraltar. A Treaty negotiated at the request of the people of Gibraltar and by the Government of Gibraltar. It is a treaty that will sweep away the physical barriers of a bygone era. It delivers fluidity for the hundreds of thousands of human beings — Gibraltarians and Spaniards alike — whose loves, lives and livelihoods cross that frontier,” he announced. “A better modus vivendi between neighbours who share a future. And it does so while leaving sovereignty aside and untouched. Leaving our right to self-determination entirely uncompromised. Article 2 of the Treaty makes clear that nothing in it, and nothing done under it, affects the respective legal positions on sovereignty and jurisdiction,” he added. “The Treaty proves what I have told this Committee for fourteen years: That the Gibraltarians are not the obstacle to good neighbourly relations — we are its greatest champions. We can build prosperity with Spain. We can build friendship with Spain. We want to. We are doing so. But we will never, in exchange, give up our right to self-determination,” he insisted.

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