Spain places diplomacy credentials at heart of UN Security Council application

by Dominique Searle

Spain’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Román Oyarzun, has highlighted that Spain has placed conflict prevention at the core of its foreign policy.

His remarks came this week in an address to the UN Security Council to which Spain is seeking admission as a non-permanent member next month.

Election to the Council, of which the United Kingdom is currently the president, will be held October 16, days after the Gibraltar appearance before the UN Fourth Committee on decolonisation in the course of the 69th session of the UN General Assembly, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

No comment

Frontier queues 'not reasonable', says Junta de Andalucia president

Date: 26 August 2014 at 12:19

The former president of the Junta de Andalucia, Manuel Chaves, has said the free flow of people through the Frontier is necessary to maintain good relations between Gibraltar and La Linea.

According to the Spanish press, Mr Chaves emphasised the importance of the fight against smuggling, but said it’s not reasonable to make the residents of the Campo de Gibraltar pay the price. He added that efforts should be made to re-establish some form of dialogue through working groups, given that the PP Government had brought an end to the Tripartite Forum.

GBC | Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation

Manuel Chaves aboga por el libre tránsito de personas por la...

Morrisons in Gibraltar - the unlikely success story
Bradford-based grocery retailer celebrates 20th anniversary of one of its best-performing supermarkets

Morrisons store in Gibraltar is one of its best performing shops

By Graham Ruddick

9:11AM BST 26 Aug 2014

Wm Morrison is celebrating the 20th anniversary of what is often regarded as its busiest supermarket – and it's in Gibraltar.

The supermarket in Gibraltar is the only Morrisons shop outside of Britain and is the furthest away from the company’s headquarters.

However, it has consistently been one of the retailer’s top 10 supermarkets in terms of sales and is a little-known jewel in the crown for Britain’s fourth biggest supermarket chain.

Fabian Picardo, the chief minister of Gibraltar, said at a reception earlier this month to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the store that “it is impossible to find in Gibraltar anyone who does not actually shop there”.

Morrisons is the only major supermarket in Gibraltar, the overseas British territory that is renowned for its wealth.

However, the store attracts British expats from Spain and visitors from cruise ships as well as the local population. It includes its own licensed bar, meaning customers can enjoy the Gibraltar tradition of having brandy with their breakfast.

The supermarket is in stark contrast to the core of Morrisons, which was founded as a market stall in Bradford in 1899.

The Gibraltar store was initially known as Lipton’s, then Presto, before opening as a Safeway in 1994.

Morrisons bought Safeway in 2004 and decided to keep the store despite the logistical costs.

Martyn Fletcher, Morrisons retail director, said running the store requires “very careful planning”.

The costs of supplying the Gibraltar store are £4m a year. At any one time, 18 trucks are on the road supplying the store and its takes three days to get there from Morrisons warehouses.

All deliveries have to be made during the week because the border with Spain is closed to commercial trade at a weekend.

The bestselling items at the store include Heinz beans, with expats travelling to Morrisons in Gibraltar to pick up tins and packets of their favourite brands.

Morrisons in Gibraltar - the unlikely success story - Telegraph

Now for the real truth rather than the usual guff from the Gib Propoganda department.

Morrisons has been losing money and market share for some time.
The Chairman is " going " and there have been substantial staff cuts.
Unless the GIB store is hghly profitable locals had better start looking for an alternative supplier for their beans and PG tips.
Will there be an Overseas SA store setting up across the border at some time in the future?

Not only am I part of the Gib Government but also I get a wage from the Telegraph


It must be such a miserable existence out there being permanently negative

Protest on Friday at La Linea over frontier queues

Date: 26 August 2014 at 06:47 pm

La Linea will be the focus of a mass protest on Friday evening over a number of issues, including a demand for a solution to the frontier queues. The City’s bull ring will play host to a number of lobby groups calling for an end to injustice – one of them will be the cross-border Group for a Humanitarian Frontier.

It was originally meant to be a protest against Gibraltar, organised by the Spanish Union ‘SAT’, declaring the Rock to be a tax haven.

They were soon talked out of doing this by the Group for a Humanitarian Frontier, who wanted to steer the protest away from anything that could have a negative impact on cross-border relations.

Since then, the protest has gathered support, and has snowballed into a multi-platform demonstration bringing on board every group with a grievance against the Spanish Government. Among the other issues are: unemployment, the new hospital in La Linea which never got built,( It got built but needs finishing ) the amount of children in Spain below the poverty line, and the privatisation of the national monument, La Almoraima. There will also be protests against the closure of the “Solidarios” car park for commuters, which was run by a group of unemployed.

The Frontier group will be focusing its attention on border issues, saying its sad that frontier workers have to wait five and six hour queues just to go to work on a daily basis. The Group laments that politicians continue to use the frontier as a weapon to push for the same old ‘Gibraltar Español’ mantra.

Last minute concerns have been raised about a right wing group threatening to upstage the demonstration by carrying out specifically what the SAT Union backed down from doing – that is to say, entering Gibraltar and carrying out a stunt here on the Rock. The “Gibraltar Español” group, orchestrated by two lawyers from Seville and one from Granada, have called the SAT Union ‘cowards’, and plan to bring some fifty members down on Friday. The lawyers say they hope to get arrested here and thus raise the profile of their cause. The organisers of the demonstration say they have notified the police of this development.

The mass protest, under the banner ‘They won’t get past this line’ is at 7.30pm on Friday.

GBC | Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation

Commissioner underlines Gibraltar environment decision

by Brian Reyes

Janez Potočnik, Europe’s Environment Commissioner, has reaffirmed the European Commission’s decision to dismiss Spanish claims that Gibraltar had breached EU environmental legislation.

Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

PSOE politicians challenge PP stance on Gibraltar

Two veteran PSOE politicians have lamented the Spanish Government’s policies on Gibraltar, warning that the Popular Party is driving apart communities on either side of border.

In an article in today’s Chronicle, former PSOE senator Jose Carracao said the schism created by the PP would take years to overcome.

“I can’t believe that there is no one in the PP ranks who disagrees with the way the Ministry for Foreign Affairs is moving in respect of Gibraltar,” Sr Carracao writes.

Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

Meanwhile the GC fed up with being chased out of Gib waters turned their attention somewhere else


Spain apologises to Moroccan monarch after yacht 'drug smuggling' gaffe - Telegraph

Works Commence on Spanish Side of Frontier

Wednesday, 27 August 2014 15:29

Works on the La Linea side of the frontier commenced this week. The former customs buildings on the right of the frontier, seen when entering Gibraltar were demolished.

In their statement to the press, the Spanish Government insisted works on implementing the new customs system, as per the European Commission’s recommendation, were not set to commence until early September. Currently pedestrians are being directed around the normal passport control route.

Aug 27 - Works Commence on Spanish Side of Frontier

Junta President Meets UK Ambassador To Spain

Wednesday, 27 August 2014 13:37

The president of the Junta de Andalucía, Susana Díaz, has met with the United Kingdom’s ambassador to Spain, Simon Manley
Official reports state that, although the pair discussed a number of topics, Gibraltar and the tensions surrounding the border were their primary focus.

Although the Junta does not control or have any powers with regard to Spain’s external borders, it is believed that recent statements and recommendations from the European Commission were debated.

Mr Manley met Ms Díaz in the Palacio de San Telmo in Sevilla.

Aug 27 - Junta President Meets UK Ambassador To Spain

Thousands of demonstrators gathered at La Linea's Plaza de Toros

Date: 29 August 2014 at 09:06 pm

Several thousand demonstrators gathered in La Linea’s Plaza de Toros on Friday evening for a mass protest against what they describe as a series of social injustices. Among these they include the inhumane queues at the border. They are aso protesting against national debt, unemployment and hunger.

The protest was led by a series of representative groups, including the SAT union, the ASCTEG workers in Gibraltar association, environmentalists and groups of unemployed. But protestors came from all over the region, as well as from Cadiz, Seville and even Madrid and Barcelona.

Despite fears that there would be some anti-Gibraltar stunt or sentiment, there was no reference to the Rock other than to protest against the border queues and the inhumane treatment of cross-border workers, the vast majority of whom are Spanish nationals.

The demonstration wrapped up at around nine in the evening.

GBC | Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation

Spanish jet skiers cause trouble off Eastern Beach

Date: 29 August 2014 at 08:27 pm

A group of men on Spanish-registered jet skis have again been causing trouble off Eastern Beach. In the second such incident this week, this afternoon saw the jet skis enter the demarcated swimming area to taunt beachgoers and the RGP.

GBC | Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation

Bankers

Poor turnout at La Linea ‘social justice’ rally

There was a poor turnout at yesterday’s demonstration in La Linea calling for social justice and an end to border queues.

Around 500 protestors - 250 according to the Policia Local - gathered at the bull ring and marched to the Plaza de la Constitucion.

Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

Bwahahahaha!