Brussels and London negotiate the situation of Gibraltar - World

Negotiations on the Gibraltar situation after Brexit between the European Commission (EC) and the United Kingdom began this Monday in Brussels,24 happenings almost a year after Madrid and London reached a provisional agreement on the Rock. The negotiating round will last for two days, so it will conclude this Tuesday. Community sources indicated that this first round of talks will serve for the parties to present their positions.

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In addition to the round that begins today, two more are planned in November and one in December, although sources assumed that the negotiations will extend beyond 2021 and will require more rounds of talks. As happened during the negotiation of the agreement on the future relationship after Brexit last year, the rounds will be held alternately in Brussels and London.

Gibraltar is not included in the trade and cooperation pact that London and Brussels reached at the end of last year, so a separate agreement needs to be reached. Spain and the United Kingdom already reached an agreement in principle on New Year's Eve 2020, but it is pending the treaty that the European Commission and the British Government can get on the Rock.

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For this reason, in July the Community Executive presented its proposal for directives for negotiation, which the member states finally adopted last Tuesday, after analyzing it and introducing certain modifications. After the approval of the countries, the talks between the EC and the United Kingdom have been able to get under way.

After the publication of the EC proposal for the negotiating mandate on Gibraltar in the summer, the United Kingdom considered that this document was in conflict with the framework agreement reached with Spain on New Year's Eve.

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Gibraltar also expressed its opposition because it understood that the draft mandate left the control of its borders at the port and the airport in the hands of Spain, and not of European Frontex agents, as determined in the principle of the agreement reached on December 31 .

The mandate proposed by the Commission stated that the control and surveillance of the external borders would be carried out in the port, the airport and the waters of Gibraltar "and would be carried out by Spain".

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The project of the Community Executive did not mention Frontex, but the statement that Brussels released when it published its mandate proposal in July did specify that in circumstances in which greater technical and operational support is necessary, any Member State, including Spain, may request the assistance of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency.

The final version of the negotiating directives adopted by the Member States reiterates that the control of the borders at the airport and port of Gibraltar will be carried out by Spain, but also indicates that that country "has expressed its intention to request Frontex assistance" for the control of external borders during the first four years in which the pact on the Rock is applied.

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Citizens MEP José Ramón Bauzá assures Efe that the negotiations between Brussels and London "are late", since in the New Year's Eve agreement, Spain and the United Kingdom promised that the Commission would negotiate the agreement in the six months following the 31st. last December, remember.

"The inhabitants of the Campo de Gibraltar what they really need is legal security," he says, adding that "measures are also needed to put an end to this economic and fiscal imbalance" between the colony and the Cadiz region.

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In any case, he considers it "positive" that negotiations begin, in which he anticipates that border control at the port and airport will be one of the most complex points.

"If Gibraltar wants to enjoy access to the Schengen zone, there must be a control by a Member State, and in this case, obviously, it is in Spain," he declares, adding that Frontex as a "transitional solution" is a possibility. , already collected in the New Year's Eve agreement.

Secondly, it highlights fiscal and environmental issues "to avoid unfair competition" by the Rock as another of the complicated issues to resolve during the negotiation, although it points out that they are also contemplated in the provisional pact that Madrid and London closed.

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Bauzá does not expect an agreement before the end of the year, but urges Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares to pressure the EC to defend Spain's interests.

He also recognizes that there is a "risk" that the confrontation between London and Brussels due to the delays in the implementation of the Northern Irish protocol will affect the development of the dialogue on Gibraltar, although he indicates that it "should not" happen because they are different issues.

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