Spain panic as Madrid reveals fears for Gibraltar deal over Trump return
-MSN
Donald Trump's return to the White House could spell disaster for the already fragile agreement between the UK and Spain on Gibraltar more.
And this is the person in negotiations about the Gibraltar-Spain Border.
Jose Manuel Albarez, the Foreign Minister of Spain, decided to dismiss the Spanish ambassador to Belgium, Alberto Anton, after he was caught napping during the annual conference held in Madrid.
The Foreign Minister spoke for about an hour, during which the ambassador reportedly fell asleep.
The event occurred last month and was captured by press photographers who published the images on social media, showing the ambassador yawning and asleep.
In Spain, it was previously reported that the Foreign Minister creates a terrified atmosphere in his Ministry. It was also reported that recently the Spanish Foreign Minister fired seven diplomats who insulted him.
A Spanish diplomat told media in the country that the Foreign Minister "recalls events that happened 15 or 20 years ago - if someone didnât greet him when he entered the office or said an inappropriate sentence - Jose remembers everything and eventually punishes those responsible."
Albarez is considered a socialist who opposes the monarchy, and for this reason, he banned mourning messages regarding the death of Britain's Elizabeth II.
It was also reported that the Spanish Ambassador to Croatia had to "face the wrath of the minister after publishing an article defending the King of Spain."
FEB 5 Marks Anniversary of Gib-La Linea Border Opening
The Gibraltar Border awaiting an agreement 40 years after its definitive opening.
On February 5, 1985, the opening was completed with the permit for the transit of vehicles and goods.
This historic moment made life easier for citizens on both sides of the border.
The Gibraltar Border commemorates this Wednesday 40 years of its total opening, when, in addition to people, motor vehicles were also able to circulate from one side of this small border crossing to the other. Then a 15-year blockade that "was a catastrophe" was ended, recalls Juan Carmona, mayor of La LĂnea de la ConcepciĂłn until shortly before this event happened, in statements to RTVE.es.
It was on February 5, 1985. At midnight, crowds of neighbors crowded to witness the scene. With applause and cheers they celebrated the passage of the first vehicles that crossed the brand. Only two years earlier, pedestrian circulation had resumed and, therefore, people crossed the border on foot after thirteen years under the closure that separated families, friends and neighbors.
On 8 June 1969, the dictator Francisco Franco ordered the permanent closure of the border and the cutting off of communications, in response to the referendum by which the population of Gibraltar had unanimously shown their desire to belong to the British crown and to the entry into force of the Constitution that embodied it. Carmona points out that they thought that "Gibraltar would fall like a ripe fruit with isolation measures".
Juan Carmona, who in those years was involved in the process to request special authorization, experienced the negotiations first-hand. "Felipe GonzĂĄlez (with the first socialist government) and his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fernando MorĂĄn, were absolutely determined, not only because of the historical mistake that Franco had committed, but also because of national interests," he points out. To keep the border closed with Gibraltar was to close our possibility of entry into the European common market and NATO at that time.
"It was a step forward, since the isolation meant for the Campo de Gibraltar region, and especially for La LĂnea, the loss of thousands of jobs," says the former councillor of the CĂĄdiz municipality.
The border crossing, in a legal limbo
The future of the border is uncertain, since after Brexit the negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) - since October 2021 - for the integration of the colony into the Schengen area remain stalled. As a British overseas territory, the Rock cannot be part of Schengen or manage its own accesses, which has made this aspect one of the most delicate points to unblock the negotiation.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, spoke on the matter on Tuesday in an interview on TVE's La hora de la 1 programme. "At the moment there is a specific aspect on the free movement of people and another on goods that are the last stumbling blocks," the minister acknowledged, while insisting that all the parties involved agree on the need to reach a definitive agreement for Gibraltar.
Gibraltar's Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, explains to RTVE.es that "Gibraltar has presented solutions to all the last outstanding issues" to be resolved "in a manner acceptable to all parties". The Gibraltarian leader specifies that they work in "good faith and prudence" and assures that what they put on the table "would not violate the fundamental positions of any of the parties involved in the negotiation and that they would protect the security of the Schengen area and preserve the integrity of the EU's Single Market". "If those solutions were accepted this week, we could have a treaty tomorrow," he concludes.
For his part, the current mayor of La LĂnea, Juan Franco, is pessimistic about the possibility of reaching an agreement soon. "No exceptional measures have yet been taken for this part of the national territory by anyone," he says. "The problem is the control of passage by Spanish police and customs agents. The Government of Gibraltar understands that another formula can be sought, and the Government of Spain considers that, with the Schengen treaty, it is what it has to do," he said in statements to RTVE.es.
The result that the lack of an agreement would have for the border was staged on November 22, when the agents of the National Police stationed at the border checkpoint with Gibraltar began to require the passport of citizens who were preparing to enter Spain by surprise, which caused a collapse of the border crossing â thus breaking the unwritten agreement by which Spain allows the plains to enjoy of lax controls at the Border â.
In October, the opposite was true, Spanish workers who intended to enter the British colony suffered long queues and detentions early in the morning because the Gibraltar authorities asked for a passport, instead of an ID card, as usual. "The (Spanish) minister told us that, if the agreement goes ahead, Gibraltar would become part of the Schengen area and this would not happen," Franco adds. "The main affected are the Spanish workers who come to the Rock every day to work," stresses the mayor of La Linea. Specifically, around 15,000 Spanish cross-border workers pass through this point and an average of more than 235,000 vehicles circulate per month and about 8,000 per day.
The fears of an agreement that never arrives
For now, the changes have been minimal. "Since the United Kingdom approved the European exit, both countries are turning a blind eye to European regulations in terms of the passage of people, goods and services," says Carmona, who was the first mayor of La LĂnea and continues to be very aware of the challenges that the municipality now faces.
The current councillor, Juan Franco, confesses that the situation "can be even worse than the one experienced in '69" if the pact does not contemplate measures that protect the town and the rest of the region. "In the event that they are only looked at for international interests and La LĂnea is left aside, a cataclysm can be generated again," he says.
The absence of agreement is already hurting at different levels but, above all, economically. "We must avoid a bad agreement that damages our companies," Franco claims, while adding that a week ago he met with a company that had an attractive project and finally, as on other occasions, everything remains on paper because the pact is not concluded.
Neighbors await the effects of Brexit on tenterhooks
The nightmare they experienced in the 80s threatens the population of the area again, although a closure is no longer possible, but a consideration of a European border with a third country. The joint use of the airport and customs control have been the focus of talks between the negotiating teams for months due to the great complexity and reluctance of both parties. However, all parties have repeatedly expressed their goodwill and commitment to resolving the outstanding issues.
Minister Albares wanted to unravel the negotiation last year, with what were called high-level summits. The last meeting was held on 19 September, with his UK counterpart, David Lammy, the European Commission's Executive Vice-President, MaroĆĄ Ć efÄoviÄ, and Gibraltar's Chief Minister, FabiĂĄn Picardo. Like previous ones, it ended with a public message that they had made "new progress".
Both the first mayor of that time in La LĂnea and the one now agree that the treaty "is practically closed". Franco wonders why if this is the case it is not completed once and for all, Carmona goes a step further and affirms that "they are finding the right moment to make it public".
Meanwhile, the more than 300,000 residents of Campo de Gibraltar, and the more than 30,000 of the colony, live with the uncertainty of knowing if their future lies because this fence disappears or, on the contrary, hardens. While waiting for clear rules of the game to be established, in terms of the regime of passage of people, vehicles and goods, everyone is confident of maintaining the intense relations that historically unite citizens on both sides of the Border, although today, five years after Brexit, everything is still up in the air.