Spain will have the last word on who Gibraltar will enter into a preliminary agreement on border arrangements for British territory, Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said in a statement to El Pais. maintenance.
The responsibility for overseeing the new passport-free conditions for the Schengen agreement for access to Gibraltar’s port and airport, as envisaged in the agreement, would be Spain’s, Gonzalez told the newspaper.
“Obviously there must be a Spanish presence to carry out the minimum tasks of Schengen control,” she said.
According to the agreement, no government has given a thumbs up in their claims to sovereignty over the area, she told El Pais.
“What we have seen is a change in the paradigm that is not compounded by concessions, but by an amalgamation of interests between Gibraltarians and Spaniards, who are both pro-European,” Gonzalez said. “This is the fruit of Brexit.”
Separately, Fabian Picardo, the Prime Minister of Gibraltar, said that only the Gibraltar authorities would decide who enters the area.
“Under the New Year’s Eve agreement, only Gibraltar will decide who enters Gibraltar and Spanish officials will not exercise any control over Gibraltar at the airport or port now or in four years’ time,” he said on Twitter. “This is our country.”
Spain and the United Kingdom concluded a last-minute agreement on 31 December to avoid tighter control over the transport of people and goods to the area at the entrance to the Mediterranean, which had been under British control since 1713.
Read more: Gibraltar Dodges Hard Brexit After Spain, the United Kingdom reaches an agreement (1)
Under a four-year implementation period, officials from the European border agency Frontex will assist with control at the port and airport, with Spain as the party responsible for overseeing the new Schengen arrangements.
The United Kingdom remains steadfast in its support for Gibraltar and its sovereignty is protected, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said in a statement on Thursday.
(Updates with comments from Gibraltar’s Prime Minister in the seventh paragraph.)