Brexit: End to Gibraltar land boundary triggers happiness and also uneasiness

Brexit: End to Gibraltar land border prompts joy and trepidation

By Gavin Lee
BBC Europe reporter, Gibraltar

Gibraltar as seen from Spain

picture inscriptionIndividuals in Gibraltar elected with one voice to remain in the EU in the Brexit mandate

The Spanish employees of La Línea de la Concepción go to the prepared to commemorate the elimination of the Gibraltar boundary controls. And also they have factor to.

This little seaside community surrounding Gibraltar is just one of the poorest in Spain. A 3rd of individuals right here are jobless and also in some areas that figure increases to 80%. Medicine trafficking from Morocco and also armed gangs have actually come to be a trouble for authorities.

picture inscriptionGibraltar is a crucial resource of benefit individuals staying in La Línea

Fifteen thousand homeowners have tasks in Gibraltar where incomes get on ordinary 20% greater. And also Gibraltar requires them for the lifeline of its economic climate, particularly in the nursing, food catering and also cleansing sectors.

What will certainly transform

As component of the UK’s leave from the EU, the UK and also Spain have actually concurred in concept that the land boundary will certainly go, perhaps within 6 months, however the regards to the bargain initially need to be made right into an official treaty with the EU:

  • The solitary roadway connecting the areas will certainly be broadened to enable individuals and also autos to take a trip easily
  • Some framework will certainly remain at the boundary, a couple of guards will certainly continue to be on standby, and also finalities still require to be exercised such as evaluating the requirement of particular personalizeds checks far from the boundary and also if so exactly how they would certainly function
  • For the boundary to vanish, Gibraltar will properly enter into Europe’s passport-free traveling location – the Schengen area – though there is a various use language from both sides on whether it will certainly be “component of”, or “linked to” Schengen
  • With the boundary gone, new kid on the blocks will just be inspected if they go into by sea at the port and also by air
  • For the very first time, along with the Gibraltar boundary guards, there will certainly be guards from the EU boundary and also Coastguard Company called Frontex additionally examining tickets.

Gibraltar gets UK-Spain deal to keep open border

media inscriptionGibraltar’s primary preacher and also Spain’s Europe preacher inform the BBC why they believe the bargain is considerable

‘Job is even more crucial than the colour of the flag’

Gib, as it’s recognized, has actually given benefit La Línea resident Melissa for twenty years. She’s a mentor aide and also I fulfill her as she will go across both boundary articles on her early morning commute, initially via the Spanish checkpoint, after that quickly after at the Gibraltar side where she’ll reveal the guards her job authorization.

“This is fantastic information for us. In the future it implies it’ll be simpler to just go across for individuals [trying] to obtain tasks. For my kid, for instance, that has no task,” she claims. “Job right here for me is even more crucial than what colour the flag is.”

Juan José Uceda from the La Línea Employee Organization commemorated with a 1940s container of Rioja when he read about the bargain.

“We think of the modification that this can make mentally to everyone right here, and also having no boundaries to hamper us. We are a city birthed as a result of the requirements of Gibraltar, and also we have actually been enduring for a lot of years, the lines, the hold-ups on the boundary and also the political concerns behind it also.”

Spain, which contests British sovereignty over the Rock, has actually typically been charged of purposely standing up website traffic by decreasing checks at the frontier to produce lengthy hold-ups, particularly sometimes of stress in between both sides.

“There are employees, that’ve been waiting at the border many times for five or six hours without moving, and then on the way back again they have to wait the same time,” Juan José complains.

It affects families on both sides. Especially some of the children who go to school on the other side of the border.

“You could see the children eating their breakfast in the cars, waiting. And there are no toilets here. Nothing.”

‘Like St Pancras station on the Eurostar’

Gibraltar’s chief minister, Fabien Picardo, describes the agreement as creating “a common travel area between Gibraltar and the rest of Schengen”.

“This is a little like the juxtaposed controls that you would see at St Pancras station when you’re going on the Eurostar. You’d go first through British passport control. And then a few steps later you’d go through the French passport control. That is exactly the set-up of what we propose should happen if the European Commission agree, and we elevate our pre-agreement into a treaty.”

Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya recently stated that Spain would have to have the “last say” on the airport and port border arrangements, because Spain is the Schengen member country allowing the deal to happen.

That’s led to criticism that the move could weaken British sovereignty over the territory, but Mr Picardo says that if the plan goes ahead the decision on who enters Gibraltar will only ever be made by a Gibraltan guard, so the British Overseas Territory would have “primacy”.

“So if we say ‘No’ you have actually got to turn your tail and go. Then, you’re not coming in through Gibraltar.

“There is absolutely no way that anybody can suggest the agreement we’ve done or indeed that we would form part of a treaty that would in any way dilute British sovereignty.”

Spain: ‘I would call it ‘co-responsibility’

Spain’s Europe Minister, Juan González-Barba Pera, told the BBC that while Spanish claims over the Rock hadn’t receded, the deal was not about territorial claims.

“In 2002, [Gibraltar] held a referendum and they rejected the idea of co-sovereignty. Instead of co-sovereignty, I would call it ‘co-responsibility’ because by this agreement the UK is allowing Gibraltar to participate in certain policies of the European Union to which the UK is not participating.”

The Spanish government will outline the details of the agreement in principle in parliament next week.

There has been little chance for Spain’s politicians to process the detail of the deal, given that the agreement in principle was rushed through on New Year’s Eve, hours before the UK was due to leave the EU.

“There are some people in Spain who are not happy about this agreement because they see it as a lost opportunity to further our claims,” says the Spanish minister. He also accepts some in the UK and Gibraltar will be unhappy with the deal.

Risks of a return to old tensions

Despite the issues over who has final say over the deal, Gibraltar seems to have a better relationship with Spain’s Socialist coalition government than with previous governments in Madrid.

When the conservative Popular party was in power, the foreign minister claimed the Spanish flag would be flying on top of the Rock after Brexit.

For Gibraltarians there are still painful memories of past tensions. As well as boundary closures, they endured a 13-year blockade enforced by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in 1969.

image captionGibraltarians are UK citizens and the governor is appointed by the monarch

The EU has been credited with helping to smooth out periodic problems between the territories. Now, with the UK no longer a member, and Spain having increased responsibility at the ports, some locals worry it could be a stepping stone towards Spanish rule.

Retired couple Angela Alessio and Harry Brown, who were born on the Rock, are suspicious of Spanish motives.

“I think when I’m not here any more, in the future, this place will be part of Spain. After all we’re in the south of Spain.” Angela says.

Harry disagrees: “I trust the chief minister, but we need to be careful. One thing will be having European boundary guards checking passports, but I certainly don’t want the Spanish civil guard right here doing it on their own.”

“Spain has always wanted to get hold of Gibraltar,” says ex-British military officer Axle. A site foreman in Gibraltar, he moved to La Línea to live with his Spanish wife.

Gibraltarian, British and Spanish officials all insist the border deal is an experiment that will be re-assessed four years after the border has been removed.

They acknowledge it’s not without risks. The hope, though, is that with the border gone, trust in between these historically fractious neighbours can begin to grow.

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