Straw And Pique Hold Unscheduled Meeting To Discuss Gibraltar Agreement

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

30 April 2002

It was reported in the Panorama news service last week that an unscheduled meeting was held between UK Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw and his Spanish counterpart, Josep Pique, in an attempt to iron out some of the problems which have arisen during talks on the sovereignty of Gibraltar.

The newspaper quoted Minister for Europe, Peter Hain as stating that the disagreements have centred around the need for a referendum, the fact that any decision reached must be definitive rather than transitionary, and the control of the British military base on the Rock.

Panorama speculated last week that the official meeting between the two ministers, planned for May 13, may not now take place, explaining that: 'there is no point in having a 'public meeting' if what they would like to announce cannot be announced.'

However, the UK Foreign Secretary announced on Friday that the talks had led to some progress on the issue, and on Monday it was revealed that the Spanish government had presented formal proposals to make the jurisdiction into an autonomous city - but within Spanish territory.

Meanwhile, in Gibraltar there have been calls for a referendum on sovereignty to be held before the Anglo-Spanish Declaration of Principles is unveiled, in order to more fully demonstrate the opinions of the territory's residents, and to strengthen the hand of those campaigning against the release of any agreement on the issue.

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