The final piece of the Brexit jigsaw is hopefully in place as the UK and Spain edge towards an agreement that alligns the Gibraltar and EU border.
The Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares met his UK counterpart David Cameron, as well as the Gibraltar Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo and the Vice-President of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič, to define the status of Gibraltar, a British overseas territory on the southern tip of Spain, after Brexit.
According to Spanish officials, it could be a matter of hours before the three parties involved can reach a pact, which will determine the legal and political status of Gibraltar, whose sovereignty has been claimed by Spain for centuries, following the UK’s official exit from the EU in 2020.
The Gibraltar Chief Minister told reporters after the Brussels meeting that “we are very, very, very close. In English we say within spitting distance but actually it is nice to say we are within kissing distance.”
The UK government issued a communique stating: ” European Commission Executive Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs José Manuel Albares and UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron, together with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo, met in Brussels on Friday 12 April.
This was the first meeting in this format. Discussions took place in a constructive atmosphere, with significant progress achieved. General political lines have been agreed, including on airport, goods and mobility. Negotiations will continue over the coming weeks to conclude the UK-EU Agreement.
The participants agreed that this was a productive day. The meeting reaffirmed their shared commitment to concluding an UK-EU Agreement to secure the future prosperity of the whole region. This Agreement will bring confidence, legal certainty and stability to the lives and livelihoods of the people of the whole region, without prejudice to the parties’ legal positions
The Spanish Foreign Minister said that he believes ” we are already very close to an agreement and of course what all parties can see is that there is a very positive dynamic and that we are very close to everything being agreed,”
However, despite the optimism, the minister stressed that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”.
“We have to see what relationship we have with Gibraltar and where, for example, immigration control is placed,” he warned.
The imminent agreement with the United Kingdom, Albares said, contemplates the possible elimination of the fence that separates Gibraltar from the Spanish municipality of La Línea de la Concepción in Cádiz, Andalusia, because what is being sought is “freedom of movement”, there are 270,000 Spaniards living in the “Campo de Gibraltar” and we want to make life easier for them,” he added.
“The situation is beginning to be sufficiently mature” (for the agreement), the minister said, considering that “perhaps tomorrow (Friday) will not be the final day (…) but almost”.
To the Spanish authorities, Gibraltar is a British colony on Spanish territory that should be returned to Spain.
However the UK has made it clear the sovereignty of the territory is not up for discussion or negotiat
For the UN, Gibraltar is a “non-self-governing territory awaiting decolonisation”, which should take place through bilateral negotiations between Spain and the UK, negotiations that the UN has been recommending continuously since 1965.
Negotiations between the three parties have taken two years and 19 rounds of contacts have been held so far.
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