Gibraltar Is "Painful Anachronism" Says Spanish Foreign Minister

Panorama

21 September 2000

This article is reproduced by kind permission of Panorama at http://www.panorama.gi

Gibraltar is a "painful anachronism", the Spanish foreign minister Josep Pique told the UN General Assembly last week. He said that 'nearly three centuries after its population was expelled and the Rock was occupied by British troops, a colonial situation still lingers.'

Sr Pique did not mention that Gibraltar was subsequently ceded "forever" under the terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. He added: 'Regaining sovereignty over this part of our territory is a permanent goal for Spain.' There had been no progress under the Brussels process, in spite of several concrete proposals put forward by Spain, he said.

The following is the full text of what Sr Pique had to say about Gibraltar in his address. It is the official Spanish translation:

'Another of the United Nations' goals must be to conclude the decolonisation process world-wide, by doing away with the last vestiges of colonialism. One of them persists, as a painful anachronism, in Spanish territory. I am, of course, refering to Gibraltar where, nearly three centuries after its population was expelled and the Rock was occupied by British troops, a colonial situation still lingers.

'This is an infringement of my country's territorial integrity and contravenes the provisions of General Asembly Resolution 2353. Regaining sovereignty over this part of our territory is a permanent goal for Spain, which is fully in favor of a meaningful dialogue. It is regrettable that the United Kingdom has not yet shown a genuine political will to solve this problem. Because of this, fifteen years after the start of bilateral talks in the framework of the Brussels process and in conformity with the decisions of this General Assembly, we have not registered any progress at all on this matter, in spite of several concrete proposals put forward by our side.'

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