Walter Finch
THE frontier between Spain and the Rock got its first taste of the disruption to come after Spain ‘unilaterally’ started stamping Gibraltar passports.
The move led to tit-for-tat reciprocal measures, provoking snaking queues of both cars and pedestrians stretching back into La Linea at the border this morning during rush hour.
It forced hundreds of workers who had not brought their passports to turn back, either to fetch it or work from home if they could.
As of 11.30am today (Friday), the old system has been restored, the Gibraltar government reports.
The current border regime means that Gibraltar citizens with a red ID card can pass through without having their passports stamped.
But the Gibraltar government has reported that a new instruction was given yesterday ‘in writing’ by a Policia Nacional inspector in La Linea ‘who was not authorised to give that instruction by his superior.’
Authorities on the Rock went on to accuse their Spanish counterparts of unilaterally suspending the interim border arrangement that has held since Brexit.
Chief Minister Fabian Picardo then gave an ultimatum that the old regime must be reestablished by 7am or Gibraltar would ‘reluctantly’ reciprocate against Spanish workers.
“This would require any third country national, who was not a British citizen or resident of Gibraltar, to present a passport to enter Gibraltar and would have that passport stamped,” the government said in a statement.
According to the government, Spanish border authorities abandoned the passport stamping practice in order to ease the growing queues, but ‘once again reverted to [it] despite the fact that they had been verbally instructed not to do so.’
“It is now claimed they require the new instruction to be delivered in writing as the earlier instruction from the relevant inspector had been in writing and had to be countermanded in writing.”
However the government concluded: “We have been informed that Spain has now countermanded the earlier order and that the stamping of passports has ceased.
“Accordingly, Gibraltar will not re-impose the reciprocal measures.”
José Ignacio Landaluce, the firebrand mayor of Algeciras, accused Gibraltar of using Spanish workers as ‘hostages’ in the ongoing border treaty negotiations, which are commonly thought to be heading for failure.
Calling for ‘sanity’, Landaluce said: “Gibraltar has once again demonstrated that it can cause significant disruption and harm to our cross-border workers when it wants to, but this harm also affects Gibraltarians, their businesses and companies.”
“The Government of Gibraltar has also wanted to send out a warning by showing that it is in a position of strength in the negotiations that are being held with Spain.
The mayor added: “The best way to ensure that our cross-border workers cannot be held hostage or held captive is to create employment and wealth in the Campo de Gibraltar so that they do not have to cross the border and go and earn a living.”
Meanwhile, Picardo advised Gibraltarians going forwards to carry their passports with them when crossing the border.
“Given the sporadic nature of the manner in which Spain has either, through direct instructions, or at the whim of Spanish Police officers, decided that it can lift interim measures at any time, it is best for those who need to cross the frontier into Gibraltar to always have their passports with them.
And he underlined that if the current interim arrangement ended and the last few hours became the norm, Gibraltar would be forced to reciprocate with similar measures for Spanish workers.
“I know that every Spanish worker and every visitor will understand that we have to act on this reciprocal basis,” he said.
“It is the last thing we want to do and as a socialist it depresses me greatly that, as usual, politics is being used to damage the interests of working people and not to assist them.”
Meanwhile, Keith Azopardi, the leader of the Gibraltar Social Democrats, speculated that the ‘rogue’ measure could be ‘the product of a testing of the waters by Spain’ to see whether Gibraltar would indeed stay true to its word to enact tit-for-tat measures.
“The news this morning of further stamping by Spanish officers suggests a more deliberate policy change,” he said in a statement.
“If we are in the final stretch of a negotiation for a new treaty we need to continue to stand firm.
“In the same way as Spain is playing the card of pressure on further changes after the introduction of a new Entry/Exit System [EES] it needs to understand that Gibraltar will reciprocate on that or any new measure.
“Life will very much change for everybody if there is no deal.
“That is not the preferred way forward but that needs to be understood as inevitable if special, neutral and fair arrangements are not agreed.
“On this issue Gibraltar will speak with a united political voice.”
