BARCELONA, Spain (AP). Although corks may have surfaced in London and Brussels at the end of a four-year saga known as Brexit, there is still a rocky piece of British soil in limbo.
Gibraltar, a British colony stretching to the southern tip of mainland Spain, is not included in the Brexit trade agreement announced on Christmas Eve between the European Union and the United Kingdom to end trade and trade relations between the now 27-member block and the first nation to leave the group.
The deadline for Gibraltar remains 1 January, when a transitional period regulating the short border between Gibraltar and Spain expires. If no agreement is reached, there is serious concern that a hard border will cause workers, tourists and big business relations across the two sides.
Spain has managed to persuade the EU to separate the issue of Gibraltar from the larger Brexit negotiations, which means that Madrid handles all talks directly with its counterparts in Gibraltar and London.
Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya said on Thursday that if no agreement was reached, she feared the long queues of stranded truck drivers seen on the English Channel last week could be repeated.
“We do not have much time, and the chaos from the UK should remind us that we must continue to work to reach an agreement on Gibraltar,” González Laya told Spanish state broadcaster RTVE. ‘Spaniards want one, Gibraltar residents want one. Now the UK needs one too. Political will is needed. ”
During the Brexit talks, Spain insisted it wanted a say on the future of Gibraltar.
The Rock ceded to Britain in 1713, but Spain has never relinquished its claim to sovereignty over it. The strategic outflow of high terrain has given the British navy command for three centuries over the narrow sea route from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean.
“Neither party will relinquish its sovereignty, but we must set it aside to reach an agreement that will make life easier for those living on both sides of the border,” González Laya said.
More than 15,000 people live in Spain and work in Gibraltar, which makes up about 50% of Gibraltar’s workforce. Gibraltar’s population of about 34,000 was overwhelmingly against Britain leaving the European Union. In the UK Brexit referendum in 2016, 96% of Gibraltar voters remained supportive of staying in the continental bloc, which they say is more leverage to deal with the government in Madrid.
The area still remembers how the Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco Franco struck the border in 1969 in an attempt to destroy the economy of Gibraltar.
Gibraltar Prime Minister Fabian Picardo said the post-Brexit trade agreement “is a great relief, given the potential problems that a non-agreement Brexit could create for the UK and the European Union.”
But he added that his territory is still in danger.
‘This transaction does not cover Gibraltar. “For us and for the people of the Campo de Gibraltar around us, the clock is still ticking,” Picardo said in a statement.
“We continue to work hand in hand with the UK to conclude negotiations with Spain on the agreement between the EU and the UK on Gibraltar,” he said.
Picardo recently told Cadena SER radio in Spain that an agreement in the Schengen way would be the most positive ‘to facilitate the 30 million annual border crossings between Gibraltar and Spain.
The European Schengen area consists of about two dozen countries that have agreed to eliminate general travel checks within the group, although some local checks have been reinstated due to the pandemic. Britain is not in the Schengen group.
The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has also said it is committed to finding a solution that includes “ensuring border flow, which is clearly in the best interests of the communities living on both sides”.
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