'Important progress' made in latest Gibraltar talks, says Spanish ministe

Representatives of Britain, the EU and Spain along with Gibraltar's chief minister met again in Brussels on Thursday but no deal has been reached as yet

Olatz Hernández / SUR

Brussels / Malaga

Friday, 20 September 2024, 09:28

Opciones para compartir

The latest meeting between Britain, Spain and the EU on a post-Brexit deal for Gibraltar ended without agreement on Thursday this week in Brussels.

However, those taking part said "significant progress" was made on practical details relating to the free movement of people and goods, which gives hope that an agreement will be reached soon.

"There are still technical work and practical aspects that we hope to make progress on in the coming weeks in order to reach an agreement once and for all," said the Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, after the session had broken up in the afternoon.

This was the first time the new British foreign secretary, Labour's David Lammy, had taken part in the three-way negotiations.

The meeting was also attended by Vice-President of the European Commission Maros Sefcovic and the Rock's chief minister, Fabian Picardo. Lasting for about four hours, it was described as "productive and constructive" in a joint statement to press. The negotiations built on the progress made at the previous meetings on 12 April and 16 May.

The statement continued that Thursday's meeting "served to reaffirm the commitment to reach an agreement between the EU and the UK that brings confidence, legal certainty and stability to the people of the whole region while safeguarding all parties' legal positions".

Deal to be done

Britain, the EU and Spain still need to do a deal over Gibraltar, which also requires the support of Gibraltar, as the Rock has a land border with the EU. No agreement would mean the same terms as Brexit for the UK and the end of free movement of people and goods. That is seen as harmful to Gibraltar and the area across the border in Spain.

However, Gibraltar in recent weeks is said to have become more concerned about the possibility of Spanish border police working inside Gibraltar at the airport and port as a potential part of the deal, since the border between the Rock and Spain would disappear.

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