Foreign Office Seeks To Reassure Gibraltar, Strengthens Presence On The Rock

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

21 January 2002

Following the announcement that Gibraltar's Chief Minister, Peter Caruana, will meet with the UK Foreign Minister in London later this month, the Foreign Office has stepped up its presence on the Rock in order to reassure the population and the jurisdiction's media, which has been calling for an improved press and public affairs service over the controversial sovereignty issue for some time now.

According to a report in Thursday's Panorama, the arrival of Catherine Colloms, a secondee from the Public Diplomacy Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is designed to: 'underline the British Government's commitment to explain the Brussels Process clearly and directly, and to listen carefully to the genuine concerns of the people of Gibraltar.'

At present, the concerns of the people of Gibraltar, and the topic of the forthcoming discussions between Mr Caruana and Jack Straw, are that the 'done deal' agreed by the UK and Spain in Mr Caruana's absence, affording joint sovereignty to Spain for the foreseeable future, is not put to the population of Gibraltar at a referendum. The Gibraltar Government feels that even if the proposal was rejected by a public vote, it would be used by both countries as a stick with which to beat Gibraltar, and would give legitimacy to Spanish sovereignty claims.

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