Allex Ellis, the new UK ambassador to Madrid, who has just taken up his post, visited the Rock this week, GBC has revealed.
According to the information, confirmed by the Gibraltar Federation of Small Business, Ellis attended a dinner at the Convent, the British Governor’s residence on the Rock. There, a dinner was held in his honour, attended by the Minister of the Port of Gibraltar and the captain of the port, as well as senior officials and business representatives.
During the meeting, Ellis addressed the concerns of local businessmen regarding the possibility of a hard Brexit, if the attempt to reach an agreement on a Treaty between Great Britain and the European Union to ease traffic across the border, as well as trade relations between the Rock and the rest of the community bloc, fails.
Ellis’ visit to Gibraltar coincided with a trip to London last Wednesday by the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and his Deputy Chief Minister, Joseph Garcia, who met in this context with David Lammy, the new British Foreign Secretary who is scheduled to meet his Spanish counterpart, José Manuel Albares, in the middle of the month.
Yesterday, the British Embassy in the United Kingdom recalled that from November 2024, the new EU Entry/Exit System (EES) will be activated for all non-EU citizens, including British citizens, traveling in or out of the Schengen area: “The Schengen area comprises 29 European countries, 25 of which are EU Member States. The EES is a digital border system that registers non-EU visitors traveling to the Schengen area instead of stamping their passports,” the Embassy recalls through its social networks.
“You may experience longer queues at borders when the new system begins,” the embassy warns.
The European Union (EU) is set to introduce two separate but interconnected schemes that will affect non-EU citizens travelling to these countries. EES, as mentioned, stands for “Entry/Exit System”. It is an automated system to register travellers from the UK and other non-EU countries every time they cross an external EU border.
“The EU wants to introduce the SES on 10 November, which could lead to chaos at UK-EU borders, including Gibraltar,” says the Rock’s Federation of Small Businesses. “Passport scanning could also signal the end of special treatment for Gibraltar red ID card holders, which would be a “reality shock” for many with Brexit. If you need to show a passport to enter Gibraltar, this clearly means you must have a passport. We will continue to share what we know, but in the meantime, we recommend checking whether employees actually have a passport, as many can cross the border with just their national ID card.”
In his National Day message next week, Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Garcia said the question remains whether the Treaty, which has been under negotiation for three years, will exist or not. In any case, according to Garcia, the people of Gibraltar will continue to defend their sovereignty and self-determination “whatever happens.”
In his message, he also stressed that last week a delegation from the Committee of 24 of the United Nations, which deals with the decolonisation processes, visited the British Virgin Islands, which – like the Rock – are on the list of non-autonomous territories to be decolonised. For years, Gibraltar has been asking the Committee for an official visit to the Rock, which García now reiterates, “to obtain a better understanding of our situation”.
“No people, no matter how small, can be denied this basic right to choose their political future,” says García, who appeals to the primordial essence of democracy.
In his message, Gibraltar National Day is a reason for family reunions but also for the confirmation of Gibraltarian identity. In his opinion, dressing in red and white clothes on that day “sends a profound political statement: Gibraltar belongs to us and we are the only ones who will decide our own future.”
