After five years of uncertainty and negotiations of the Government of Spain and the United Kingdom, an agreement was announced on Wednesday to avoid a strict border between Gibraltar and the Concept line, the great expected Flexit of Brexit.
The political pact, which should still become a legitimate text, which should be ratified, was declared in Brussels after a meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, Jose Manuel Albarem, the British, David Lammy, the chief minister of Gibraltar Fabyan Picardo and the European commerce commerce, which is due to these negotiations.
Why did this take so much time?
Gibraltar’s status was excluded from the agreement on the exit to the United Kingdom of the EU, which was formalized on January 31, 2020, that is, three and a half years after the referendum in June 2016. Since then, the territory has remained in the midst of negotiations, which turned, in particular, around the movement of workers and observation of the port and the airport of the dog.
What happened at this time?
In practice, many of the Brexit rules, which entered into force for England, Wales and Scotland, were not used in Gibraltar. Ireland of the North, on the island of Ireland, is a different exception that has a special status after many years of negotiations to avoid a hard border.
Why is Brexit a problem?
The Gibraltar enclave, where about 34,000 people live about 15,000 visitors who cross the gates, especially for work, and now do not need a passport or other requirements that are used to enter the UK after Brexit.
The supply of the main products of Gibraltar also depends on its neighbors, and the availability of additional control in the goods will be another stumbling block for everyday life.
It is no coincidence that 96% of the Gibraltarkeni population will vote against Brexit at the 2016 referendum.
And now?
According to the agreement, “all physical barriers, checks and control in public and goods that circulate between Spain and Gibraltar will be eliminated, at the same time preserving the Schengen space, the only EU market and the Customs Union.” This means that the gate will disappear, which will be demolished.
In turn, at the airport and the Spanish police port, they will control the passports and monitor the entrance to the European region of free movement of people without the intervention of the front, agency along the EU border, one of the controversial moments. There will also be control over Gibraltar agents.
According to the agreed plan, at Gibraltar’s airport there will be double control, similar to the one that exists for the Eurostar train, which connects the United Kingdom with the continent and has a double British and French control at the Railway Station of St. Pankx in London.
For the United Kingdom, Spanish control at the airport, where there is also a British military base, was the main stumbling block.
In practice, according to Minister Albares, the Spanish police, for example, may abandon the British entering Gibraltar, who exceeded the maximum permissible time of 90 days for a citizen of the country outside Schengen, as in the case of the United Kingdom.
And the goods?
There are still free ends in this aspect. Between the EU and Gibraltar there will be a customs union with “cooperation between the relevant customs authorities to eliminate control” for goods. But for this, you must first have an agreement on taxes that are used in Gibraltar, for example, to tobacco.
In addition, the future customs agreement should also include coordination in state subsidies, environmental, labor and commercial standards, as well as obligations against money laundering.
Why now?
The agreement was especially urgent for the progressive use of a biometric passport management system this year, which the EU requires registering passengers from third countries, including the British, who enter as visitors.
A hard border, with passport control, such as those that are now held between the EU and the United Kingdom, would radically change life in Gibraltar. The British government claims that it would be “destructive” for the Gibraltarkeni economy and that the “millions” of the money of the British taxpayer should have been spent on adaptation to control.
Starmer gives Gibraltar?
It was a question of the head on the cover Daily MailThe newspaper is most read in the United Kingdom as soon as the agreement is known to this environment.
The Keir Starmer Labor Government, in fact, retained the position similar to the position of its conservative predecessor regarding the need for a “liquid” border, which defended the last Minister of Foreign Affairs, conservatives David Cameron.
But the fact that in practice between Gibraltar and Spain there is freedom of movement of people and goods, in contrast to what is happening between Great Britain and Spain, it can be considered a transfer that already criticizes part of law and extreme law in the United Kingdom.
On the other hand, the agreement avoids entering the bottom of the issue of the sovereignty of Gibraltar, which Spain does not recognize the British territory.