Back
Gibraltar 'will retaliate if Spain imposes full border checks'
Jun 4, 2024
Gibraltar will retaliate if Spain imposes full border checks, the territory's chief minister has warned.
Fabian Picardo flashed the thinly-veiled warning after the Tories shelved negotiations with Brussels over a new post-Brexit deal for border checks and transit on the Rock until after the July 4 general election.
He said that 'sorrow might turn to anger quite quickly' if the talks were to break down.
Britain has been locked in talks over the status of the overseas territory - which has a land border with Spain - since Britain left the EU.
In April it appeared a deal had edged closer to being agreed with Mr Picardo telling reporters it was 'within kissing distance' of being rubber-stamped.
But despite at least 17 rounds of talks since October 2021, discussions have soured over Spain's insistence that the UK cede jurisdiction over Gibraltar's airport, which is on an RAF base, for an agreement to be reached.
There are also tensions over the role of 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 Commission.
Mr Picardo told the Gibraltar Chronicle yesterday: 'People in Gibraltar need to understand that the alternative to a treaty is potentially the full application of the Schengen border code with all of the massive difficulties that that would entail, and for us to do it reciprocally.
5Shares
0Comments
3Favorites
19Likes
No content at this moment.