UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has leapt to the defence of British territory Gibraltar as treaty talks between his government and Spain stalled following a Spanish push to take control of The Rock’s airport.
Sunak’s official spokesman said: “We remain a steadfast supporter of Gibraltar and we are not going to do anything to compromise sovereignty.”
Ceding control of the Gibraltar airport, which is located on a British Royal Air Force base, would be “one such example”, the Downing Street spokesman said.
Sunak’s intervention follows comments earlier from the Governor of Gibraltar, Vice-Admiral Sir David Steel, who told The Times: “The Spanish have asked for a regulatory framework over the management of the airport, which implies Spanish jurisdiction, which is not something that Gibraltar can tolerate.”
He said the UK and Spain had already reached a deal that would see the European Union border agency, Frontex, managing the frontier on behalf of the EU but ‘overseen’ by Spanish officials working alongside Gibraltar border officers.
Sir David then remarked: “What does ‘overseen’ look like? We must ensure that it doesn’t stretch into sovereignty, that it does not exceed what we can accept in terms of jurisdiction and control.”
Having been left out of the post-Brexit UK-EU trade deal, the future of Gibraltar and its 34,000 citizens has been unclear for more than a year as talks between it, the UK, Spain and Brussels sought to reach agreement on a new treaty to define the territory’s relationship with the EU.
Under a temporary deal, the 15,000-plus Spanish workers who commute daily to Gibraltar, along with the annual 10 million tourists, currently avoid disruption thanks to free border passage unilaterally granted by Spain.
However, on the understanding that the arrangement could be rescinded at any time, the aim of all involved in the treaty talks is to adopt a common travel agreement between Gibraltar and the Schengen Area, thus removing most immigration controls at the border.
Following the latest setback in reaching a deal, there are now fears that the talks could break down completely after the Spanish general election on July 23. Some commentators suggest the voters could return a Conservative Popular Party government bolstered by support from Vox, a party on the populist Right. Vox takes an uncompromising, hardline nationalist stance on Gibraltar’s future.
Campaigning in May, Vox leader, Santiago Abascal, stoked tension regarding The Rock. He stated that the Spanish Government had lost the battle over Gibraltar’s sovereignty. Abascal called for a closure of its port in a bid to cut off the territory from the rest of Spain altogether.
“We must completely eliminate any possibility of entry into Gibraltar by sea, land or air, and we must be very firm in this regard,” he declared at the time.
The border was last closed under the Franco regime in 1969 and remained firmly shut until 1982 when it was reopened to pedestrians before becoming fully accessible again in 1985 as a prerequisite of Spain’s accession to the European Communities pact.
