Shared Gibraltar Deal 'Within Months' Says BBC

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

22 March 2002

According to a BBC report on Wednesday, the people of Gibraltar are likely to be presented with the conclusions of the Anglo-Spanish talks on sovereignty 'within months'.

The UK news service revealed that senior Government sources have confirmed that the talks are well advanced, and that the two sovereign nations are poised to release a joint statement on the issue.

The announcement was described by the BBC as a 'direct rebuff' to the mass protest held on Monday, when over 80% of the Rock's population turned out to demonstrate their feelings on the 'done deal' being proposed by the United Kingdom and Spain.

However, speaking during a visit to Wales on Tuesday, Chief Minister Peter Caruana stressed that the region is determined to defeat Spanish attempts to obtain sovereignty, explaining:

'We enjoy the right to self determination - that's the right to decide our own future, which we wish to exercise to choose to retain our British sovereignty and to retain our close constitutional links with the UK.'

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and the leader of the Conservative Opposition, Iain Duncan Smith, clashed over the issue in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Voicing the fears of the Gibraltarian population, the Conservative leader asked Mr Blair if the planned Anglo-Spanish deal would be 'torn up' if rejected in a referendum. The Prime Minister responded that the proposals would not be proceeded with if the populace of the Rock did not agree to them, but refused to comment on whether the agreement would remain on the table as a model for future sovereignty discussions.

However, when pressed, Mr Blair said that there would be no threats made to the jurisdiction if it rejected the Anglo-Spanish proposals, although this remark seems to contradict recent UK threats to shut down the region's offshore finance centre if it refuses to accept Spanish joint sovereignty.

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