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Debbie Bartlett
Friday, 7 April 2017, 09:12
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For many who voted for Brexit in last years EU referendum, Wednesday 29 March was a long-awaited day of celebration. Triggering Article 50 was like firing a party gun and releasing colourful streamers to add to the fun and festivities. A few days later, however, those festive strips of paper were limp and tangled and some of the British media even began talking about sending warships to Spain, after the content of the European Councils draft guidelines for the Brexit negotiations became known.
Clause 22
The draft guidelines were issued on Friday 31 March. They took a firm line, and made it clear that the EU will act as one in negotiations over Britains withdrawal, but will be constructive throughout. They reiterated the EUs wish to have the United Kingdom as a close partner in the future. However, Clause 22 appeared to come as a shock to both the UK and Gibraltar:
After the United Kingdom leaves the Union, no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without the agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom, it stated.
Like the other member countries of the EU, Spain will have an automatic veto over any of the UKs Brexit negotiations, but the wording of this clause appears to mean that Gibraltar could be excluded from future trade agreements between the UK and EU. Its inclusion, however, is important for several other reasons:
Firstly, it appears to acknowledge that Spain has a claim to Gibraltar, which it ceded in perpetuity to Britain over 300 years ago; secondly, it indicates that bilateral discussions between the UK and Spain would be in order. This is something upon which Spain has been insisting in the past, refusing to take part in trilateral talks in which Gibraltar was involved; thirdly, it places Gibraltar as a bargaining chip in the Brexit negotiations.
"Disgraceful attempt"
A statement issued by the Gibraltar government on Friday afternoon said that Gibraltar has shamefully been singled out [] for unfavourable treatment by the Council, at the behest of Spain, and quoted chief minister Fabian Picardo as saying This is a disgraceful attempt by Spain to manipulate the European Council for its own, narrow, political interests. Brexit is already complicated enough without Spain trying to complicate it further.
Amid general belief that the British prime minister appeared to have forgotten about Gibraltar in her Brexit negotiations, Picardo appeared on the BBCs Andrew Marr show on Sunday, where he stressed to interviewer Eddie Mair that these were only draft guidelines, and that they did not mention sovereignty over Gibraltar.
He insisted that Gibraltar is fully involved in the discussions about Brexit, and said it wasnt important that Theresa May hadnt mentioned it in her letter to European Council president Donald Tusk because Gibraltar is referred to tangentially in the Brexit White Paper.
The UKs defence secretary, Michael Fallon, confirmed this when he appeared later on the same show, saying that Gibraltar was referenced eight times in the White Paper. Picardo also said that any trade deals etc. agreed between the EU and the UK should automatically apply to Gibraltar.
Media explosion
By then, however, some of the British media had begun to accuse Spain of using the Brexit negotiations to make a land grab for Gibraltar, and matters came to a head when former Conservative Party leader Michael Howard suggested to Sky News on Sunday that Theresa May would be prepared to go to war to protect Gibraltar in the same way that Margaret Thatcher did over the Falklands.
Social media exploded, with heated arguments between people who thought it would be best for Gibraltar to accept Spains joint or sole sovereignty in order to remain in the EU and others who urged the British government to take military action against Spain to stop it getting its hands on the British Overseas Territory.
Such was the hostility expressed towards Spain by some elements of the UK media over the weekend, that on Monday Spanish foreign minister Alfonso Dastis said that some in the UK were losing their cool over Gibraltar unnecessarily, and that the Spanish government was surprised by the tone of some of the comments. However, with regard to Clause 22 of the draft EC guidelines, he insisted that as the EU is negotiating Brexit as a bloc, it is obliged to support Spain and not the UKs position with regard to Gibraltar.
Further disappointment
In general, politicians in the UK and Gibraltar are keeping calm. Fabian Picardo says he has received reassurance from Theresa May and Boris Johnson that the British government continues to support Gibraltar and that it will continue to be fully involved in the Brexit negotiations. On Wednesday, Britains minister for Brexit, David Davis, told the chief minister that the UKwould not enter into any deals which did not include Gibraltar.
It had been hoped that Clause 22 could be dropped from the draft guidelines, but there was further disappointment on Wednesday when the European Parliament voted to approve the EUs negotiating parameters without any amendments.
Although 209 MEPs supported the inclusion of a reference to Gibraltar, 440 voted against as part of a pact not to allow any amendments to be tabled, something which deputy chief minister Dr Joseph García described as unfortunate.
The government (of Gibraltar) is very grateful to the 209 MEPs who defied this intense pressure and decided to vote to include Gibraltar anyway and to the Office in Brussels for their work, he said.
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