New chapter of tension diplomatic between Spain and the United Kingdom on behalf of Gibraltar as negotiations take place at the highest level to try to reach an agreement allowing the British colony to integrate into the European Union and the Schengen area after Brexit.
On this occasion, the complaint comes from the United Kingdom and is not due to an alleged incursion by the Civil Guard into what it considers to be British territorial waters but which Spain does not recognize, taking advantage of the Treaty of Utrecht. As reported by Gibraltar’s public radio and television station, GBC, this is the alleged “incursion” of a Spanish military plane, events which, according to the information, took place on Friday afternoon, when the military plane flew over the Peñón airport, in the hands of the British Ministry of Defense.
The plane, a BARB 061 of the Spanish Air Forcereportedly flew over the British colony while a British Airways plane was maneuvering on the airport runway. The GBC adds that tracking apps then showed a plane with the same flight code flying over Gibraltar again.
According to this Gibraltar media outlet, the British Foreign Office confirmed “an incursion by the Spanish Air Force on Friday” and transferred a official complaint to Spain.
And all this happens after the third ministerial summit held between the European Commission, the United Kingdom and Spain, with the presence of Gibraltar, to reach an agreement.
The event, which was held on September 19 at Brussels ended without consensus “but with further progress”, as they indicated in a brief joint statement in which they only revealed that progress had been made on issues related to the transit of people and goods if, as desired, the fence disappeared and the zone of shared prosperity that they agreed to the extreme London and Madrid on December 31, 2020.
The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albares, summoned the Junta de Andalucía and the mayors of Campo de Gibraltar this October 9 to transmit to them the content of said meeting.
