The senator of the Popular Party for the province of Cádiz, president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Upper House, and mayor of Algeciras, José Ignacio Landaluce, is going to inquire the Spanish Government about the events surrounding the expulsion of four British military personnel from La Línea to Gibraltar on Monday night.
According to Landaluce, 'there are many issues to clarify in this matter because if none of the military personnel met the requirements established in the Schengen Border Code, how were they allowed to leave the British colony, crossing the border, to reach the municipality of La Línea and stay in a hotel?'
'I believe that both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior need to shed light on an issue that is currently shrouded in shadows, especially when we are talking about two allied countries that are part of the NATO structure. If it is true that there was haste in carrying out the return procedure to the Rock, it is also true that perhaps there was a failure in border control,' emphasises the Popular Party senator.
He also expresses surprise at the fact that 'whenever negotiations between Spain and the United Kingdom regarding the Brexit agreement, which now does not seem as imminent as they wanted us to believe months ago, there is some incident involving the British army, specifically the Royal Navy. Either they announce military maneuvers in the waters surrounding the Rock, which are ours, or hundreds of troops appear in their territory, or as now, the expulsion of these four military personnel occurs.'
In this regard, he points out that 'it would be good if the defence ministries of both countries said something about it, but as we do not know if they will, I will submit a question in the Senate to try to clarify some facts that are, at the very least, strange within the framework of such a complex bilateral negotiation in which the citizens of the Campo de Gibraltar are playing a good part of our present and our future.