Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, will make a statement to the Spanish parliament next Wednesday on the negotiation for a UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar, amid wide speculation that negotiators could be poised to announce a breakthrough in the talks.
All sides have signalled good progress in recent weeks and a continued commitment to secure a deal despite its complexity, although they have cautioned too that the negotiation is still underway and there are issues yet to be agreed.
“There is no deadline and neither can we say when an agreement might be closed,” said Spain’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albares, on Monday.
But political activity relating to the talks has ramped up in recent days, particularly in Spain where, on Tuesday, a day after Mr Albares briefed Campo mayors on the talks, the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Congress debated a motion calling for parliamentary support for the negotiation.
Also on Tuesday, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo flew to London for further meetings and will be joined later this week by Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia, who is in Washington for briefings at the US Congress on Gibraltar’s strategic role.
UK Foreign Minister Lord Cameron and Mr Albares will both be in Brussels later this week, where the European Commission will host the third meeting of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement Partnership Council, which was set up to oversee implementation, application and interpretation of the UK/EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
Gibraltar is not covered by that agreement but it is possible the negotiating parties could use Thursday’s meeting to try and progress the Gibraltar negotiation too.
There is no deadline for conclusion of the UK/EU treaty negotiation on Gibraltar, but all eyes are on the forthcoming EU election in June.
While there is no reason why the negotiation cannot continue after the EU elects its new parliament, the subsequent change of top officials at the European Commission would likely lead to delays and the risk of losing recent momentum, particularly with the UK due to go to the polls too in the coming months.
The EU election takes place across Europe between June 6 and June 9. Spain is set to vote on June 9, with the formal election campaign due to start on May 24.
The debate in the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Spanish Congress on Tuesday was on a non-binding motion presented by Juan Carlos Ruiz Boix, the Socialist MP and mayor of San Roque, urging parliament to support efforts to secure a deal.
But there were clear divisions in the chamber as MPs discussed Mr Ruiz Boix’s motion, which was approved despite opposition from the Partido Popular and Vox.
Mr Ruix Boix accused opposition MPs of "trying to torpedo the agreement against the will of the people of the Campo de Gibraltar in the face of a historic moment” that sought to generate economic activity and prosperity on both sides of the border.
Mr Ruiz Boix said the treaty “opens a new horizon in the historical, social, economic and family relations that we have always maintained in the region with Gibraltar, which may not be well known in Madrid or at least not with the due depth."
He urged the PP and Vox "not to fall into the temptation of waving flags”, adding: "Spain does not renounce its sovereignty claim.”
Mr Ruiz Boix was backed in that message by Enrique Santiago, the MP for leftwing Sumar, the PSOE’s partner in government.
Mr Santiago said communities on either side of the border already enjoyed solid ties of “friendship, family, solidarity” despite “obstacles placed before them” by different administrations in Spain and the UK in the past.
“We cannot forget Franco’s disastrous policy of closing the border,” he said, commending the work of unions and business groups in Gibraltar and the Campo to defend cross-border relations “despite wind and tide”.
“Gibraltar voted massively against Brexit and is very concerned about the consequences of the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union,” the Sumar MP added.
“Thousands of workers from the Campo de Gibraltar have paid the price of the mistaken policies of confrontation and pressure defended by Spanish right-wing parties in respect of Gibraltar.”
Mr Santiago said such policies would put at risk the jobs of 15,000 cross-border workers and the many Campo businesses that relied on Gibraltarian clients for large part of their income.
In delivering his contribution to the debate, Mr Santiago also thanked the Gibraltar Government for its “exquisite” treatment of cross-border workers during the Covid pandemic, protecting jobs and income.
He called on the PP and Vox to cooperate with the Spanish Government in its efforts to agree a treaty.
“Don’t organise a show of patriotism just to wear down the Government, because each clumsy move by the right pushes llanitos further from Spain,” Mr Santiago said.
But PP MP Carlos Floriano, repeating age-old derogatory criticisms of Gibraltar routinely levelled by politicians on the right, said the motion sought to give the Spanish Government “a blank cheque”.
“The Partido Popular wants an agreement, but not just any agreement, one that safeguards the interests of the people of the Campo de Gibraltar and all other Spaniards,” he said.
Mr Floriano said the agreement must protect the employment rights of cross-border workers, address taxation issues “to bring an end to a European tax haven” and stop smuggling.
Spain, Mr Floriano added, must not renounce its position on Gibraltar’s sovereignty and jurisdiction.
He reminded MPs of the EU’s position that there would be no agreement relating to Gibraltar without Spain’s prior approval.
“That means Spain’s negotiating position could not be better,” Mr Floriano said.
“We adopt British interests and those of the Gibraltar authorities, instead of representing Spanish interests, particularly those of the Campo de Gibraltar.”
“The reasoning we’re being asked to accept is, ‘Gibraltar is rich, let’s not bother them, let everything stay as it is and let them share their prosperity with us’.”
“And I ask, in all that time that we were partners in the European Union, why did that prosperity stay in Gibraltar without crossing into the Campo de Gibraltar?”
He called on the Spanish Government to provide details of what was being negotiated, adding: “I don’t think the Government wants to share prosperity derived from smuggling and tax evasion.”
“They forget that for prosperity to be shared, businesses must operate under the same taxation, employment and social benefit rules, and the same rules to combat tax evasion and avoid environmental damage.”
“Prosperity did not reach the Campo de Gibraltar when we were [EU] partners,” he said.
“It stayed on the Rock.”
“And if we don’t modify the rules that led to that, then this will not be an agreement for shared prosperity, it will be to defend the interests of the United Kingdom and Gibraltar, but not for the Spanish and the inhabitants of the Campo de Gibraltar.”
Carlos Flores Juberías, the Vox MP on the committee, echoed that sentiment and also complained about the lack of detail on the negotiation and his party’s opposition to Gibraltar’s participation in the talks.
He said Mr Albares should abstain from attending any talks while the “so-called Chief Minister of Gibraltar” was at the table, criticising too the “absence of a clear statement” on Spain’s sovereignty aspirations.