Anglo-Spanish Declaration Of Principles Expected Before End Of May, Says Report

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

18 April 2002

It was revealed on Wednesday that talks between UK Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, and his Spanish counterpart, Josep Pique, will be resumed in Brussels on May 13, and that the controversial Declaration of Principles on the sovereignty of Gibraltar could be released soon after that.

According a report from the Panorama news service, the British and Spanish Ministers for Europe, Peter Hain and Ramon de Miguel, met yesterday in Madrid to put the finishing touches to the Anglo-Spanish agreement.

However, according to Panorama, the British and Spanish authorities, despite their desire to reach an agreement about Gibraltarian sovereignty, are still pulling in different directions over the issue. The newspaper reports that the UK government, alarmed by the outcry created by the talks, 'appears to be thinking of putting the brakes on a deal', while the Spanish government is sticking to its guns on the issue, and insisting that the UK does the same.

One possible course of action could be the delay of a referendum planned for Gibraltar's citizens in the Autumn. However, this would not represent a victory for Gibraltar's Chief Minister, Peter Caruana, and his government, as throughout the process, they have rejected the very premise of a 'Declaration of Principles' by the UK and Spain as the presentation of a 'done deal' which will loom over the jurisdiction in years to come.

Meanwhile, an opinion poll conducted by the newspaper has suggested, somewhat unsurprisingly given the massive turnout at a recent demonstration, that the vast majority of the Rock's residents are in favour of modernizing the region's relationship with the United Kingdom, rather than submitting to Spanish rule.

The results of the Panorama survey suggested that around 98% of the population would reject the planned Anglo-Spanish agreement.

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