SPAIN-BRITAIN: A Step Closer to Agreement on Gibraltar

By Tito Drago Reprint | | Print |

Tito Drago

MADRID, Nov 21 2001 (IPS) - Spain took a giant step towards regaining sovereignty over Gibraltar at a meeting in Barcelona Tuesday between the two countries’ foreign ministers, who said they hoped to conclude a “global agreement” by mid-2002.

In a joint statement issued after their meeting, Spain’s Foreign Minister Josep Piqué and his British counterpart Jack Straw said the projected agreement on Gibraltar, a tiny British colony on Spain’s southern tip, would cover “all of the major issues, including cooperation and sovereignty.”

The declaration states that London was pleased to accept Spain’s offer to triple the number of fixed telephone lines in Gibraltar to 100,000, to provide free health care in state hospitals, and to continue talks on the question of pensions.

Madrid’s concessions are part of its aim to convince the 30,000 residents of Gibraltar that they have more to gain than to lose with a return to Spanish sovereignty over the territory.

Gibraltar, a peninsula that is strategically located on the straits of the same name in southern Spain and is key to controlling sea traffic between the Mediterranean sea and the Atlantic ocean, was seized from Spain by the British in 1704. Since then it has been a thorn in relations between the two countries.

In the Treaty of Utrecht, signed by the Spanish and British crowns in 1713, Spain yielded “to the Crown of Great Britain the full and entire propriety of the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications, and forts thereunto belonging.”

The same treaty established that “the above-named propriety be yielded to Great Britain without any territorial jurisdiction and without any open communication by land with the country round about.”

It also stated that “in case it shall hereafter seem meet to the Crown of Great Britain to grant, sell or by any means to alienate therefrom the propriety of the said town of Gibraltar, it is hereby agreed and concluded that the preference of having the sale shall always be given to the Crown of Spain before any others.”

The United Nations ruled on Oct 16, 1964 that “the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples” was fully applicable in the case of Gibraltar.

In that resolution, the United Nations invited the governments of Spain and the United Kingdom “to resume without delay the negotiations…with a view to putting an end to the colonial situation in Gibraltar.”

But until Tuesday, London had never agreed to negotiate sovereignty over the rocky outcrop.

Piqué told Tuesday’s news briefing that the ultimate aim of the talks was to fully regain sovereignty, but that the current negotiations were not conceived of under a view of “all or nothing in the short-term.”

He added that independence for Gibraltar was not being considered, but that a broad version of self-government was being discussed.

The joint declaration released by Piqué and Straw states that the shared objective is to create a future in which Gibraltar will enjoy greater self-government and “the opportunity to take full advantage of the benefits arising from normal coexistence with the surrounding region.”

They underlined that the guiding aim was to build a safe, stable and prosperous future for Gibraltar, and to provide it with a modern and sustainable status, in accordance with Spain and Britain’s common membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the European Union.

Straw insisted, however, that any transfer of sovereignty would have to be backed by the people of Gibraltar in a referendum.

A diplomatic source in Spain who preferred not to be named told IPS that in that phrase, Straw was admitting that a change in sovereignty was possible.

The ministers agreed that the best approach was to hold meetings “with two flags and three voices,” thus confirming their Jul 26 invitation to Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Peter Caruana to join the meetings for hammering out a final deal.

“The process would greatly benefit from the direct views of the government of Gibraltar, and through it, of the Parliamentary Assembly and public opinion in Gibraltar as a whole,” said the ministers’ statement.

All of Spain’s parties back the claim to sovereignty over Gibraltar, while in Britain they face resistance put up by the opposition Conservative Party.

The deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, Michael Ancram, who is also in charge of his party’s foreign policy, said Monday that the government of Tony Blair was getting ready for a sell- out.

Ministers Piqué and Straw plan to meet again in January, and hope to have a draft of the agreement by then, in order for it to go into effect before the end of 2002.

Spanish diplomats are already working on the plan, on the basis of statements made by Piqué on Feb 9. On that occasion, the minister said Spain would not renounce its claim to sovereignty over Gibraltar, nor would it accept the territory’s right to self- determination or to become part of the United Kingdom.