Walter FinchThe British government is reported to be demanding its military base in Gibraltar remains untouched during a high-level meeting in Brussels to finally thrash out a deal with Spain and the EU on the border
Chief Minister Fabian Picardo is sitting with Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares, his British counterpart David Lammy and the EU Vice President Maros Sefcovic.
The four and their negotiating teams will be hoping to make enough progress during the meeting to sustain the hope that a deal can be struck before November 10.
This is the start date for the EU’s new Entry Exit System, which will likely see long snaking queues return to the frontier not seen for many years if no deal is in place.
The sides are all contending to keep their red lines intact while respecting those of the other side in an arrangement that ‘enables us all to win and none of us to lose.’
“We’ve all got red lines. We’ve got to ensure that those red lines don’t cross,” Picardo continued to GBC last night.
For Gibraltar, it is essential that their sovereignty is not infringed by the presence of ‘Spanish boots on British soil’ when administering the airport and port – which will become points of entry to the EU under any potential treaty.
Meanwhile, the British government’s red line is to ensure that their military base in the strategically vital choke point guarding the entry to the Mediterranean Sea remains untouched.
“Our military base on Gibraltar must be able to operate as it does now,” the Telegraph reported a senior UK government source familiar with the preparations saying.
The airport – a key point of unresolved contention – is also used by the RAF, and the British government is demanding that any treaty does not obstruct its continued use.
The British Foreign Secretary is reported to be focusing on ‘trying to make progress on the most complex practical issues that remain in the negotiations that this Government inherited,’ according to EFE.
Picardo met with Lammy earlier in the month to coordinate together on a treaty that ‘protects the sovereignty, military autonomy of the United Kingdom and guarantees prosperity for the Rock and the region.’
On the Spanish side, official sources from the Foreign Ministry told EFE that they are looking to confirm that the new UK Labour government will honour what was agreed by its predecessor government and ‘try to make as much progress as possible on it.’
“We will continue to offer a generous and balanced agreement with freedom of movement of people and goods that respects Schengen and customs controls, just as in the rest of the Schengen area and the Customs Union,” the Spanish sources said.
