Rising political tensions between the UK and Spain over the sovereignty of Gibraltar have been dismissed as a storm in a teacup and a distraction from real post-Brexit issues.
Following the activation of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty last week, drafts of the EU’s negotiating position paper have circulated. They said no post-Brexit agreement between the EU and the UK may apply to Gibraltar without Spain’s consent, which some in both Madrid and London have suggested is a renewed attempt by Spain to claim sovereignty of the British overseas territory.
This led some UK politicians and media outlets to suggest Gibraltar might have to be protected with military force, a claim that Shaun Cawdery, client lead at Robus Risk Services in Gibraltar, dismissed as nonsense.
Cawdery said: “In my opinion, there is absolutely no chance of any degree of Spanish sovereignty over Gibraltar within any reasonable timeframe—given this, talk of the potential for such in some areas of the UK press seems misguided.”
He added: “There is no political will in Gibraltar to explore joint sovereignty (even at the cost of losing access to EU passporting), and subsequent governments here have expressed that to the UK government and, following the referendum in 2002, secured the ‘double lock’ over this issue.”
Cawdery said the key issue is the extent to which any UK/EU deal will apply to Gibraltar.
He commented: “In this, I don’t see that there will be much change in the consideration boards are currently giving to the issue. There also remains concern over the border between Gibraltar and Spain and whether this will remain open and fluid, but again the EU’s stance on the Brexit negotiations does little in my opinion to allay or compound those concerns.”
“What may change is the relationship with the UK, which is our core market and perhaps highlighting difficulties early on in the negotiations may go some way to strengthen that relationship further still.”
“It is very encouraging that UK lawmakers and the press are supportive of the British people in Gibraltar. I do fear that there will be both winners and losers—here, in the UK and in the EU—but I consider this as a wider Brexit concern that recent events do not change.”
