<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Royal Navy has carried out new military manoeuvres off the coast of the Rock of Gibraltar, in waters whose sovereignty is claimed by Spain under the Treaty of Utrecht.</strong></h4> According to a press release issued by the Gibraltar Government on Wednesday, the manoeuvres are coordinated by the Gibraltar Squadron of the Royal Navy and included the participation of the Royal Gibraltar Police, the Police of the Ministry of Defence in Gibraltar and the Customs Service. The units set sail from the Gibraltar Naval Base and “sailed through the waters of the Admiralty to perfect their skills in close formation”, it added. The exercises included parallel navigation and handling of the vessels with deterrent manoeuvres. These are the second inter-institutional maritime manoeuvres, after those carried out in October 2024. According to the Gibraltarian Government, “planning is already underway for the next manoeuvres, in which the units will carry out more complex series with the Gibraltar Squadron of the Royal Navy and the Defence Police”. Both Spain and the United Kingdom assure that the waters surrounding the Rock are under their sovereignty. London considers that British sovereignty covers the entire Gibraltarian territory, including the “British territorial waters of Gibraltar”, and therefore denies that the waters surrounding the Rock are Spanish. For its part, Madrid has repeatedly asserted that, under the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713, Spain ceded only the city, the port, the defences and the waters of the port of Gibraltar, but not those surrounding the Rock (nor the isthmus, which was illegally occupied by the British in the 19th century and on which the colony's airport is located), and therefore considers that these remain under Spanish sovereignty. This discrepancy has resulted in frequent incidents between vessels of the two countries and in reciprocal verbal notes of protest.
