John Culatto
SPAIN’S liberal Ciudadanos party has asked the government what plans there are to strengthen the Gibraltar Campo economy if there is no deal on an EU treaty.
Ciudadanos’ question in the Spanish parliament comes after Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Manuel Albares said the government was ‘ready for any outcome’ of post-Brexit talks on Gibraltar.
Ciudadanos MP Carmen Martinez Granados especially asked ‘what type of financial support’ the government was preparing in a No Negotiated Outcome (NNO).
As this newspaper predicted in December, Spain, EU and the UK could not close a deal two years since Brexit came into effect.
Martinez Granados said that ‘around 18.5% of the GDP of the Gibraltar Campo came from interactions with the Rock’.
She urged the government to reach ‘a real agreement, with legal force that takes away the uncertainty over the relations between the Campo and Gibraltar’.
The MP asked the government to work with the Junta de Andalucia regional government and local councils to bale out the district.
Albares said on January 1 that ‘a lot of years have gone by since Brexit’ and he has always wanted to come to an agreement.
But despite his apparent willingness to negotiate, he does not seem to want to budge from his final proposal.
“The Government of Spain and the EU, which is ultimately the one who will make the agreement with the United Kingdom, are prepared for any scenario,” he warned.
Soon after, a leading Campo academic and Cadiz university professor denied this was the case.
“Spain is not ready for a no deal scenario,” Verdu said in the Europa Sur newspaper.
READ MORE:
- EU treaty talks on Gibraltar likely to roll into 2023 as disagreements continue between UK, EU and Spain
- Cadiz politician calls for ‘courage’ to clinch EU treaty ‘utopia’ on Gibraltar as Spain digs in on demands
- ‘We are not there yet,’ Gibraltar leader says of EU treaty talks as Spain jumps the gun again
