Gibraltar Excluded From New European Borders Agency

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

20 September 2004

Gibraltar is to be excluded from a new agency being set up to police the European Union’s external borders, it was confirmed after a meeting last week.

The decision was taken at the Corep meeting between the ambassadors of the 25 EU Member states, which set in motion the establishment of the European Border Agency.

The new agency will coordinate the monitoring of the EU’s external land and sea borders, facilitate better exchange of information on border security, and help countries train their border officials.

Last month the Gibraltar Government expressed dismay at the UK Government’s intended limited participation in the European Borders Agency without Gibraltar, after what it described as diplomatic pressure from Spain.

“The British Government has ridden roughshod over all our arguments and pleas not to participate without us," Gibraltar's Chief Minister Peter Caruana remarked at the time.

“It is disingenuous for HMG to pretend that its participation, albeit not as a full member, in a measure that contains language excluding Gibraltar, is not severely prejudicial to us now and in the future in relation to other external frontiers measures,” Caruana added.

Gibraltar’s government is said to be considering a legal move against the decision.

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