Fredbargate

Spain has included Gibraltar on its list of priorities for the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly, which began this month.

In a statement issued yesterday, Spain’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs said it would defend the principle of territorial integrity and application to Gibraltar.

Gibraltar listed in Spain’s UN priorities – Gibraltar Chronicle

I wonder what form of territorial integrity applies to Ceuta and Melilla?

megmet

That is the very same question I was asking, I can't say more as we are gagged here in Spain.

Fredbargate

Hi-tech listening posts in Gibraltar and Cyprus operated by GCHQ, the UK’s signals intelligence organisation, identified “at least three” active Islamic State cells in Spain and Germany, it was claimed yesterday

Gib listening post led to terror arrests – report – Gibraltar Chronicle

Fredbargate

“We can confirm we received a letter from the caretaker Spanish Foreign Minister on 20 September requesting a meeting to discuss Gibraltar,” a Foreign Office spokesman said. “The Foreign Secretary’s response made it clear that the UK’s position on sovereignty was unchanged.”

“We will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another State against their wishes.”

“Furthermore, the UK will not enter into any process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content.”

“The Foreign Secretary also underlined the UK and Gibraltar’s long standing wish to return to the Trilateral Forum of Dialogue to discuss any issues of shared interest with Spain.”

Johnson reaffirms UK commitment to trilateral dialogue – Gibraltar Chronicle

Fredbargate

One very good reason not to want to join Spain

A little reading on this link megmet, particularly paragraph 5

https://www.academia.edu/10575180/Gi...ernational_Law

Fredbargate

Below are the first two sentences in a letter published in a local paper today
Well worth a read.


I should introduce myself. I came to Gibraltar a few months ago. My partner and I came with the intention of starting a new adventure.

We sold up everything we owned in the UK, put our home and businesses into storage and after spending several months travelling through France and Spain, we arrived in Gibraltar for this new exciting life .

Smoke gets in your eyes

Fredbargate

Spain has written to all its EU partners, except Britain, asking for their support in ensuring Gibraltar be excluded from post Brexit negotiations with the UK.

GBC - Gibraltar News - GBC TV and Radio Gibraltar

Fredbargate

Chief Minister to address UN Committee.

..

Fredbargate

Gibraltar will never barter its sovereignty in exchange for EU access after Brexit, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told the UN Fourth Committee yesterday, rebutting a formal offer of “co-sovereignty” from Spain.

He made the statement just minutes after Spain’s ambassador to the UN, Román Oyarzun Marchesi, outlined Spain’s proposal for joint sovereignty to a packed committee room in the UN headquarters in New York.

Sr Oyarzun said Brexit would lead to “a radical shift” in Gibraltar’s relations with Spain, but also a “problem of the first order” for the Rock’s economy and that of the Campo de Gibraltar.

He said Spain’s joint sovereignty proposal represented “a solution” to Brexit and “a good deal” for Gibraltar and the Campo.

The Spanish diplomat received an immediate and robust response from the Chief Minister, who made clear Gibraltar’s sovereignty was not up for discussion.


Full article
Picardo says ‘no’ as Spain pitches joint sovereignty at UN – Gibraltar Chronicle

Fredbargate

The British Government reaffirmed its double-lock sovereignty commitment to Gibraltar on two separate occasions during a ‘right of reply’ to Spain’s intervention at the UN Fourth Committee in New York on Tuesday.

Speaking at the end of the session, ambassador Peter Wilson, the UK’s deputy permanent representative at the UN, also said the Trilateral Forum for Dialogue remained “ the most credible, constructive and practical means” of strengthening relations between the UK, Spain and Gibraltar.

And he insisted that Gibraltar must participate “in its own right” in any process of dialogue and that this was “non negotiable”.

Mr Wilson was responding to a speech by Spanish ambassador Román Oyarzun Marchesi, Spain’s permanent representative at the UN, who had earlier outlined a formal proposal to the UK for dialogue on joint sovereignty.

The response left no doubt that the UK and Spain are poles apart in their respective positions on Gibraltar, making a consensus decision at this year’s UN session increasingly unlikely.

Whereas Spain is intent on pushing for bilateral talks and joint sovereignty, Britain remains steadfast in its double-lock commitment that it will never change or discuss Gibraltar’s sovereignty against the wishes of the Gibraltarians.

Full article
Britain issues firm response to Spain at UN – Gibraltar Chronicle

Fredbargate

SPAIN WANTS TO TURN GIBRALTAR INTO A NEW SPANISH COLONY - Chief Minister tells UN

October 05, 2016

UN address by the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo:

This year it is 70 years since we were first listed as a Non-Self-Governing Territory under Chapter XI of the UN Charter.

The fact that we are no closer to being removed from the list than we were in 1946 is a cause for huge disappointment in Gibraltar.

POLITICAL BLACKMAIL

And to put into some proper context what you have just heard from the Distinguished Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain, we must go back fifty years to the 11th of October 1966.

Because it was on that date that the United Kingdom made a formal offer to the Government of Spain, to settle all aspects of the Gibraltar territorial dispute before the International Court of Justice.

Full article:-

SPAIN WANTS TO TURN GIBRALTAR INTO A NEW SPANISH COLONY - Chief Minister tells UN

Fredbargate

ACI Europe, the European region of Airports Council International is calling for a swift, responsive and responsible solution to the dispute between the UK and Spain over Gibraltar, which it claims is having a damaging impact on European aviation, economic growth and job creation.

The European airport trade body expressed frustration over the fact that the bilateral dispute has resulted in a political deadlock for a number of important aviation policy issues at EU level. The EU-Ukraine aviation agreement is described as one of the victims, with the EU-Brazil agreement possibly next in line. Together these represent over a billion euros in added value for the EU economy.

This he said, is the case with the EU-Ukraine aviation agreement but also with the Single European Sky, where legislative proposals are also stalled.

GBC - Gibraltar News - GBC TV and Radio Gibraltar

megmet

Well at least that makes us expat pensioners in Spain feel less lonely!
We also mostly wish to remain European, but our wishes seem to be ignored by the inmates who are running the asylum back in that septic island from whence we came.

Fredbargate

Gibraltar MEP Julie Girling has told the acting Spanish Foreign Minister that he can keep his flag where it is, otherwise Gibraltarians might suggest somewhere he can put it.

GBC - Gibraltar News - GBC TV and Radio Gibraltar

Fredbargate

Spain’s acting Foreign Minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, acknowledged yesterday that Britain had adopted a “very firm” position in its defence of the wishes of the Gibraltarians to remain British.

Margallo acknowledges UK’s ‘very firm’ stance on sovereignty – Gibraltar Chronicle