EU and the UK finalise Gibraltar Treaty but without announcing when it will come into force
The agreement will put an end to the historic border and remove all physical barriers, preserving the Schengen border-free area, the single market and the customs union
J. M. A.
Madrid
Thursday, 18 December 2025, 09:47
The EU and the UK have finalised the Gibraltar Treaty, which was announced just six months ago and it set to come into force in the early part of 2026. Experts from both sides have finalised the legal texts that set out the terms of the new relationship between the EU bloc and Gibraltar after Brexit, which is another step towards the ratification of the future treaty that is yet to be definitively approved before its application.
"The text is currently under legal review by the EU and the UK, before proceeding with the respective internal procedures for the signing and conclusion of the future agreement," an EU spokesperson told Europa Press, after confirming that the legal text was "completed" on 12 December.
The agreement will put an end to the historic Gibraltar border fence - that physical border that has symbolically marked the relations between the Rock of Gibraltar and Campo de Gibraltar, Andalucía and, ultimately, the Kingdom of Spain.
An end to the historic border fence
A spokesperson stated that the main objective of the future agreement is to "guarantee the prosperity" of the whole British overseas territory and that this will be achieved by "eliminating all physical barriers" to the free movement of people and goods between Spain and Gibraltar, "while preserving the Schengen border-free area, the single market and the customs union".
"This will bring stability and legal certainty to the lives and well-being of people throughout the area by promoting shared prosperity," the spokesperson said.
This step marks the culmination of the negotiations that began almost four years ago and culminated in the announcement of a political agreement on 11 June, following a meeting in Brussels between the UK's commissioner for relations, Maros Sefcovic, and the British foreign secretary, David Lammy. The meeting was also attended by the head of Spanish diplomacy, José Manuel Albares, and the chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabián Picardo.
Once the legal review by Brussels and London is completed, for which there is no set deadline, the Gibraltar Treaty will still have to be translated into all official EU languages before it is submitted to the governments for adoption and the European Parliament votes its consent.
