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The people’s paper ISSUE NO. 1853
7 - 13 January 2021
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BETTER BREXIT DEAL
SINCE time immemorial the people of Gibraltar have feared that Spain will one day manage to exercise its demands to se cure sovereignty of the Rock and many Spanish politicians on the right believe this should happen. Under the previous Partido Popular government in Spain, there is no question that the onetime Foreign Minister José Manuel GarcíaMargallo would have taken advantage of Brexit and pressed for this as part of a final deal with Britain. Regardless of one’s views of the politics of current Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, in the case of Gibraltar he appears to have put humanity before sovereignty by agreeing to terms to allow the Spanish/Gibraltar land border crossing to be gov erned under Schengen rules. This effectively means that there will be no border and peo ple will be able to cross without having to show passports or ID cards, although it is likely that there may be some form of cus toms check due to the disparity in the price of tobacco and some alcohol. There are still Gibraltarians alive who remember the Spanish Civil War and saw the anguish that occurred when the border was closed then and of course even more residents remember the Franco imposed closure, so some worry that this is the first steps of taking the Rock by the back door. At some airports, there are entry and exit points to two dif ferent countries and at Basel you can enter France, Germany and Switzerland and logically, Gibral tar Airport should be the same, but for the people of Gibraltar that was considered a step too far as Spain’s customs and immi gration would have had access. The new deal recognises that there should be some form of immigration check for those ar riving by air or sea into Gibraltar and as Britain and Morocco (the only destinations flown to and
Hopefully the Brexit deal will end border queues. from Gibraltar) are not members of Schengen, passports will have to be checked. By way of compromise, rather than let uniformed Spanish offi cers onto Gibraltar soil, the deal agreed in principle will see offi cers from Frontex, the European Border and Customs Agency un dertake this work on an initial four year contract. Cynics might be inclined to say that the current Chief Minister Fabian Picardo announced a year ago that he would not be standing for election for a fourth
term and therefore he won’t have to deal with the situation in four years’ time. Recognised as a staunch sup porter of Gibraltar’s rights in the world, it seems unlikely that he is that uncaring and he and his family will still have their roots on the Rock. In summary then, this Brexit deal which is separate from Britain’s means that Gibraltari ans will be able to pass across the borders of all other Schen gen states without needing to obtain visas or in most cases
even showing identity. It has to be remembered that this agreement is not yet en dorsed by the European Com mission or Parliament and that it is for Spain to actually put for ward for approval on behalf of the Gibraltar Government. In the meantime, Gibraltar is out of Europe and is not a mem ber of Schengen which means that there are restrictions with regards to the export of food and many other areas and there is al ready evidence of Guardia Civil officers (who manage customs)
at the land border, confiscating food although it appears that al cohol and cigarettes are only sub ject to quantity restrictions. Gibraltar sadly has much more to worry about as having
sailed through the initial arrival of the pandemic with few catch ing coronavirus and no deaths, the last month has been a disas ter leading to a total lockdown with even the driving of motor vehicles for leisure purposes banned. There have been 10 deaths so far and both Gibraltar and Spain are very careful about who is al lowed to cross the border and for what reasons as there has been another spike in the Span ish area known as the Campo de Gibraltar with residents in a number of municipalities being banned from travelling into oth er towns. One theory is that a number of Gibraltar students study in the UK and that their return for Christmas may have seen the in troduction of the new strain of Covid19 onto the Rock. The muchvaunted vaccine is due to arrive on the Rock on Jan uary 9 and hopefully if sufficient is received and people agree to be inoculated, the spike will be flattened out.