Gibraltar Bristles At Spanish Attack

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

18 February 2002

The Gibraltar opposition has reacted angrily to remarks made by Spanish Foreign Minister, Josep Pique, over the Anglo-Spanish talks on Gibraltarian sovereignty.

Mr Pique said on Wednesday that the terms proposed by Gibraltar's Chief Minister, Peter Caruana, for attending the talks - namely to be given an equal say in negotiations - were 'impossible'. Ironically, (given that Spain has been fighting to reclaim Gibraltar since the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht), he described the Chief Minister's position on the process as 'intransigent', and urged him to accept the proposals put forward by the UK and Spain, saying that they were in the best interests of the Gibraltarian population.

He also suggested that the Chief Minister might lose the political support of the Gibraltarian people if he failed to accept the Anglo-Spanish offers. However, support for Mr Caruana's viewpoint, at least on this issue, seems to be holding across the political spectrum.

The Gibraltarian opposition parties issued a statement on Thursday, condemning Mr Pique's remarks: 'The latest outburst against Gibraltar by the Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique is one again clear confirmation that attending talks under the Brussels agreement inevitably means acceptance of its terms,' they observed. Echoing Peter Caruana's sentiments on the issue, the statement continued:

'Brussels is not, and has never been, an open agenda forum for dialogue without pre-conditions. It has been the opposite, a pre-determined forum designed to achieve normal neighbourly relations with Spain by Gibraltar making sovereignty concessions in exchange.'

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