The European Commission has called a meeting with the Foreign Minister for this Friday in Brussels, Jose Manuel Albaresand his British counterpart, David Cameronwith the aim of unblocking the negotiations on the status of Gibraltar after Brexit. The chief minister of Gibraltar will also participate in the meeting, Fabian Picardo.
The vice president of the Community Executive responsible for relations with the United Kingdom, Maros Sefcovicwho will also be at the meeting, assured this Wednesday that the dialogue on Gibraltar is “in full swing” and that is why the time has come to elevate it to the highest political level.
“The Foreign Secretary (David Cameron) is expected to discuss the most complex issues in negotiations At the end of the week. Although a final agreement is not imminent, the meeting will provide a platform to continue moving forward,” a spokesperson for the British Government confirmed to EL ESPAÑOL. “Gibraltar is an important part of the United Kingdom family and we will not accept anything that compromises its sovereignty. “he added.
[Bruselas admite que la negociación sobre Gibraltar está bloqueada y enfurece a Albares]
The department headed by José Manuel Albares has not responded to this newspaper's request for information. The EU and the United Kingdom have been negotiating for more than two and a half years (with a total of 18 rounds of contacts) on Gibraltar, without any concrete results having been achieved so far.
“Negotiations on Gibraltar are very sensitive, in addition to being very demanding on a technical level. But what I appreciate very positively is the constructive atmosphere. The teams are working extremely well together,” explained vice president Sefcovic at a press conference.
“We are negotiating as the European Union with the United Kingdom, but of course we are in very close contact with our Spanish colleagues. And I can tell you that negotiations are in full swing“, he assured.
“As we have had quite a few negotiations at a technical level, I think we must now move forward with a evaluation of progress at the political level“says the European negotiator on Gibraltar.
“I am optimistic that Friday's meeting will advance the issues very positively and leave us in a position to get the Treaty (between the EU and the United Kingdom on Gibraltar) agreed,” Picardo said.
“It will be the highest level multilateral negotiation ever attended by a Gibraltar chief minister and reflects the variable geometry that has characterized these types of talks since they began,” boasts the Government of the Rock.
The announcement from Brussels comes after the clash that took place last week between Albares and another of the vice presidents of the Commission, the Greek Margaritis Schinas. Schinas admitted at an event in Seville that the dialogue on Gibraltar is blocked and that it is most likely that there will be no agreement with the United Kingdom before the European elections in June, the deadline that Albares had set.
The Foreign Minister described “unfortunate and incomprehensible” Schinas' words and forced Sefcovic to publish a statement in which he maintains that “negotiations between the EU and the United Kingdom on Gibraltar are progressing at the planned pace.”
Spain and United Kingdom reached an agreement on New Year's Eve 2020 to tear down the Gibraltar fence once Brexit is completed. The priority objective was facilitate the transit of the more than 10,000 Spanish workers who cross the border every day and create an “area of shared prosperity.” The controls would be moved to the port and the Peñón airport and would be exercised by Frontex during a transitional period of four years. For the sake of the pact, Madrid and London decided to put aside their dispute over the sovereignty of the Rock.
This agreement should have been quickly translated into a new Treaty between the European Union and the United Kingdom on the Rock, negotiated by the Ursula von der Leyen Commission. However, negotiations between Brussels and London have dragged on agonizingly, with no end in sight.
Four years after the United Kingdom left the European Union, the status of Gibraltar is the only issue with Brexit that has not yet been resolved. The question of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, which a priori seemed the most difficult, was closed in March 2023 with the Windsor agreement between President Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
