Panorama Gibraltar

The Royal Gibraltar Regiment, which is part of the British Army, will be exercising in Morocco next week. They will be exercising with Moroccan forces.
The exercise, codenamed 'Jebel Sahara', will be conducted at Ram Ram camp and training area about 10 kilometres north of Marrakech, said military sources in Gibraltar.

Taking part will be about 100 men from the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, four from the Bermuda Regiment, two of the Royal Horse Artillery and one of the Royal Irish regiment.

They will be training with the Second Brigade D'Infanterie Parachutiste of Morocco from September 24 to October 11.

The exercise will be divided into three phases, said a spokesman for the Royal Gibraltar Regiment. Exercise Tarik Challenge will be held together with the Moroccan Army. There will also be live firing, sniper course, cross training and patrol training, as well as a third phase which is of a cultural and educational nature.

"This is the second consecutive year that the Royal Gibraltar Regiment undertake military training in Morocco," said a statement from the regimental headquarters.(21.09.01)

In a display of anger, the Gibraltar chief minister Peter Caruana has boycotted attendance at a conference taking place at the Foreign Office in London next week.

The Overseas Territories Consultative Council was established three years ago by the British government to bring together, once a year, the chief ministers of all the overseas territories. This year's conference is to take place next week at the Foreign Office.

Mr Caruana was scheduled to leave Gibraltar on Sunday to take part. However, following the UK government's decision to exclude Gibraltar from the European single sky measures, the government here has withdrawn from participation at the conference.

"It is not appropriate that I attend such a meeting at this point in time. The Gibraltar government's absence is also intended as a signal of the anger felt in Gibraltar at the UK government's decision to agree to our exclusion from the EC Single Skies," he said.

The British government is being accused by the Voice of Gibraltar group of "political terrorism" against Gibraltar.

In a statement, the group says that in the wake of the visit of Foreign Office minister Hain, his scandalous and undemocratic statements and the advise conveyed to the Gibraltar government by the British government that Gibraltar is being excluded from the air liberalisation agreement, there can be no doubt as to the frontal attack launched by Britain against Gibraltar and its people."

The group adds: The people of Gibraltar will not be intimidated by the political terrorism of the British government. We mock Tony Blair's self-righteous stand in the wake of international terrorism when Britain's political terrorism against our people is ongoing. With friends like the British government, who needs enemies? (21.09.01).

Gibraltar is being excluded from the Single European Sky package of measures. The introduction of this measure had been held up due to the Anglo-Spanish differences over Gibraltar.

The British Government Thursday afternoon informed the Gibraltar Government about it, said the chief minister Peter Caruana.

At a news conference, Caruana said he "roundly condemns this further failure on the part of the British Government to uphold Gibraltar's EU rights and political interests in the face of pressure from Spain."

It should be recalled, he added, that the British Government recently said that it would be wrong as a matter of principle for Gibraltar to be systematically excluded from such measures. But the British Government had now agreed to do so.(20.09.01)

The Gibraltar government will only attend Anglo-Spanish talks over Gibraltar if nothing can be agreed on any issue without the agreement of Gibraltar. "What we want is a veto for Gibraltar," said chief minister Peter Caruana at a news conference today.

He is also demanding that Gibraltar wants to be present with a separate voice of its own.

This would make Gibraltar's participation in the so-called Brussels process safe.

He referred to remarks this week by the Spanish foreign minister Josep Pique that if Spain's sovereignty aims were not met after 15 months, the Spanish government would have no interest in continuing with the Brussels talks.

Caruana said that "there is no prospect of progress for Spain on sovereignty. Sr Pique must decide if he still wants to go to talks."

He further condemned that the UK or Spain should placed impositions of deadlines for a solution to the Gibraltar issue.

He looked forward to dialogue with Spain on an open agenda, but he would only do so under the right conditions and would not be induced to the discussion table by threats.

He described Spanish reports that Gibraltar could be Spanish in 25 years as "unrealistic and silly".

Statements emanating from Spain were "provocative", he added, and dispelled any notion of a new climate in Spain's approach to Gibraltar.

London and Madrid agreed last July to reactivate the so-called Brussels process and to meet again in late October or early November, at which talks they hoped the Gibraltar chief minister would be present.

This series of Anglo-Spanish talks were initiated after the signing in 1984 in Brussels of an agreement by Britain and Spain to remove all their differences over Gibraltar, which Spain lost in 1704. The territory, strategically placed at the entrance to the Mediterranean, was formally ceded to the British Crown by the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, but Spain wants it back, while the Gibraltarians want the right to self-determination recognised. (20.09.01)

The Opposition is disappointed that the Chief Minister in his press conference of this afternoon has not ruled out his participation in future talks with Spain under the Brussels Agreement, whilst being glad that for the time being this participation appears to be ruled out.

There is already widespread consensus in Gibraltar against the Brussels process.

As long as the Gibraltar Government does not attend the Brussels negotiating process the Opposition will support the Government staying away. The moment that the Government decides to attend, the Opposition will campaign against this attendance.

The labour/liberal alliance adds: The Brussels Agreement is about achieving the decolonisation of Gibraltar in bilateral negotiations between Britain and Spain and was welcomed as such in 1985 by the United Nations itself with London's support. It is not simply Spain's position or interpretation but the view of the whole world. This makes the process itself unacceptable.

The Opposition will be continuing its campaign against the Brussels Agreement and deal with other issues as they arise. (20.09.01)

The labour/liberal opposition say in a statement that it believes that "there is widespread rejection across the political spectrum in public opinion in Gibraltar of the views expressed by Mr Peter Hain, the Foreign Office minister, in support of the relaunch of the Brussels process."

It adds: The unacceptability of this process and its incompatibility with the position of never giving up our right to self-determination and of no concessions on sovereignty is evident from the statements made in Spain by everyone from Prime Minister Aznar down.

The opposition therefore believes that chief minister Peter Caruana should reflect what most Gibraltarians want to hear which is that the Gibraltar government opposes the relaunch of the Brussels process, will not be taking part and will oppose any bilateral agreement entered into under this umbrella between the United Kingdom and Spain. (20.09.01)

Plans for a new political party have been ditched for the time being given the circumstances Gibraltar is going through, says ex GSLP member Daniel Feetham who is now the spokesman of what has been termed the Labour group.

"The events of last week have in our opinion made it patently obvious that this is a time for political unity and not further fragmentation," says a statement.

The threats facing the finance centre have been compounded by an extremely hard line and intolerant message from Mr Hain, the Foreign Office minister. In the face of these external pressures we believe that this is a time to unite to meet these challenges, they say. (20.09.01)

The new Labour group says that the message from Peter Hain, the Foreign Office minister, amounts to the 21st century equivalent of gunboat diplomacy.

"Those of us who have opposed the Brussels process have done so because we saw this as a process allowing the UK and Spain to negotiate a formula for the eventual transfer of sovereignty over Gibraltar to Spain," they add.

They go on: In any dialogue without preconditions and without a predetermined outcome, there would be no need for threats. (20.09.01)

The Spanish foreign minister Josef Pique has threatened Britain with a "very negative" deterioration of relations if Spain does not get what she wants over Gibraltar.

Spain, he told newsmen, will not renounce its sovereignty claim nor will it accept the right of self-determination, which the Gibraltarians seek.

The purpose of the Brussels process he sees as one fulfilling the Spanish claim, otherwise Madrid has no interest in the process.

Opposition in Gibraltar to the Anglo-Spanish talks centre on the view that such talks are pre-determined and that the agreement for talks is biased in Spain's favour. This is being confirmed by the Spanish - again.

Sr Pique, however, sees the UK side as responding to the need to find concrete solutions.

The British Foreign Office has been telling the Gibraltarians that they have nothing to fear about the resumption of such talks, which had not taken place since 1997.

In 1984 both sides agreed to open a series of annual talks, known as the Brussels process, aimed at eradicating all their differences over Gibraltar, which Spain lost nearly 300 years ago. Britain would uphold her constitutional commitment to the Gibraltarians, of not handing the Rock over without their freely and democratically expressed consent. (19.09.01)

The Gibraltar police have arrested two local men for importing a semi-rigid launch, which is outlawed by the laws of Gibraltar. The fast launch was Spanish-registered.

Alerted that an unidentified craft had entered British territorial waters, the police headed on an interception course with their own patrol boat.

What really interests Spain is the sovereignty of Gibraltar, said the Spanish foreign minister Josef Pique following reports that London and Madrid have set a deadline of the end of 2002 to eradicate their differences over Gibraltar.

They had set themselves timescales in order to solve the problems, rather than revive the Brussels process merely as a pure formality which does not end in results.

The two governments, he said, and particularly that of the UK, know that you cannot continue with something as anachronistic as Gibraltar, bearing in mind that both countries are members of the European Union and allies in NATO>

Solutions have to be found to a situation which is unsustainable, he added, saying that London is conscious of this and has the will of seriously negotiating this question, although it was a difficult issue with 300 years of history. (18.09.01)

Spanish diplomatic sources are suggesting that Gibraltar could be Spanish in 25 years. This is the long-term solution seen by Madrid following the resumption of Anglo-Spanish talks.

The talks are under the Brussels process, which was agreed to by London and Madrid in 1984 and which had been dormant since 1997. Both sides agreed to revive the process last July, and the next round is due in late October or November.

Spanish diplomatic sources quoted in the Spanish media speak of 25 years before there is a change in sovereignty.

A solution to the long-standing differences between London and Madrid are foreseen by the end of 2002, according to UK sources.

The Spanish foreign minister Josep Pique says that sovereignty is what really interests Spain.

The Financial Times said today that "Peter Caruana, Gibraltar's chief minister, is being encouraged by the Foreign Office to join future negotiations on the basis of a new agenda that could lead to the sharing of the airport in Gibraltar."

Mr Caruana has been insisting that he will attend talks only if he goes with his own separate voice and with guarantees that nothing can be agreed without his sanction.

There has been no Gibraltar representation at such talks since 1988, when the then chief minister Joe Bossano decided to boycott them on the grounds that they favoured the Spanish claim.

On a Spanish television channel today, Mr Bossano said that Gibraltar cannot be the only colony where the principle of self-determination is not applied for its decolonisation. He urged London and Madrid not to waste their time in any negotiations that Gibraltar did not want.

At a referendum in 1967, only 44 persons voted to join Spain. Subsequent opinion polls, the last one held last month, confirm that close on 100% of the population are against being Spanish (18.09.01)

Spain lost Gibraltar in 1704 and ratified the British possession of it in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. (18.09.01)

The Opposition consider that the latest views expressed by Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain represents the most grave development in
Anglo-Gibraltar relations since the Hattersley memorandum of 1976. "In his eagerness to secure Gibraltar's participation in talks with Spain under the
Brussels agreement Mr Hain has displayed an alarming ignorance of the facts and showed a singular lack of respect for the people of Gibraltar," says a statement from the labour/liberal opposition.
The Opposition is fully supportive of a modern and permanent resolution to the status of Gibraltar in accordance with the times in which we live.

They add: In this day and age this can only mean the principle of self-determination through which the people of Gibraltar can freely and democratically decide what it is that they want. It is ironic that Mr Hain should say that Gibraltar cannot remain stuck in the past and then, in the same breath, point to the Treaty of Utrecht as a restriction on our right to
self-determination. There can be nothing more unmodern or more antiquated than bringing a 300 year old Treaty into the equation. The Opposition
adheres to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a benchmark for standards in the new millennium, and it is clear that human rights is a
subject about which Mr Hain still has much to learn.

"Whatever he may say, he has sold out on his past human rights credentials when it comes to
Gibraltar," says the opposition.
The Minister must be aware that the Opposition remains against Gibraltar's attendance at talks under the Brussels Agreement regardless of
the label that is used. The problem lies in the substance and in the small print and not in the label. The agreement itself and the United Nations
both say that the Brussels agreement is not a dialogue with Spain but a negotiation. Talks under the pro-Spanish parameters of the United Nations
resolutions are pre-determined and constitute a denial of our right to self-determination. This is something that the Opposition will never go
along with.

Moreover, it is worth recalling that even the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons recommended in its report of June 1999
that the Brussels process should be replaced.
"It is an absolute disgrace that Mr Hain should resort to veiled threats against Gibraltar should we decide not to participate by saying that our position in Europe will deteriorate," the Alliance adds.

Instead of selling Gibraltar the Brussels process, what Mr Hain and the Foreign Office should be doing is enforcing Gibraltar's legal rights as a part of the European Union. It is shameful and hypocritical that Mr Hain, whose responsibility it is to look after Gibraltar in Europe should see it fit to lecture Gibraltar in this intolerable way.

Even then, at the same time, Mr Hain is clearly not willing to commit to Gibraltar having a veto and simply says that Mr Caruana can say "no". Mr Hain may not be aware that in 1986 Gibraltar was there and said "no" and still ended up with the Spanish pensions liability, and in 1987 Gibraltar was also there and said "no" and ended up with the airport agreement which everyone now accepts has sovereignty implications.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the Foreign Office wants Gibraltar to be present at the talks in order to give legitimacy before the British Parliament and public to whatever London and Madrid agree.

Gibraltar will now witness the spectacle of the Foreign Office in London and their stooges in Gibraltar trying to sell us something which should have been dead and buried a long time ago. This makes it all the more important to resist the pressure and stay away as successive Gibraltar Governments have done since 1988, the statement ends.(17.09.01)

The Foreign Office must forthwith stop its campaign in favour of the Brussels Agreement, first because it is meddling in the right of Gibraltarians to freely decide what they want without external interference, and secondly because it should not foment divisions in Gibraltar, particularly at a time of international crisis - what President Bush, and prime minister Blair call 'war'.

By persisting with its small, narrow-minded policies, the Foreign Office is doing a disservice to the Western cause. It should, instead, devote all its energies, not to a local issue, but to the much wider prospect of international conflagration which we all face.

Foreign Office minister Peter Hain should stop lecturing Gibraltar on issues which are of domestic political import in Gibraltar. From all the evidence available over the years. most people in Gibraltar are against the Brussels Agreement, which was conceived by London and Madrid to implement the UN resolutions which called on dialogue to make Gibraltar Spanish.

It is small wonder that at the very first meeting under Brussels in 1985, and subsequently, the Spanish delegation have presented concrete proposals leading to a Spanish Gibraltar. The latest proposals, made by the then Spanish foreign minister Abel Matutes, have not been rejected, as the Foreign Office has admitted publicly.

As the Brussels process progressed, the UK agreed that Gibraltar should pay the Spanish pensions, totalling millions of pounds. Had this not been stopped by the then Gibraltar Government, Gibraltar would have been ruined.

GIBRALTAR'S KNOWN WISHES IGNORED

In another meeting under the Brussels Agreement, the Foreign Office delegation agreed that Gibraltar be denied its European air rights, unless and until there

was an airport deal with Spain. Over 16,000 people had demonstrated in Gibraltar prior to the agreement, such known wishes being ignored.

Now, people like Mr Hain tell us that it is safe to take part in talks under the infamous Brussels agreement. The evidence shows otherwise.

As everyone knows, the Foreign Office has not lifted a finger to effectively defend Gibraltar's rights in Europe in a series of issues affecting Gibraltar and its people.

The same Foreign Office officials now say that we can trust them on Brussels talks!

As The chief minister Peter Caruana said at the National Day rally, it is not Gibraltar that should be bullied and pressured, but Spain, who should live up to the rules of the club she joined.

Our people must take to the streets, if need be, to stop a sell out, warned Opposition leader Joe Bossano.

DEEP CONCERN AND UTTER FRUSTRATION

Against this backcloth of deep concern and utter frustration, Mr Hain and others think they can lecture the long-suffering people of Gibraltar as if the issue was a game of cricket and not the very future of this community.

When Mr Hain was fervently organising demonstrations in Britain to defend what he thought was right, and being labelled the No.1 Public Enemy of the British establishment, the people of Gibraltar had long started their own legitimate defence of their homeland.

Now, having moved to the cosiness of a Whitehall job, the same Mr Hain, by interfering in Gibraltar's internal affairs, is trying to stop Gibraltar from exercising its cherished freedom to decide what it wants.

Mr Hain must be told that, long before he got to know that a place called Gibraltar existed, the people of Gibraltar had been putting up with years of closed frontier and other sufferings to remain Gibraltarian and British in a British Gibraltar.

Two Government ministers have been refusing to voluntarily give evidence for the hearing concerning the dismissal of Dr P.M. Rassa, the former consultant radiologist, who claims unfair dismissal.

The public tribunal hearing the case opened today.

There was a preliminary hearing earlier this year for witness orders against most of the senior consultants, including the Medical Director Dr Kumar.

However, a request for witness orders against former health minister Keith Azopardi and the present health minister Dr Bernard Linares were refused.

It was agreed by the tribunal chairman, Haresh Budhrani QC, that the refusal by the two ministers to voluntarily give evidence could be revisited when the actual hearing took place.

At today's hearing, which is taking place at the Youth Centre in Line Wall Road, an application to order the ministers to. give evidence was being presented by Nick Cruz and Mario Hook of Cruz & Cc,, who are acting for Dr Rassa.

It also emerged last Friday that the Government is planning to strike out part of the claim from Dr Rassa, that relating to his constructive dismissal. That is, that he was placed in so untenable a position that he was in effect dismissed.

Mr Cruz said they suspected this was to prevent some of the information in support of allegations by Dr Rassa being made public.

The two applications are being considered before the hearing proper gets under way. The actual hearing is expected to last two weeks.

Dr Rassa has been in Gibraltar to help prepare the case.

Unlike a court case, tribunals of this kind prepare what are known as witness statements. Dr Rassa will not read out his 50-page statement but will provide an overview why he claims he was unfairly dismissed. It emerged that his statement refers to a bundle of about 500 pages.

"Our objective is not to put the ministers or health service on trial, but to establish that Dr Rassa was unfairly dismissed," said Mr Cruz.

The government side is represented by Lewis Baglietto and Gilbert Licudi of Hassans.

Dr Rassa was about half-way through his 3-year contract last October when it emerged that he was being threatened with dismissal. This was first reported exclusively in PANORAMA at the time.

Dr Rassa made a series of allegations about work practice in the health service, as well as alleging mismanagement and misconduct.

The Spanish Government says it expects to reach an agreement with the UK over the 'Single Sky' issue within the next few weeks.

The Spanish foreign minister Josep Pique says he expects "the UK to accept what is foreseen in the Brussels process, that is, to deal with questions related to sovereignty."

Without an Anglo-Spanish deal over the airport, the 'Single Sky' arrangement would not be possible.

The Spaniards want a clause inserted in the agreement about the sovereignty issue, as Madrid claims that the airport area is Spanish.

They also want the Gibraltar airport excluded from the 'Single Sky' deal until such time as Spain can be involved in the running of the airport.

The president of the Chamber of Commerce Bruno Callaghan is increasingly behaving more like an exponent of party politics than a president of a trade association.

In such circumstances, by taking sides in an issue that deeply divides Gibraltar this nonresident of Gibraltar is dividing the Chamber itself, discrediting it even further.

It is not that someone in his position should not refer at all to matters which touch on political issues. That is not it. But it is something else to become a fervent exponent of party political issues, like the Brussels Agreement which is generally seen as destined to make Gibraltar Spanish.

Mr Callaghan, who is generally seen as being politically naive to put it mildly, and an easy prey for external forces who may wish to influence him, has been told to do his homework, to really get to know what Brussels is all about, before he makes the public statements he makes, without clearly understanding their ramifications and implications. Or does he have another agenda?

In the past, there have been resignations from the Chamber when its president has become too political.

Apart from Mr Callaghan, the present directors of the Chamber of Commerce are:

Maurice Stagnetto
Jeremy Nicholls
George Olivera
George Desoisa
Ernest Felipes
John A. Gaggero
Andrew Haynes
Peter Isola
Brain Meulenberg
Raju Purswani
Nicholas Russo

They must state where they stand. Do they want a political president of the Chamber of Commerce, delving in party politics and creating divisions on sensitive political issues? Is that what the Chamber is for?

Before dwelling on issues affecting Gibraltar, during a speech at the Chamber of Commerce annual dinner, the leader of the opposition Joe Bossano said he would make a passing reference to the events in the United States which he described as "acts of barbarism". He spoke of he "carnage of the attacks" on U.S. targets, saying they should make us reflect on three aspects in relation to ourselves.

Mr Bossano said: Firstly, those who carried out this undescribable outrage, believe they are in sole possession of the truth. It shows the dangers of being doctrinaire and not respecting the views of others, and their right to express such views.

Secondly, he added, if the world economy suffers a downturn as a consequence of such events, our open economy is no longer immune to its side-effects.

And thirdly, "however aggrieved we may feel about the problems our country faces, it should give us a sense of perspective and make us realize that by comparison with many parts of the world, we should be counting our blessings." (14.09.01)