Gibraltar will retaliate if Spain imposes full border checks, British territory’s first minister warns

Gibraltar will take revenge if that happens Spain imposes full border controls, the territory’s prime minister warned.

Fabian Picardo showed the thinly veiled warning after the Tories negotiations with Brussels on a new post-Brexit deal for border controls and transit on the Rock have been suspended until after the July 4 general election.

He said “the sadness could turn to anger quite quickly” if the talks failed.

Britain is engaged in talks over the status of the overseas territory has a land border with Spain – since Britain left the EU.

In April it appeared a deal had moved closer to agreement, with Mr Picardo telling reporters it was “within reach” of approval.

Gibraltar’s Prime Minister Fabian Picardo (pictured speaking to media in April) has warned that the Rock could retaliate if Spain were to impose full border controls

Britain has been embroiled in talks over the status of the overseas territory – which has a land border with Spain – since Britain left the EU. It includes moving the border to Gibraltar airport

But despite at least 17 rounds of talks since October 2021, discussions have soured over Spain’s insistence that Britain cede jurisdiction over Gibraltar’s airport, which is at a point. RAF basis so that agreement can be reached.

There are also tensions over the role of the Spanish police operating at the airport, which proved to be the main sticking point in the latest round of negotiations when Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron met with his Spanish counterpart José Manuel Albares and Maros Sefcovic of the European Union. Commission.

Mr. Picardo told the Gibraltar Chronicle yesterday: ‘People in Gibraltar must understand that the alternative to a treaty may be the full application of the Schengen Borders Code, with all the enormous problems that entails, and that we must do this in a reciprocal manner.

‘In other words, if the Schengen Borders Code is applied to Gibraltar and to the border crossings from Gibraltar into Spain, the Government of Gibraltar will apply the same rules to the border crossings from Spain into Gibraltar. We will do that more out of sadness than anger.’

He added: “The reality is that we may not succeed in reaching a treaty, and we may also fail in agreeing a settlement for local border traffic.”

In theory, Gibraltar – home to over 32,000 people – is currently outside the EU customs union and not subject to free movement rules

The introduction at the airport of guards from the EU border agency Frontex was thought to have solved the problem of policing the new Schengen border.

Yet tensions still remain due to the complexities surrounding Madrid claiming sovereignty over Gibraltar.

‘Spain must be understanding why the Gibraltarian rejects the Spanish presence in Gibraltar. It is the result of 60 years of what I could almost call abuse,” Picardo said.

‘We have I have seen the Spanish law enforcement agencies in Gibraltar as an instrument of the Spanish attempt not to recognize our waters and our territory.’

In theory, Gibraltar – home to more than 32,000 people – is currently outside the EU customs union and not subject to free movement rules.

Agreement has already been reached in principle on parts of the new deal, it is reported The Telegraph, including allowing Spanish and other EU planes to land at the airport for the first time in more than a decade.

However, Madrid has granted a temporary exemption to workers and tourists to avoid disruption on the narrow peninsula off Spain’s southern coast, leaving the overseas territory in a state of limbo since Brexit.

MEPs last month raised “serious concerns” that British negotiators failed to stand up to Eurocrats during the talks as the EU looked likely to collapse over the deal in Brussels.

Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron leads talks with the EU in a bid to strike a deal and end post-Brexit impasse

Madrid continues to claim sovereignty over the spit of land, located at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. In the photo: Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares

In a letter to Foreign Secretary David Rutley, committee chairman Sir Bill Cash wrote: ‘If you agree as you have set out to us, it would allow the current Schengen controls to be managed by [EU] Frontex border guards at the airport would erode British sovereignty into meaninglessness.

‘Based on your evidence, we suspect that the British government is prepared to do so allow an arrangement leaving Gibraltar’s border British in all but name.

‘The practical implications of this are seismic. You failed to reassure us that British nationals and Gibraltarians, who only wanted to enter Gibraltar, would not have to undergo Schengen checks.

‘You couldn’t do that either rule out the possibility of British and Gibraltar nationals being refused entry into Gibraltar – an overseas territory of the United Kingdom – by Schengen (EU) border guards.”

The temporary agreement can be withdrawn by Spain at any time, and so can the negotiations working towards agreement common travel between Gibraltar and the EU’s Schengen zone, which would lift most border controls.

Gibraltar has been ruled by Britain since 1713, but is self-governing in all areas except defense and foreign policy.