The historic agreement on Gibraltar is finally a reality. Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, and the European Union have signed the political pact they reached last year after many years of negotiations at an event at the European Commission. It is the last piece pending from Brexit, ten years after the British voted to leave the European Union, and it will have a very visible first consequence tomorrow: the disappearance of the fence, the physical barrier that separates the Rock from La Línea, crossed daily by 15,000 people.
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On the Spanish side, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, attended. On the British side, the Minister of State for Europe, the Secretary of State for Europe, Stephen Doughty. They were accompanied by the European Trade Commissioner, Maros Sefcovic, the one responsible for putting his name representing the Twenty-Seven, and the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo.
Albares has defended that this signing represents “a new era between Spain and the United Kingdom”
The ceremony lasted just a few minutes, with no statements from those present. The four posed holding the already signed Treaty, which contains 336 articles and several annexes that, in total, occupy nearly a thousand pages. Now, the treaty will be applied provisionally from midnight, but the necessary ratification procedure for its definitive entry into force still needs to be completed. On the European side, although it is only a formality, the approval of the European Parliament is required in a plenary session vote, estimated for the end of the year.
In an interview this morning on Cadena Ser, Albares defended that this signing represents “a new era between Spain and the United Kingdom” after the Brexit break and “perfectly completes” the “neighborhood relations designed in recent years.” The Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, will travel this Wednesday to La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz) to mark the end of the Fence and the removal of passport controls between Spain and the Rock.
From tomorrow, the European Union and the United Kingdom will share borders and, in part, maritime and air customs in the Rock of Gibraltar. Nothing will change in Gibraltar’s status as part of British territory, despite reproaches from part of the Spanish right. But it is great news for 15,000 workers in the Campo de Gibraltar who live from economic activity on the Rock and who will no longer have to endure heavy police controls.
There will be controls on passenger arrivals at the airport. Gibraltar will manage immigration and the police, while Spanish officials will be responsible for ensuring the integrity of the Schengen area. It is a model similar to that operated by French authorities at London’s St. Pancras station for the train going to France crossing the English Channel.
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