Spain's Foreign Secretary to meet Chief Minister Picardo today to discuss preparations for implementing Gibraltar agreement

Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, will meet this Wednesday afternoon with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo.

The meeting aims to address preparations for the entry into force of the agreement reached between the EU and the UK regarding the Rock, currently scheduled for 15 July.

Foreign Ministry sources indicated that the meeting - also confirmed by the Government of Gibraltar in a statement - will take place at the Viana Palace at 4pm and will allow both parties to "address the preparations for the application of the agreement".

The meeting occurs a day before the Minister travels to the Campo de Gibraltar region. There, he is scheduled to participate in a meeting with business leaders at the local Chamber of Commerce to analyse the agreement reached last December and its impact on the business community.

Thursday's agenda follows the unanimous endorsement by the EU-27 on 1 April for the signing and provisional application of the agreement. This paved the way for it to enter into force on 15 July, three months behind the initial schedule envisioned by Brussels and London.

They had originally hoped to have everything ready before 10 April, when the new European Entry/Exit System (EES) began at European borders.

The core element of the agreement is the removal of the physical border (the 'Verja'). Controls will instead be carried out by the Spanish National Police at the Rock's airport and port to ensure compliance with Schengen Area rules.

Furthermore, the deal includes the shared use of the airport, a customs union between the Rock and the EU, and the introduction of an indirect tax by Gibraltar, similar to VAT, intended to eliminate fiscal distortions.

While both Albares and Picardo have participated throughout the negotiation process for the post-Brexit relationship between Gibraltar and the EU, this is the first time the two have held a bilateral meeting.

The last direct contact between a Foreign Minister and the Chief Minister of the Rock took place on 23 July 2020, though it did not occur at the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Madrid.

The then-minister, Arancha González Laya, spoke with Picardo in Algeciras during a visit to the Campo de Gibraltar to analyse the impact of the Brexit-related memoranda signed with the United Kingdom.

Previously, fellow Socialist minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos became the first head of Spanish diplomacy to visit Gibraltar since the British occupation of the Rock in 1704. Moratinos crossed the border on 21 July 2009 to meet with the then-Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Peter Caruana, and British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband.

That meeting was the third at ministerial level within the framework of the 'Trilateral Forum for Dialogue' created in 2004 by the governments of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Gibraltar. Its goal was to advance local cooperation while setting aside the sovereignty dispute.

Similarly, the current agreement reached between the UK and the EU - pending ratification by the British Parliament, the Council, and the European Parliament - excludes all matters relating to the ongoing sovereignty dispute between the two countries.