The Diplomatic Dispute Over Gibraltar: Raab’s Allies Clash with British Ambassador to Spain

Raab’s allies say Elliott, the ambassador since 2019, has indicated that some Spanish officers may be on the lookout for police entry into the common travel area in question.

Elliott was removed from the front lines of the talks while Raab was foreign secretary after allies of the minister said he overstepped the cabinet’s mandate on the sovereignty issue.

But Picardo said he had never seen any evidence that Elliott worked liberally in politics.

“We have not seen any statement or conduct by Mr Elliott that was anything other than support for our positions and the search or results sought jointly by the Gibraltar and UK Governments,” it said.

“British sovereignty in regards to Gibraltar was never in jeopardy,” Picardo told local broadcaster GBC.

“I have never seen a diplomat do anything that jeopardizes something that the Gibraltar Government holds to be a sacred principle on behalf of the Gibraltarian people, or jeopardizes any aspect of the negotiations.”

He added: “There is no secret plan to try to cede Gibraltar or try to cede a bit of Gibraltar that we might have feared in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.”

Elliott was described by Jacob Rees-Mogg as “wet wipes” as the former business secretary defended Raab.

“You can’t intimidate an ambassador or if you can, an ambassador is not right,” he told Sky News.

“Ambassadors must have a backbone to represent the country abroad. Is our ambassador fully anointed?”

The British Embassy in Madrid declined to comment on the dispute, as did the Spanish Foreign Minister and the European Commission.

no deal yet

While the UK finalized its free trade agreement with the EU before the end of the transition period in December 2020, negotiations on Gibraltar, which is excluded from the Brexit deal, were not completed on time.

Since then, no mitigating agreement has been reached at the border crossing with Andalusia.

Spanish border guards turn a blind eye to rules that require them to stamp the passports of Gibraltar residents when entering the EU, if they can show a resident card.

If passports are stamped, Gibraltarians will soon be using the post-Brexit limit of 90 visa-free travel days a year because many have homes in Spain or travel there regularly to shop and socialise.

Meanwhile, around 10,000 people enter Gibraltar every day from Spain to work on British soil, an economic livelihood for the deprived border town of La Línea.

Madrid, London, Brussels and Gibraltar have agreed on the general objective of the Brexit negotiations, which is to create a common travel area with free movement between the Rock and mainland Spain.

This will move the border to Gibraltar port and airport, which will become the entry point to the EU passport-free Schengen area.

But Gibraltar will not accept Spanish border guards guarding the border at the airport, which is restricted to flights leaving or arriving from the UK.

The dispute with Spain

Spain ceded the rocky outpost at the mouth of the Mediterranean to Britain in 1713, but demanded its return.

In 2002, 99 percent of Gibraltar voters rejected the idea of ​​Britain sharing sovereignty with Spain, while in 2016, 95.9 percent of voters voted to stay.

There have been hopes of a compromise involving Frontex, the EU border agency, to control arrivals in the new common area of ​​travel, but a final agreement remains elusive.

The last time the British and European teams officially met was in January. “We are very close to reaching an agreement,” said Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, while Picardo said they were close to a treaty.