While the agreement with Gibraltar to define the new relationship with the EU after Brexit remains on hold, the Royal Navy carried out military manoeuvres in the waters near Gibraltar at the beginning of this week. Specifically, they were carried out in an area that is in dispute with Spain, where a mega urban development project is also being built and is under scrutiny for its possible illegality.
Three Royal Navy vessels carried out these high-speed exercises and firing shots. This was surprising because they took place in front of one of the places with the highest number of tourists during the summer season. According to the local media outlet Europa Sur, these are the exercises (Surface Exercise, SURFEX) that the Royal Navy carries out from time to time in this area off the coast of La Línea.
It just so happens that this exercise is taking place where the local authorities of Gibraltar announced in October 2022 the signing of another mega-urban development project that will reclaim land from the sea in breach of the Treaty of Utrecht by which Spain ceded the city and castle of Gibraltar, together with its port, defences and fortresses, but not the isthmus that connects the Rock with the Peninsula or the territorial waters. In this sense, these manoeuvres are being carried out in the same space where the mega-complex is being built, which includes the construction of one hundred homes, 400 moorings for small boats and a car park, among other actions in the aforementioned area. Likewise, this project will include a marina with space for mega yachts and a high-end real estate development.
The coincidence of military exercises with construction work is seen as a provocation of Spanish sovereignty. This challenge to sovereignty, in fact, adds fuel to the negotiations, which have become a sort of never-ending story. The agreement, which will regulate the future relationship between Gibraltar and Spain, has not been reached and remains stuck despite the constant declarations of good intentions by the Spanish Executive regarding its materialisation. There have already been four years of negotiations and 18 rounds of contacts between Brussels and London to build this new relationship in a territory that 30,000 people cross every day. Among them, 15,000 workers, of which 10,000 are Spanish from an area such as Campo de Gibraltar, where the unemployment rate is one of the highest in the country.
The negotiations refer to a “zone of shared prosperity”, a euphemism to avoid talking about sovereignty over the British colony, which has, after all, resurfaced in recent days following the chants by the players of the Spanish men’s football team during the celebration of the victory in the European Championship. “Spanish Gibraltar”, was what thousands of fans claimed earlier, who joined in unison with the claim. Not in vain, sovereignty has marked the context of the last 300 years. With more or less impetus throughout these centuries, Spain has tried on several occasions to recover the territory, either through military actions, pressure measures or international diplomacy. Although it is true that Pedro Sánchez’s Executive has tiptoed on this aspect, the reality is that the British have been adding land to their colony, going so far as to build an airport and expand their presence, gaining space in front of the Spanish border.
