Imogen Calderwood
SPAIN has announced a major revamp for its side of the frontier in a bid to improve traffic flow.
The proposed plans, recommended by the European Commission, will see the creation of six lanes for cars driving in and four coming out.
The €5 million scheme will be carried out in eight phases and should be complete by the end of the year.
The plans to remodel the frontier came following a high level visit by politicians from the EC last year and a deluge of complaints from both Gibraltarians and Spaniards who work on the Rock.
Further pressure on the government came when a new body called the Mesa de Gibraltar (The Gibraltar Table), which includes all local political parties in La Linea apart from the PP, as well as local trades unions, demanded a solution to the issue.
The plan will involve knocking down existing buildings and constructing new ones in a layout in parts modelled on the Andorra frontier.
A key issue for planners on both sides of the border will be ensuring that works on either side of the frontier fence link together smoothly.
The scheme also includes plans for new facilities for searching vehicles, including a scanner, and an enlarged parking area for seized cars and motorbikes, as well as improved pedestrian access.
Yup Yawn..Bet they still have 3 hr Queues..
Spain was given six months, as were the Gibraltarian authorities, to improve the flow of traffic and to minimise the smuggling of tobacco. Gibraltar has taken all the right steps in order to comply. Six months on, the Spanish government has provided a viable blue print and that’s about it.
They have been supplied with substantial EU funds to implement this.
Question is, when implemented, it should provide a steady flow of traffic but does it prevent their “special forces” stopping vehicles further up the road when travelling on Spanish roads?
It all depends on who is governing at the time I suppose.
Come on let’s see some positive feed back here this is surely progress and good news for all!
But I thought it had to be returned according to our Fascist Spanish friends who comment here on a regular basis and the “UN” apparently…,..,,, hahaha never, never, never…its never going to be Spanish and neither will Barcelona soon……right of freedom for all
@Pauline
Are you new to this area? Spain will not do anything to help ease the flow of traffic while this government are in power. What happens to those 6 lanes when they get to Gibraltar’s 3 lanes?
What is to stop them moving the entry 300 yards to the left so that the new entry into Gibraltar is at the airport?
The telling piece is that they will be building themselves a nice new set of buildings and a larger holding area for vehicles.
All on EEC money.
Most of us now just grin and bear it full in the knowledge that fascists don’t change their ideas and a police state like Spain will certainly not be swayed by the pleas from the EEC unless there is something in it for them.
The new facilities will provide for adequate customs control procedures with a territory which is not part of the EU customs union. Due to the level of smuggling between Gibraltar and Spain, border crossing delays will depend on whether the Government of Gibraltar wants to address the problem or not.
Hopefully construction work at the border “Maze” project will begin in July.
Spain are the largest drug smugglers in europe…. more drugs pass through Spanish borders than they like to admit, but hold on its a few cigarettes that really annoy them…. sort yourself out spain…. create a few more jobs or care for your poor properly and the spanish may not need to resort to smuggling fags……. its actually down to your own government to step up……..hmm thought not
Continually talking about traffic jams going in and out of Gibraltar on this website is probably as boring as actually being in them.
Pauline, you’re on the wrong website asking for any positive responses when talking about ‘The Spanish’.
Meanwhile across the water in Africa , the Russian Navy is being given a heroes welcome in Spanish enclaves.
Pot, Kettle, dictator (Putin) supporter.
“Continually talking about traffic jams going in and out of Gibraltar on this website is probably as boring as actually being in them.”
But not as boring as reading your replies, Derek.
Those posting that it is only the Partido Popular that does not accept the UK unilaterally declared ‘British Gibraltar Territorial Waters’, and is continuing to push for the restoration of its sovereignty over the British colony, need to tone down the bile and vitriole and face the facts.
Spain has always maintained its claim to the restoration of its sovereignty over the British colony. Moreover, Spain has never accepted jurisdiction over UK unilaterally declared ‘British Gibraltar Territorial Waters’. A simple example will suffice to burst your febrile delusion. In 1984 Spain made the following reservation on signing the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea:
‘The Spanish Government, upon signing this Convention, declares that this act cannot be interpreted as recognition of any rights or situations relating to the maritime spaces of Gibraltar which are not included in article 10 of the Treaty of Utrecht of 13 July 1713 between the Spanish and British Crowns. The Spanish Government also considers that Resolution III of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea is not applicable in the case of the Colony of Gibraltar, which is undergoing a decolonization process in which only the relevant resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly apply’.
At the time, the PSOE under Felipe González Márquez, not the ‘big bad’ Partido Popular was in power in Spain. I’m afraid you will have to invent another fantasy to sustain your febrile delusions. I would suggest, however, that you first look at some reputable sources, rather than Gibraltar based propaganda sites, for your information.
FurtherBeyond, you can not add a rider to a UN declaration just because it doesn’t suit you. The Spanish declaration under it’s signature on the document has NO legal standing whatsoever, and changes nothing on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. It’s just your pathetic, little, powerless country bitching about something it has ZERO power over.
Any other country in the world that thought it’s territory had been taken by another country would truly fight to regain it, but you Spanish? Talking and whining machines, with no balls, do you people have any pride?
Tim…. Well Said.
Im pretty sure that Spain recognised it as British when signing the dotted line all those years ago.
Catalunya voting this year…. morocco stepping up its claims for the two Spanish enclaves next year…. Oh dear… all falling apart at the seams.
Number of people wanting the thieving Spanish system to fail…increasing by the second.
@Tim
By Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht, Spain ceded to Great Britain ‘the full and entire propriety of the town and castle of Gibraltar’ nothing more. According to that Article, the ‘propriety’ was yielded ‘without any territorial jurisdiction’, and in the case of any grant, sale or alienation by Great Britain of Gibraltar, Spain was entitled to first preference.
Spain has never accepted UK jurisdiction over the UK unilaterally declared ‘British Gibraltar Territorial Waters’. That’s why, on an almost daily basis, it completely ignores attempts by the UK to assert sovereignty in the Bay of Algeciras.
The problem with your UNCLOS arguments, is the fact that Gibraltar is not a ‘State’. Neither is it part of a ‘State’. Thus references in UNCLOS to ‘States’ do not apply to Gibraltar. According to the UN Gibraltar is nothing more than a colony in the process of decolonisation. It follows from the foregoing that references to UNCLOS are totally irrelevant in the case of Gibraltar.
Significantly, the European Court of Justice has recently dismissed two separate challenges by the UK to the establishment of the Spanish administered nature site that covers the entirety of the so called ‘British Gibraltar Territorial Waters’ which were unilaterally declared by the UK. This is an outcome which significantly supports Spain’s long standing position on the sovereignty dispute with the UK over the Bay of Algeciras.
Further Beyond……So why is it not been handed back then ?? I think your argument is weak and on the verge of fascism.
Good luck with your country you really really need it
Gib could help by clamping down on smuggling
Freedom for Melilla,