In Stockholm, Spain And The UK Agree To Re-Open Gibraltar Sovereignty Talks

Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Stockholm

26 March 2001

The European Union summit that took place in Stockholm on Friday and Saturday saw a minute narrowing of differences between Spain and the UK in their dispute over the sovereignty of Gibraltar. On the agenda of the meeting was the European 'single sky', which is being held up by one aspect of the dispute, the status of Gibraltar's airport, and Tony Blair agreed with Jose Mari Aznar to re-open discussions after the British election, currently scheduled for May.

At the opening of the summit, the president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, said that the Commission's proposal for the single sky (due to be implemented by 2004) was ready, but "the Commission sees little point in tabling it if Europe's common interest will simply be held hostage to the differences over Gibraltar." He appealed to Britain and Spain to seek a solution, saying that it would be useful if the two leaders promised to try again to resolve the issue.

Britain agreed in 1987 to exclude Gibraltar from earlier EU air liberalization measures (the 'five freedoms') until joint use of the airport was implemented, but the British position has changed and joint use is no longer contemplated. Spain of course refuses to recognise the airport as a British regional airport and lays claim to the airport area as part of its demand for sovereignty over the whole of Gibraltar. It wants the Rock together with its airport excluded from any air agreements so that its arguments over sovereignty are not compromised.

The British view is that Gibraltar cannot be systematically excluded from all EU agreements. Britain wants EU laws to apply to Gibraltar (most of them already do), while making the proviso that such application does not affect the respective positions of both Britain and Spain over the sovereignty of Gibraltar.

In response to President Prodi's call for reason, Mr Aznar and Mr Blair met on Friday night and agreed to continue to discuss the issue once the Commission had made its proposals. Goran Persson, Swedish premier, said he would aim to get agreement on the measure in time for the Gothenburg summit in June.

Discussions between the two men are expected to take place within a resumption of talks under the so-called Brussels Agreement of 1984, halted since 1997 when the then Spanish foreign minister Abel Matutes put forward proposals for joint sovereignty of Gibraltar leading to full Spanish sovereignty. Both political parties in Gibraltar rejected the proposals, and British officials told their Spanish counterparts in Stockholm that they would have to expect a renewed rejection of the Matutes proposals if negotiations re-opened. The UK position remains that it will withhold its views on the Matutes proposals until a meeting under the Brussels process takes place, arguing that the Spanish proposals were made within the framework of such discussions.

Speaking after the summit, Aznar said that Spain would not shift its position. He was hopeful that after the upcoming UK general election, Blair might be more willing to negotiate over the airport. This doesn't seem very likely: plans to update Gibraltar's constitution which would probably entail more independence for the Rock have recently exacerbated Spanish feelings. Spain says that any change to Gibraltar's status would be a breach of the 200-year old Treaty of Utrecht, under which Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain in perpetuity. Gibraltarian leaders say however that they plan to retain British sovereignty and hence the Treaty cannot possibly be affected.

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