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October 9, 2024 – 20:34
Algeciras (Spain), Oct 9 (EFE).- The chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, said this Wednesday that Spain maintains positions that the British colony cannot accept in the negotiations for an agreement on the rock’s relationship with the European Union after Brexit.
In statements released to the media, Picardo does not specify which positions he cannot accept within negotiations that are carried out with great secrecy by all parties.
Gibraltar’s Chief Minister published these comments after Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said today that he hopes the UK will accept the deal on Gibraltar before new controls within the EU’s Schengen area come into force. (EU), in principle on November 10.
“We have been negotiating this agreement for many years, I am the fourth (Spanish) Foreign Minister to negotiate it and it is time for the United Kingdom to say yes to an agreement that is balanced and generous,” Albares stressed today in a press conference. .
He recalled that what the Spanish Government is proposing is the inclusion of Gibraltar within the Schengen area, since the United Kingdom does not belong to this European area of free movement of people and goods, which would mean that the separation fence with Spain would be eliminated and the Borders would be located at the port and airport of the rock.
The fact that Spanish agents would be in charge, according to Schengen customs, of carrying out access controls at the airport and port of Gibraltar has been pointed out as one of the aspects of friction in the negotiations.
Albares warned that it is the United Kingdom “that has to decide if it prefers that” or that from November 10 the new access controls begin to operate throughout the Schengen area.
Picardo has questioned this by stating that Gibraltar “has put on the table compromise agreements that respect the historical positions of all parties and guarantee the security of the Schengen area and the integrity of the single market” of the EU.
«Spain has to decide if it accepts these reasonable and well-balanced proposals or if it insists on positions that it knows we cannot accept and, in this way, condemns us all to controls that will make the lives of workers and citizens more difficult. general,” he continues.
“I remain optimistic and hope that our reasonable proposals, or a derivation of them, can work for all parties,” adds Picardo.
According to a joint statement published then, the meeting on September 19 in Brussels between Spain, the United Kingdom and the European Commission on Gibraltar ended with “new progress” in the negotiations on the transit of people and goods. EFE
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