Laurence Dollimore
THE Gibraltar border row risked being reignited today after Spanish officials began stamping the passports of people entering Spain via the frontier.
Rogue Policia Nacional officers decided to ‘enforce’ the ‘Schengen code’ that currently applies to anyone entering the EU from a ‘third’ status country such as the UK, i.e. the stamping of their passports.
However, the situation at the Gibraltar frontier is unique, with thousands of Spanish cross-border workers travelling between Spain and the British Overseas Territory each day, and vice versa.
Meanwhile, post-Brexit negotiations between London and Madrid over the future of the Rock have yet to be concluded, meaning the status of the frontier, and the rules that will apply to it, have also yet to be confirmed.
Introducing passport stamping would create hours-long delays and likely cause a negative impact on the economies of both Gibraltar and Spanish border towns.
It means that the free movement of Gibraltarian citizens and Spanish workers between the Rock and Spain has been continuing much the same as before, until the post-Brexit treaty is signed.
However, Spain’s now-notorious Chief Inspector at the border David Barrero has spent the last few months fighting this status quo, by demanding his officers stamp the passports of everyone entering Spain.
On Monday, he warned in an inernal note that passport stamping would resume ‘until written instructions are received’. It came despite previous orders from his superiors to not stamp passports.
He said that the measure would start ‘once a reasonable amount of time has passed so that any retaliation by Gibraltar towards Spanish workers can be minimised’.
Today, that stamping began at around 10.30am, which, rather conveniently, was after most Spanish workers had crossed into Gibraltar.
However the stamping lasted no longer than an hour, as bosses at the Policia Nacional force quickly called in and ordered them to stop.
The force told Europa Sur that it would no longer stamp Gibraltarians’ passports ‘until there is an agreement between the UK and Spain’.
In Barrero’s February 13 note, also seen by Europa Sur, he claimed he had been given ‘oral instructions to systematically fail to comply with Articles 6 and 11 of the Schengen Borders Code with Gibraltarian citizens’.
A Government source told GBC, meanwhile, that Chief Minister Fabian Picardo had issued his own instructions for reciprocal measures to be implemented ‘within an hour of stricter checks from Spain.’
However, the Government said in a statement today: “The Government is aware that Spanish authorities began to stamp passports of Gibraltarians on entry to Spain this morning.
“The Government understands that these measures were stopped well within an hour of being implemented, and therefore Gibraltar’s authorities did not introduce reciprocal measures on this occasion.”
Barrero, who has risen to notoriety as the ‘rogue officer’ for his war against his own superiors, complained in his note of the ‘persistent non-compliance of the Schengen code without providing a legal basis’.
The border chief, who is currently under investigation for checking passports while drunk and out of uniform, claims these oral orders come ‘under penalty of disciplinary liability for insubordination’.
It was this which forced him to file a denuncia in the La Linea courts against his own superiors, he argued.
“As [the non-compliance] was considered contrary to current regulations, written instructions were requested on several occasions regarding the zeal and consideration with which Articles 6 and 11 were to be applied to Gibraltarian citizens,” he wrote.
“To date, no reply has been received in this regard.”
Article 6 sets the entry conditions for third-country nationals such as Brits and Gibraltarians, which include having valid travel documents, appropriate accommodation and sufficient means of subsistence.
Article 11 requires border guards to stamp the passports of third-country nationals when they enter or exit the Schengen area.
The move to stamp passports could see long queues returning to the border on a regular basis, especially at rush hour, while it will greatly affect Gibraltarians who will be forced to comply with the 90/180 day rule on the amount of time they can spend in Spain.
It comes after Barrero told the La Linea court that the border ‘fully complies’ with the Schengen Code when summoned in his complaint against his superiors.
The statement was at odds with the relaxed ‘wave through’ regime that has generally been in place as a ‘transitional arrangement’ – with the full knowledge of Brussels – since the UK left the EU in 2021.
Barrero also warned that passengers on flights to Gibraltar which are diverted to Malaga will also have to comply with strict Schengen requirements when entering Spain to transfer back to the Rock.
