Senior EU, UK, Spain and Gibraltar officials meet in Brussels in bid to finalise Brexit agreement

EU Trade Commissioner and chief Brexit negotiator Maroš Šefčovič is meeting today, Wednesday 11 June, in Brussels with Spanish and British Foreign Ministers José Manuel Albares and David Lammy, respectively, as well as Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, in a bid to finalise an agreement on the post-Brexit status of the Rock.

According to diplomatic sources, Albares' objective, as on previous occasions, “is to make as much progress as possible and conclude the agreement as soon as possible.” EU sources also confirmed the attendance of all four participants but declined to comment on the expected outcome of the talks.

Lammy, who visited Gibraltar ahead of the Brussels meeting, was reserved when asked by reporters whether he anticipated a deal on Thursday. “Let’s see what happens,” he said.

This is the first high-level contact between the three since the last meeting in September in Brussels which closed with progress but with issues still to be resolved. However, Sefcovic met separately with Albares and Lammy in May to assess where the negotiations stood.

The meeting is scheduled to take place at 1:45 p.m. at the headquarters of the European Commission. Following the UK-EU summit in London on 19 May, Maroš Šefčovič urged all sides to build on the “momentum” created by their leaders to normalise relations in key areas such as immigration and defence, in the hope of reaching an agreement after nearly four years of post-Brexit negotiations.

Talks continue to centre on the so-called New Year’s Eve Agreement, struck between Spain and the United Kingdom on 31 December 2020. The deal outlines plans to eliminate the border and allow Gibraltar to effectively join the Schengen area.

As part of this arrangement, border controls would be relocated to the port and airport. Given Gibraltar’s opposition to a Spanish police presence, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) is expected to oversee these controls for an initial period.

In a sign of progress, the European Commission announced on Wednesday that Gibraltar has been removed from the EU’s blacklist of countries deemed to present a “high risk” of money laundering and terrorist financing.