John Culatto
THE second round of post-Brexit talks have been described as ‘positive’ by the Chief Minister of Gibraltar who led the delegation.
Fabian Picardo denied that co-sovereignty had been discussed in Madrid on March 3.
“Anything that affects constitutional or status change will have to go to a referendum,” Picardo told GBC.
“Any negotiation that I lead will not involve any concession on sovereignty, jurisdiction or control being up for discussion.”
He accused ‘ill-informed social media commentators’ of trying ‘to poison the well’ on his return to the Rock.
The Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia, Attorney General Michael Llamas and the Director of Gibraltar House in Brussels Daniel D’Amato were all present.
The meeting was hosted by the Government of Spain and included the Government of the United Kingdom.
The discussion focussed on those areas of the UK-EU future relationship that are relevant to Gibraltar.
They included the mobility of persons in the region and continued access to provide cross-border services.
The UK, Spain and Gibraltar have agreed to meet again in the coming weeks and to work positively for the benefit of citizens on all sides.
“This second round of meetings has been positive,” said Chief Minister Fabian Picardo.
“On my return to Gibraltar I will brief Cabinet colleagues, the Leader of The Opposition and Ms Hassan Nahon on the matters discussed and the areas of potential agreement and obvious disagreement.”
After the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016, regional mayors have declared their support for a free-flowing frontier with over 10,000 workers relying on the Rock.
However, Gibraltar has vowed not to shift on any power-sharing agreement with Spain in order to achieve free movement.
At the same time, the Chief Minister said he was working on ways to reverse a quarantine on Gibraltar travellers.
There are now 47 active cases of COVID-19 among residents on the Rock, with over 36,000 tests carried out so far in the territory.
UPDATE: The Government can confirm that there is now one male confirmed case of COVID-19 in the 40-50 age range at the CCU at St Bernard’s Hospital.
