Gibraltar Condemns EU, Spain Over Threats to Brexit Transition
Gibraltar Condemns EU, Spain Over Threats to Brexit Transition
(Bloomberg) -- The British territory of Gibraltar attacked the European Union for the “shameful” treatment of its citizens in Brexit negotiations on Friday, in an escalating dispute that threatens to derail the talks.
Deputy Chief Minister of Gibraltar Joseph Garcia accused Spain of seeking to use Brexit to advance its 300 year-old claim to the 2.6 square miles (6.7 square kilometers) of U.K. territory on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula. Garcia attacked the EU for “totally unacceptable” discrimination against its pro-European people.
Under EU negotiating guidelines, a separate two-year transition phase for Gibraltar will need to be negotiated directly between the governments in London and Madrid. British officials fear Spain will threaten to veto efforts to strike the Brexit transition deal that businesses want if Theresa May refuses to negotiate that separate deal to cover the disputed territory.
“For us, the view that Brussels has put forward is totally unacceptable,” Garcia said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Friday. “It is shameful that these pro-European people in Gibraltar should be treated by the European Union in this way.”
May wants to strike a transition deal by March 2018. She hopes this will stop U.K.-based businesses relocating by giving them certainty that commercial regulations won’t suddenly change on Brexit day, and allow the talks to move on quickly to discussing a long-term trade deal with the EU.
With a population of 33,000, Gibraltar has been British since 1713 but Spain maintains a claim to the peninsular, with which it shares a land border.
Garcia said the rights of residents and tourists to cross the border must be protected after Brexit and during any transition period, which he said must cover both the U.K. and Gibraltar. “We are entitled to the same benefits” as the U.K. will negotiate in a two-year bridging agreement that May hopes will come into force when the country leaves the EU in March 2019.
To contact the reporters on this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net, Francine Lacqua in London at flacqua@bloomberg.net, Tom Keene in New York at tkeene@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Ben Sills
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