A momentous year, says Chief Minister

I hope that you have had a happy Christmas and New Year holiday.

2002 has undoubtedly been one of the most challenging years for Gibraltar in our political history. These challenges would have stretched the political and technical resources of many a much larger country than Gibraltar. But those who truly know and understand Gibraltar and its people will not have been surprised that we have been able to dig deep to defend our position in the face of these challenges.

It has been a long and difficult year for Government. But this has been amply compensated by the sense of pride, admiration and satisfaction that I have felt as the world saw the dignity, resolve and unity with which the people of Gibraltar have stood up for our political rights and aspirations, and by the encouragement and support of so many people from every corner of Gibraltar. The year 2002 will surely go down in the annals of our history as a momentous year in our collective journey as people.

It is worth remembering what the last year’s political campaign has been about. The UK and Spain let it be known that they were negotiating towards a deal under which they would share the sovereignty of Gibraltar. From the outset, the Government made it clear, both privately and publicly, that this was not acceptable. There was never a risk of actual shared sovereignty in practice because physical implementation of any such deal would have required our approval in referendum and that would not have been forthcoming. But there was still a big political danger for Gibraltar, which is what the Government’s campaign has been about. What was that danger?

Very early on, in the autumn of 2001 and January 2002 we identified this danger as being, what we dubbed, “the done deal”. That is, an Anglo-Spanish Declaration of Principles, including an agreement to share sovereignty, that would remain on the table as the agreed Anglo-Spanish political position about the future of Gibraltar, even if it were not implemented in practice because of our rejection of it in referendum. A sort of “Airport Agreement” scenario, but this time about Sovereignty, and, by implication denying our right to self determination.

Such an agreed declaration of principles, even if not implemented, would amount to a betrayal of the political rights of the people of Gibraltar including our right to decide our own future and that of our homeland. Britain’s political agreement, without our consent, to share sovereignty of our homeland with Spain would be tantamount to Britain’s public renunciation of our right to self determination and a recognition of Spain’s Sovereignty claim. I believe that these were Spain’s main interests in a Declaration of Principles.

The Government’s campaign therefore focussed on these very themes: exposing the injustice of the “done deal” and of Britain making in-principle concessions to Spain about our sovereignty and political rights against our wishes.

This time last year I said that the responsibility to lead Gibraltar through these difficult and challenging times had fallen on me and my ministerial colleagues in Government, supported (as we have been) by many other past and present politicians and community leaders. I said that we would not shirk from our leadership responsibilities and that we would leave no stone unturned in our effort to do everything that we could to protect Gibraltar from external threats to our wishes and legitimate rights and aspirations as a people.

As we planned the campaign, we knew that, if it was to succeed, we would need to run an effective campaign, not over days or weeks, but over many months. This would be a marathon and not a sprint race. Gibraltar could not fire all its cartridges too quickly. Timing, pace and a gradual build up of measures and political pressure would be of vital importance. This required Gibraltar to hold its nerve, to do things when their effect would be maximised, even when others were calling for things to be done quickly and at once.

The political campaign started in earnest with my appearance together with Mr Hain, at the Foreign Affairs Committee in November 2001. It subsequently included hundreds of TV, radio and newspaper interviews world wide, but especially in the UK and Spain; dozens of speaking engagements; an extensive media advertising campaign in the UK involving the placing of 3 full-page adverts in every UK National Newspaper, the painting of 50 London taxis in Gibraltar colours and an extensive advertising campaign in the London Underground; the mass demonstration on 18th March; a detailed political briefing note sent to every Labour MP; and many press conferences; all building up to and culminating in the Referendum on 7th November, which Government called (as I had said we would) in response to Mr Straw’s statement of 12 July that Britain had agreed, in principle, to share sovereignty.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks and appreciation to all those individuals and representative bodies who have helped and supported the Government in this difficult campaign. Some have put aside political differences to do so. The result has been, as it should be, a joint effort by many people, led and co-ordinated by the elected Government of the day.

I would also like to take this formal opportunity to thank you all, for massively responding to the Government’s call on both occasions that I called for public participation in that campaign – the Demonstration on 18th March and the Referendum on 7th November.

I believe that the campaign has been a considerable success. We succeeded in capturing the imagination of, and mobilising British public opinion; A staggering 650,000 people responded in writing to the press adverts with messages of support; various UK opinion polls placed support for Gibraltar at between 80 and 90% of British public opinion; opinion polls amongst MPs showed 75% plus in support of Gibraltar’s right to decide its own future; the Conservative Opposition swung fully and unequivocally behind our position; a Gibraltar Government petition at the Labour Party Conference obtained a massive 3000 signatures from delegates and visitors; and, of course, on November 8th we received the most favourable ever report from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, which found in our favour on every issue, including the Government’s stance in relation to its conditions for dialogue and non-attendance at the negotiations.

But most importantly of all, it would seem that the Anglo-Spanish Joint Sovereignty negotiations are now in the long grass and it seems improbable that a joint Anglo-Spanish agreed declaration of principles, that is “the done deal”, will now occur.

I can assure you that the Government will remain vigilant and ready to take up the challenge again if the need should arise.

Some people are now asking where do we go from here? The first thing that I would like to repeat is what I said the morning after the Referendum, namely, that it would be a mistake to think that the events of the last 12 months place the onus on us to take an initiative in relation to Spain’s dispute. During the last 12 months we have been defending ourselves, but our own political agenda for the future has not changed.

We should not allow ourselves to be placed on the defensive as we go forward. Gibraltar cannot be regarded by others as a problem to be solved at any price. The overriding principle has got to be respect for our political rights, wishes and legitimate aspirations as a people, and not a solution driven by political or diplomatic pragmatism. Gibraltar’s future can only be decided by us in accordance with our freely expressed and exercised rights, wishes and aspirations. These cannot be sacrificed at the alter of diplomatic pragmatism.

And so, firstly, the Government intends to proceed with its long standing agenda, namely the Constitutional Reform initiative which Government floated, and which has been successfully completed in the House of Assembly in the form of Constitutional Reform Proposals. These proposals were not put formally to London last year because they would have been sucked into the Anglo-Spanish Joint Sovereignty Negotiations. It is appropriate in 2003 to initiate the process of formal discussion with the British Government about Constitutional Modernisation.

Whilst it is the Government’s responsibility to take the lead in and steer initiatives on issues such as Constitutional reform, it is not the sort of issue that is exclusively for the Government of the day. By its very nature it is an issue for a wider cross section of the community. And so, when devising the forum for discussing the Constitutional Modernisation Proposals with the UK Government, the Government’s thinking is to widen local participation to include the present elected opposition, representatives of other political parties that confirm an intention to fully contest the next general election, and also other relevant established, representative organisations.

Secondly, I have indicated in the recent past that the Government has sought legal advice on a number of issues where it may be possible to mount a legal challenge to what would appear to be a violation of our political, EU and other rights. 2003 will almost certainly see some of these legal challenges materialise, where a forum can be found and we are advised that there is a reasonable chance of real success.

And thirdly, the Government’s position on dialogue will remain the same. We reject the view expressed by some people that we should not participate even in reasonable dialogue, even if our conditions are met. During the campaign of the last 12 months, the world’s media continually pressed me on the “empty chair” aspect, ie why I wasn’t taking part in talks. I was able to defend Gibraltar’s position because I was able to demonstrate that our reasons for not taking part in the dialogue were reasonable and understandable. The position of no dialogue under any circumstances or conditions is not internationally defensible. I am therefore reinforced in my long held view that there is no sensible, possible or viable way to protect Gibraltar’s short, medium or long term interests camped in a position of rejection of even politically reasonable and safe dialogue. In to-day’s world saying no to safe and reasonable dialogue would put in danger even the support of our truest friends in the UK, especially in Parliament.

Of course, this does not mean that we are willing to negotiate the transfer of any part of Gibraltar’s sovereignty to Spain. We are not. The transfer to Spain of any part of the Sovereignty of Gibraltar is simply not negotiable against the wishes and without the consent of the people of Gibraltar. Our wishes on Sovereignty are very clear, and they were very clear even before the Referendum. That has got to be respected.

And so we shall remain willing to participate in safely structured, reasonable, open agenda dialogue, with no pre-determined outcome. Why? Because either we achieve the sort of dialogue that we want or we shall be able to continue to argue that reasonable dialogue does not take place because of Spain’s intransigent and anachronistic position. For us to adopt a no-dialogue stance would be to hand this advantage to Madrid and others. We will not do that because we do not think that it is in Gibraltar’s interests to do so. It is a gross over simplification and an error to confuse, dialogue with Sovereignty transfer negotiations.

MAJOR CHALLENGE TO FINANCE CENTRE

The Anglo-Spanish Joint Sovereignty negotiations has not been the only major challenge that we have had to deal with this past year. There has also been a major challenge to our finance centre in the form of the OECD Tax initiative and the EU State Aid Investigation. We have negotiated with OECD a form of Commitment letter in relation to harmful tax practices. We have also successfully challenged in the European Courts important aspects of the EC Commission’s State Aid challenge to our exempt and qualifying Company Legislation. Furthermore, an enormous amount of time, effort and expertise was invested in devising a very detailed tax reform proposal to replace the tax exempt and qualifying companies, that will nevertheless enable the finance centre to prosper into the future in a favourable, tax competitive environment. Our scheme has been adopted by other jurisdictions, and we now await the required EC Commission approval of it so that we can implement it here. All these issues are of vital importance to the finance centre and therefore to our economy.

We have also faced, and continue to face, an important challenge in the field of telephones, with the need to reject and expose Spain’s politically structured offer of 70,000 new numbers, whilst continuing to manage our own continuing shortage of telephone numbers reachable from Spain.

2003 also brought new concerns for Gibraltar, as for the rest of the world, on the question of security and the threat of terrorism. The Government has been quietly working to maximise Gibraltar’s response to these concerns. Several initiatives were taken during the year to step up security at entry points, and the Government has established the Civil Contingencies Committee to establish and co-ordinate plans to deal with such threats.

DOMESTIC FRONT

On the domestic front, 2002 has also been a year of steady progress in carrying out the Government’s Manifesto commitments on a very broad front. Despite all of the challenges that Gibraltar has faced, our economy has shown an enormous resilience to remain in good shape. Employment levels have continued to rise, and the unemployment level has fallen during the year from 362 in January to 315 at end December, a fall of 13% over the year. This represents an unemployment rate of just 2%, which is very low by European standards. Tourism visitor numbers, and port activity statistics remain at, or at near, record levels. Our economy continues to grow at the rate of about 5% per year, which also is high by European standards and this despite the current global economic down turn.

One of the areas of global economic activity most adversely affected by the global economic downturn, is financial services. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are being lost throughout the Western world in financial services. Many banks and companies are merging or restructuring or moving out of some areas of business. Yet in Gibraltar we have been spared the worst of this. Some areas, like insurance and investment management are actually growing in Gibraltar. Other areas, like Company and trust management, are holding there own, albeit at lower levels of new business, despite the inevitable uncertainty caused by the company tax reforms and global tax initiatives. Even in banking, where other competitor jurisdictions have seen large cutbacks, job loses and bank closures, Gibraltar’s net position is the same, with new entrants broadly matching closures.

This resilient performance of our finance centre in difficult circumstances is a testimony to the good reputation that Gibraltar now enjoys as a jurisdiction, our sound regulatory standards, good marketing and, above all, to the professional skill and international reputation of our finance centre professionals.

However, Gibraltar cannot expect to be completely unaffected by global downtrends, and so when banks do restructure or pullout , the Government will do all that it can to ensure that redundancies are minimised, that staff is treated as generously as possible, that they quickly slot into new jobs in other finance centre companies and that business and individual customers receive alternative banking facilities.

This continuing robustness of our economy has meant that the Government’s own finances have remained healthy and stable. This has enabled us to continue to implement the economic model that we established in May 1996 based on four parallel objectives:-



1.) Capital investment in Gibraltar’s physical fabric and in Gibraltar’s future;

2.) Investment in social, caring and other public services;

3.) Reductions in personal income tax; and

4.) Maintaining prudence in public finances.



We have continued to achieve all of these objectives in the last 12 months.

During the last 7 years we have invested nearly £125 million in publicly funded projects, yet, at the same time taxation has been reduced every year to the point where the average wage earner’s tax bill is now about 30% less than it would have been in 1996, and yet we have maintained public reserves at around the levels that we inherited and public debt has risen only insignificantly as a proportion of the size of and considerable growth in the economy. Our public debt is low by any conventional economic measurement of public debt. As at April 2002, net public debt stood at just 22% of annual Government revenue, or about 8% of GDP. Debt interest cost stood at just 4.5% of annual Government revenue. These are modest amounts by any European or global standards. This reflects the Government’s policy of prudence in the management of public finances, so that if there is an economic downturn in the future, we shall not be faced with an excessive debt burden. The great majority of our capital projects have been funded out of our annual budget surpluses.

In the light of the pressure in other areas, and the time and resources that Government has had to devote to external threats and challenges one or two of our manifesto projects have suffered a few months delay. That said, there has been considerable progress on the domestic front as well.

The change of school hours has been successfully introduced and bedded down. We now hope to add to the facilities and services that will be available for children’s meals at schools.

Never before has Government been involved in so many publicly funded projects at the same time. Gibraltar now enjoys a magnificent Retreat Centre at Lathbury Barracks which will be inaugurated this month. This is already available to all sections of Community for residential and non-residential retreats, seminars, meetings and other such events.

On the housing front, 2002 has seen the completion of the Harbour Views repair and refurbishment project. This has been a massively expensive and technically and legally complex project. To put it into context it has cost over £20 million. As much as it cost to build the estate in the first place. The very major works have had to be done with residents living in the estate. The project involved successful litigation against the Spanish contractor in 3 countries. But the results have been splendid, especially for residents of the estate which is now comfortably habitable and much more attractive.

The Government’s estates refurbishment and beautification programme has continued, with Laguna Estate and other Government blocks. Substantial works have been undertaken at Brymptom. The lift installation programme in Government estates continues to be implemented. Major re-roofing, lift installation and beautification works in all blocks at Varyl Begg have begun and will proceed rapidly this year.

New arrangements for the cleaning of all Government estates come into operation this month.

The tendering procedure for the construction of new rental, home ownership and senior citizens housing is well under way and construction will commence in the spring. Houses will be ready for occupation in two years. We shall shortly be announcing details of the new home ownership scheme and inviting new first time buyers, especially the young, to register their interest. The scheme will be designed to ensure that young first time home buyers can afford the houses, which will be further helped by the fact that Government is itself the developer, so that flats can be sold at cost without a developer’s profit and with guarantees of quality construction.

The street beautification programme continues, as does the programme to create new free public parking facilities on the edge of town. The tendering process for the new public bus transport system is advanced, and we expect to have the new service up and running with a large fleet of new, state of art buses, in the first half of this year.

Major capital projects such as the Theatre Royal, the New extensive Sports Facilities at Bayside, the near doubling of capacity at Mount Alvernia and the New hospital are all well under way.

HEALTH SERVICES

When the new hospital is finished, Gibraltar will truly have leapt into the 21st Century in terms of our medical facilities. It won’t be just a case of a new building, important as that is. The move into the new hospital will be preceded by a complete external audit review of all clinical, management and organisational practices at our hospital to ensure that, coupled with the new hospital and its improved facilities, we will enjoy the most up-to-date clinical and management practices and facilities that a community of our size can sustain. This external audit review is already under way. This will add to the progressive development of our health services, which have already seen the implementation of the recommendations of two professional reviews in the last 5 years, a new health centre, a dedicated and trained emergency ambulance service, increased numbers of consultants, doctors and nurses, doctors and consultants in new specialised areas of medicine, better training and a very large increase in public spending on health services.

There is, of course, more to do, and it will be done. Government will not rest until our health service is as good as it can reasonably get. One area that continues to concern me and my colleagues in Government, as it does many of you, is the effect of private practice on the free public service, and this despite the considerable steps that have been taken for the first time to regulate private practice in the hospital. This is an issue which we will be addressing again this year.

But it is too easy for some people to make crude use of isolated incidents in our health service to denigrate the hard and dedicated work of hundreds of health care workers (who very successfully deal with over 45,000 patients a year), the very considerable progress that has already been made in developing our health service and the unprecedented improvements that will come with the New Hospital. My condemnation of that opportunistic approach is as energetic as my Governments commitment to deliver a state of the art health service in which we can all continue to have increasing confidence.

And so, as we enter 2003 I believe that we can look to the future not with fear and trepidation, but with confidence. I believe that we have emerged from the politically challenging events of 2002, in a stronger position, strengthened as a community. Our political rights have been strengthened. Our sense of unity, determination and purpose have been strengthened. Support for us as a people has been galvanised in the UK and internationally. Our economic stability, prosperity and security is not in danger or doubt. Gibraltar continues to progress politically, economically, culturally and socially. That, after all is the whole object and purpose of our endeavour, for which the Government will continue to work energetically during 2003.

I wish you all a happy, prosperous and healthy 2003.

The attempt to betray the Falklands in 1968, and how it may be mirrored today in Gibraltar

Continued from yesterday....

Sadly, they were in the process of being merged then to form the FCO we know today. Instead, he asked for a Senior Minister to visit - to see local opposition for himself. Typically, the FO didn’t want this until the final text of the MOU was agreed – so Islanders could appreciate its so-called “merits”. Islanders wanted the Queen to come on her planned Latin-American tour - but both Argentina and the Falklands were deliberately left out.

Despite all this opposition, the text of the MoU was agreed with the Argentines that August. But British efforts to raise the status of the Unilateral Statement, by linking it to the MoU, delayed the signing - and was not accepted by the Argentines.

Chalfont Visit

In the end, Lord Chalfont went to the Falklands in November 1968. He was the Junior Foreign Office Minister who had been promoting the MoU. His visit had been intended to coincide with publication and signing of the MoU, thus giving the Islanders no chance to oppose it. But this had been delayed again by the Foreign Secretary’s visit to India.

FO publicity said he was there to “Find out the views of the Islanders”. That was nonsense. So was the time honoured verbiage about the “interests of the Islanders being paramount”. The Council objected in the strongest terms, at first threatening to resign en masse. It made not the slightest difference – it was virtually a fait accompli. All that was possible was a little fine tuning of the Unilateral Statement. Even then ordinary Islanders were not allowed to see the proposed MoU. It would have had a fundamental effect on them, if it had been signed, but they could only learn about it from the journalists who accompanied Lord Chalfont!

No Transfer Without Consent

Lord Chalfont assured the Council that sovereignty would not be ceded without their consent. He stressed that the MoU would be published together with the Unilateral Statement which would say this. He assured a disbelieving Council that this Unilateral Statement had equal weight to the MOU itself. He carefully explained that safeguards would guarantee the use of English, property and religious rights, etc – as if a military dictatorship would ever respect these.

Chalfont’s report is available now. He says Islanders “may one day be prepared to choose Argentine sovereignty”. He goes on to say “We must at all costs avoid giving the Islanders the impression that we want to get rid of them, since that would set up the reaction we want to avoid”.

Chalfont wanted to break down what he called “fossilised attitudes”. He called one Councillor “all but irredeemably reactionary” towards Argentina. Chalfont thought this was due to lack of contact with Argentines. But history has proved the Islanders right. Argentina was in chaos then, as it is now. Chalfont saw evidence of this himself. During his visit, Argentine gutter newspaper Cronica landed a light plane illegally on a Falklands road, demanded an interview with him, and published hysterical stories for a week about British “Pirates”.

Misgivings and Opposition

But Sir Michael Creswell, British Ambassador in Buenos Aires, could see the risks. He had warned earlier that there might be friction with Argentina if Islanders simply refused to contemplate any change of status, or cooperate in any process leading to integration with Argentina, and that Argentina might be unable to accept that the process of change would, in any case, be a slow one. The Argentine military junta wanted progress fast. He believed too that there was a basic inconsistency between the MOU and the “Unilateral Statement”.

Opposition came from the Falklands lobby in London. The All Party Parliamentary Group, including a number of Labour MPs, was even more important - as was the Conservative Opposition. Last, but not least, the Falklands were lucky to have Sir Cosmo Haskard from a Colonial Service background. FO influence became more common in subsequent governors. Some might not have represented the Islanders so well.

How it Failed - Consent Paramount

On his way back from the Falklands Lord Chalfont met Argentine Foreign Minister Costa Mendez in Buenos Aires. Costa Mendez suddenly said that although he liked the MoU, Argentina would not sign it, if Britain were to promptly “cancel it out” by the planned Unilateral Statement to Parliament! This was a bombshell. Lord Chalfont replied that the MoU would be unacceptable to Parliament without this.

Two days later, Costa Mendez said publicly: “An agreement with Britain…. could not provide for recognition of sovereignty being made subject to an expression of will of the inhabitants”. A message followed that Argentina would not sign the MoU unless Britain agreed with Argentina on what our own Unilateral Statement to Parliament might say! What cheek!

This last minute Argentine challenge to the Unilateral Statement changed everything. The promise in it that Islanders must consent to any transfer of sovereignty had been fundamental to Britain. The Government was relying on it to rebut very serious Parliamentary and press criticism of the negotiations as a whole. The end came on December 11th, 1968. Harold Wilson’s Cabinet rejected the MoU unless the Islander consent in the Unilateral Statement were incorporated into the MoU itself - or explicitly linked to it.

MoU led to war

In hindsight, we can all see it for the disaster it was. Lord Chalfont had assured the Council that the MOU was not a binding agreement to cede sovereignty - but just to consider this, if the safeguards were considered satisfactory, and the Islanders consented. This was the opinion of Government legal advisers too. This was politically naive, especially with an unstable and aggressive country like Argentina. By contrast, Sir Cosmo could see it as the irrevocable step it would have been - and that there was no chance of getting genuine consent from the Islanders. The two concepts were irreconcilable. Worst of all, it had all been done in near total secrecy.

It was much worse than what is happening now over Gibraltar – disgraceful though that is. The Falklands had only two thousand people then, nearly all of them unsophisticated farmers and with few professionals or well educated people. They could not have stood up to a South American military dictatorship. If the MoU had been signed and the Unilateral Statement made, Argentina would have known that only their consent stood between it and complete sovereignty over the Falklands. It would have pressured and bullied them mercilessly. They would probably all have emigrated.

Foreign Office pressure on the press failed too. The Daily Express had exposed much of what was going on. The FO tried to get it to report Lord Chalfont’s visit “responsibly”. Instead, the Express called it “one of the most squalid and discreditable chapters in British history”. The Sunday Times called the Argentine claim ludicrous.

But the Argentines had been led to believe that they could get what they wanted. The result in the end was the Falklands war.

Peter Pepper

Drugs awareness at school

The Community Policing Unit of the Royal Gibraltar Police, in conjunction with Bayside Comprehensive School, held their 4th Annual Drugs Awareness 5-a-side Christmas Football Tournament at the Victoria Stadium Sports hall, last Monday.

A total of sixteen teams separated into the Under 15 and Under 13 age groups took part in this now popular event, which brought over a hundred players and supporters together during the lull in the Christmas festivities. The event was a resounding success with some excellent foot-balling skills being displayed by our young players.

Winners and runners up on the day were as follows:

Under 15

Winners- "Juvi Utd" (Kyle CASCIARO, Shane CRISP, Justin SANTOS, Arun ASWANI, Joseph CHIPOLINA, Andrew GORDON and Daniel CHIPOL.)

Runners up- "No Team" (Shane RAMMAGE, Neil MEDINA, Daniel BONAVIA, Steven PARDO and Nathan SANTOS.)

Under 13

Winners- "Janks" (Justin COLLADO, Lee MUSCAT, Aziz LACEN, Philip HERMIDA, Edmund HOSKEN and Nathan SANTOS.) 

Runners up- "Short-to-tall" (Nathan DEBONO, Stefan CUMBO, Ashley PEREZ, Liam SCHEMBRI, Sean GUERRERO, Paul PODESTA and Kaylan MUSCAT)

Trophies for the Winners and Runners up in both categories were donated, as every year, by James BASSADONE of the Corner Shop, and were presented by The Deputy Commissioner of the RGP, James W W McKAY.

Firework injures woman

A local woman was injured at approximately 1:30am on New Year's Eve by a firework that landed near her as she was walking along Catalan Bay Hill. The firework, which exploded close to her right leg, caused severe bruising and burns marks.

As a result of the injuries sustained, the woman was conveyed by an ambulance to St Bernard's Hospital, where she was treated for her injuries and detained at Godley Ward for observations and further treatment.

At the time of the incident, no information was available to identify who had thrown the firework or from which direction it came from.

Mario Hook - the new Ombudsman

As barrister Mario Hook opens the door to his new office as Ombudsman, his thoughts are on his predecessor who established the office, but he feels he can make "a positive and meaningful contribution to Gibraltar."

"The offer of becoming Ombudsman was too great to resist. "I feel I can make a positive and meaningful contribution to Gibraltar" he said. 


In taking over as ombudsman, how do you feel?

In taking over my first thoughts are for my predecessor, whom I must praise for his work in establishing the Ombudsman in Gibraltar. Secondly, I have to thank my family for their encouragement and support. I feel honoured at the appointment and trust that I shall be able to carry out my role as Ombudsman in a manner that is objective and fair.

The ombudsman plays a very important role in the community - what do you think of that.

There is no doubt that the Ombudsman plays a very important role in the community. One only has to peruse the three annual reports (the third about to be made public) to realise the very important work that the Ombudsman has done through his investigations of complaints.

It is always perceived as difficult to follow the footsteps of someone who has been successful in the job - do you see that as a problem?

No not at all. I believe it was the Chief Minister who said that I would be stepping into very big shoes. My immediate aim is to fill the shoes and then, if at all possible leave them even bigger for my successor. Henry Pinna has set the goal post very high indeed, but on doing so he has left a legacy of precedents and a wealth of experience that I hope to make good use of.

The fact that you used to work in the ombudsman's office previously must be useful?

Yes. It really feels like returning to my home. I have the advantage of having been an investigating officer at the service of the Ombudsman, and that helps.

Do you anticipate any changes in the way things are done?

Yes. However, I would not like to advance anything yet as I am preparing, together with my staff, a programme of activities and action that I shall be making public in the next week.

What made you go for it? Why do you want to be the ombudsman?

The decision to accept the offer was a difficult one, as I was very happy in my previous employment. However, the attraction of becoming Ombudsman was perhaps too great to resist. I feel that I can make a positive and meaningful contribution to Gibraltar.

When you look back a year from now, how will you measure success?

I promise to answer this question in a year's time, but if I do as well as Henry Pinna I shall be a happy man.

What are the main challenges of the job as you see them?

The main challenge of this job is being objective at all times and being able to deliver a well balanced report at the end of an investigation and a proper explanation to the Complainant as to why his/her complaint is upheld or otherwise.

The white elephant of the New Year

With money becoming scarce in the arts worldwide, Gibraltar is merrily going along with rebuilding the old Theatre Royal. If we are not careful, this will end up being the White Elephant of the New Year.

Do we have our heads firmly embedded in the sands of time? We seem to be living in a world of our own, where priorities are getting mixed up, where the spending of a million in a theatre is more important than meeting more essential needs. And then, there is the equally expensive upkeep.

And you can ask anyone about priorities if you want a long list of essentials the public is crying out for.

In the health services alone there are glaring deficiencies. Increasingly, we are becoming more dependent on Spanish goodwill for certain medical services. Many people ask: Why cannot we have our own?

It is a question that needs an answer. If we have the money, why cannot we have our own? 

Instead, we spend the money in a theatre, which is something of the past, as theatres have been closing down throughout the world.

It would be nice to have one. But times have changed. In the old days, the public queued up to be entertained at theatres because that was the prime entertainment. Then came the cinema. Then came television. Now, we have multi-channel television, catering for everything. Including the arts.

This does not mean that we should totally neglect the arts. Of course not. Those who promote the arts deserve nothing but praise. There is indeed scope for arts in Gibraltar, but tailored to our requirements. But it means that the government approaches such matters with common sense and anchored in the times we live in.

Gibraltar already has the Mackintosh Hall and Inces’ Hall next to it. 

Why cannot they be refurbished and embellished to make them the centre of attraction that Gibraltar can afford to have and to maintain? That area of Gibraltar could become our cultural corner. Why is it that we neglect what we have and then spend, recklessness some might say, in pouring millions into an old theatre which belongs to the past?

Have we not yet realised that this is a small community and that there is no public here, large enough, to financially maintain a project like the Theatre Royal. 

If anyone still thinks that everyone up the coast is going to fall over backwards to come here to the theatre, please forget it. When Casemates was done up, it was thought that tourists would rush into the Rock to have a drink and a meal here. It was a failure because it could not be otherwise. 

The attempt to betray the Falklands in 1968, and how it may be mirrored today in Gibraltar

Back in the 1960s Gibraltar had all the support it could want. Labour was in power under Harold Wilson, and hated Franco. Lord Shepherd at the Commonwealth Office resisted Spain magnificently – and put the famous guarantee into Gib’s constitution. 

It was quite different in the Falklands. There, between 1966 and 1968, the Foreign Office did its best to betray the Islanders to Argentina. Now roles have reversed. Today the Falklands are prosperous and have British Government support. Gibraltar is the victim now. But, and it’s a big but - thanks to the thirty year rule, we can now read in the Public Records Office (PRO) how the betrayal of the Falklands was to be carried out.

Success at UN

Argentine success in the notoriously biased UN Decolonisation Committee in 1964 led to a General Assembly resolution calling for talks over the Falklands dispute. Britain entered into negotiations mainly to comply with this. PRO documents reveal this was done although Britain had no doubts over its sovereignty, but just wanted to satisfy the UN and Argentina. Negotiations began when Argentina was a democracy, but continued as if nothing had happened, when the brutal General Ongania seized power a few months later. Everything was secret and Islanders were kept in the dark. A “Memorandum of Understanding” (MoU) was drawn up analogous to the “Statement of Principles” under discussion now with Spain. Clause four of this MoU said: 

The Government of the United Kingdom as part of such a final settlement will recognise Argentina’s sovereignty over the islands from a date to be agreed. This date will be agreed as soon as possible after (1) the two Governments have resolved the present divergence between them as to the criteria according to which the United Kingdom Government shall consider whether the interests of the Islanders would be secured by the safeguards and guarantees to be offered by the Argentine Government, and (11) the Government of the United Kingdom are then satisfied that those interests are so secured.

Communications with Argentina

Argentina also wanted communications with the Falklands to get a foothold there. But it would not make a communications agreement without the MoU first. It feared that otherwise Argentine ships and planes visiting the Falklands would imply recognition of British sovereignty. At that time, Argentine ships wouldn’t enter the Falklands at all - to avoid flying courtesy flags - and Islanders did business with Uruguay and Chile. Britain argued that establishing links with Argentina at the same time as the MoU would be too big a shock for the Islanders. The FO wanted these established first, so Islanders could get used to Argentines. Sadly, one FO idea - that illustrates the depths it was prepared to stoop - was to sign the MoU secretly and then only publish it later dated falsely to coincide with a subsequent communications agreement!

Yet another Argentine objective was to get “Freedom of Settlement” incorporated into the MoU - to allow Argentines to flood into the Islands. Britain rejected this completely.

Islander Consent – A Bad Agreement Rather Than No Agreement.

The biggest stumbling block was Britain’s demand that any MoU should say that Islanders must consent to any transfer of sovereignty. Foreign Secretary, Michael Stewart, was adamant about this, and Parliament was told several times. This was bitterly opposed by Argentina. Their insistence and British diplomatic weakness finally got it removed from the MoU - but not from British policy. It was a case of accepting a bad agreement rather than have no agreement at all. Interests are always used like this – as opponents rather those concerned can decide what these should be. Friends let people decide their own interests for themselves.

The Unilateral Statement – Consent Essential

So the MoU required Britain just to be satisfied with Argentine “safeguards and guarantees” to secure the Islanders’ interests. To put Islander consent back Britain planned a separate “Unilateral Statement”. This would be made when the MoU was signed, stating Britain would not cede sovereignty without Islander consent. Argentina would make a Unilateral Statement too claiming the Islands.

Falklands Governor Sir Cosmo Haskard was deeply troubled by what he knew to be going on - but was not allowed to tell the Islanders. He warned of the disgust locally that Britain should think of ceding of sovereignty under any circumstances, and that no change was acceptable. He was right too. When authorised to tell just the Councillors in strict confidence, in July 1967, the reaction was horror. Sir Cosmo was so worried that he went to London in February 1968 to speak to everyone he could - to put the Islanders’ point of view. Sadly, he failed to stop the MoU.

When he got back to the Falklands and revealed what he was allowed to, there was more horror. Sir Cosmo told the Councillors to defend themselves. They broke their oaths of secrecy and went public with a broadsheet to every MP. Sadly, the FO had only skulduggery to offer. A suggestion to Sir Cosmo was: “You might well suggest indirectly that the broadsheet by making difficulties for Government in Parliament may not contribute to a solution to the problem or be in their best interests”.

Sir Cosmo did nothing of the kind. He was from the Colonial Service with its traditions of loyalty and integrity to Colonial subjects – not the Foreign Office. Sadly, they were in the process of being merged then to form the FCO we know today. Instead, he asked for a Senior Minister to visit - to see local opposition for himself. Typically, the FO didn’t want this until the final text of the MOU was agreed – so Islanders could appreciate its so-called “merits”. Islanders wanted the Queen to come on her planned Latin-American tour - but both Argentina and the Falklands were deliberately left out.

Despite all this opposition, the text of the MoU was agreed with the Argentines that August. But British efforts to raise the status of the Unilateral Statement, by linking it to the MoU, delayed the signing - and was not accepted by the Argentines.

Chalfont Visit

In the end, Lord Chalfont went to the Falklands in November 1968. He was the Junior Foreign Office Minister who had been promoting the MoU. His visit had been intended to coincide with publication and signing of the MoU, thus giving the Islanders no chance to oppose it. But this had been delayed again by the Foreign Secretary’s visit to India.

FO publicity said he was there to “Find out the views of the Islanders”. That was nonsense. So was the time honoured verbiage about the “interests of the Islanders being paramount”. The Council objected in the strongest terms, at first threatening to resign en masse. It made not the slightest difference – it was virtually a fait accompli. All that was possible was a little fine tuning of the Unilateral Statement. Even then ordinary Islanders were not allowed to see the proposed MoU. It would have had a fundamental effect on them, if it had been signed, but they could only learn about it from the journalists who accompanied Lord Chalfont!

No Transfer Without Consent

Lord Chalfont assured the Council that sovereignty would not be ceded without their consent. He stressed that the MoU would be published together with the Unilateral Statement which would say this. He assured a disbelieving Council that this Unilateral Statement had equal weight to the MOU itself. He carefully explained that safeguards would guarantee the use of English, property and religious rights, etc – as if a military dictatorship would ever respect these.

Chalfont’s report is available now. He says Islanders “may one day be prepared to choose Argentine sovereignty”. He goes on to say “We must at all costs avoid giving the Islanders the impression that we want to get rid of them, since that would set up the reaction we want to avoid”.

Chalfont wanted to break down what he called “fossilised attitudes”. He called one Councillor “all but irredeemably reactionary” towards Argentina. Chalfont thought this was due to lack of contact with Argentines. But history has proved the Islanders right. Argentina was in chaos then, as it is now. Chalfont saw evidence of this himself. During his visit, Argentine gutter newspaper Cronica landed a light plane illegally on a Falklands road, demanded an interview with him, and published hysterical stories for a week about British “Pirates”. 

Misgivings and Opposition

But Sir Michael Creswell, British Ambassador in Buenos Aires, could see the risks. He had warned earlier that there might be friction with Argentina if Islanders simply refused to contemplate any change of status, or cooperate in any process leading to integration with Argentina, and that Argentina might be unable to accept that the process of change would, in any case, be a slow one. The Argentine military junta wanted progress fast. He believed too that there was a basic inconsistency between the MOU and the “Unilateral Statement”.

Opposition came from the Falklands lobby in London. The All Party Parliamentary Group, including a number of Labour MPs, was even more important - as was the Conservative Opposition. Last, but not least, the Falklands were lucky to have Sir Cosmo Haskard from a Colonial Service background. FO influence became more common in subsequent governors. Some might not have represented the Islanders so well.

How it Failed - Consent Paramount

On his way back from the Falklands Lord Chalfont met Argentine Foreign Minister Costa Mendez in Buenos Aires. Costa Mendez suddenly said that although he liked the MoU, Argentina would not sign it, if Britain were to promptly “cancel it out” by the planned Unilateral Statement to Parliament! This was a bombshell. Lord Chalfont replied that the MoU would be unacceptable to Parliament without this.

Two days later, Costa Mendez said publicly: “An agreement with Britain…. could not provide for recognition of sovereignty being made subject to an expression of will of the inhabitants”. A message followed that Argentina would not sign the MoU unless Britain agreed with Argentina on what our own Unilateral Statement to Parliament might say! What cheek!

This last minute Argentine challenge to the Unilateral Statement changed everything. The promise in it that Islanders must consent to any transfer of sovereignty had been fundamental to Britain. The Government was relying on it to rebut very serious Parliamentary and press criticism of the negotiations as a whole. The end came on December 11th, 1968. Harold Wilson’s Cabinet rejected the MoU unless the Islander consent in the Unilateral Statement were incorporated into the MoU itself - or explicitly linked to it.

MoU led to war

In hindsight, we can all see it for the disaster it was. Lord Chalfont had assured the Council that the MOU was not a binding agreement to cede sovereignty - but just to consider this, if the safeguards were considered satisfactory, and the Islanders consented. This was the opinion of Government legal advisers too. This was politically naive, especially with an unstable and aggressive country like Argentina. By contrast, Sir Cosmo could see it as the irrevocable step it would have been - and that there was no chance of getting genuine consent from the Islanders. The two concepts were irreconcilable. Worst of all, it had all been done in near total secrecy.

It was much worse than what is happening now over Gibraltar – disgraceful though that is. The Falklands had only two thousand people then, nearly all of them unsophisticated farmers and with few professionals or well educated people. They could not have stood up to a South American military dictatorship. If the MoU had been signed and the Unilateral Statement made, Argentina would have known that only their consent stood between it and complete sovereignty over the Falklands. It would have pressured and bullied them mercilessly. They would probably all have emigrated.

Foreign Office pressure on the press failed too. The Daily Express had exposed much of what was going on. The FO tried to get it to report Lord Chalfont’s visit “responsibly”. Instead, the Express called it “one of the most squalid and discreditable chapters in British history”. The Sunday Times called the Argentine claim ludicrous.

But the Argentines had been led to believe that they could get what they wanted. The result in the end was the Falklands war. 

- Peter Pepper

Spain offers 100,000 new telephone lines to Gibraltar

The Spanish government has gone ahead with setting aside 100,000 new telephone numbers for Gibraltar as part of Spain's telephone system.

The new code would be 8563. But the Gibraltar government has been opposing the move on the grounds that there are political strings attached.

The Spanish government says that the concession of the telephone numbers follows repeated requests from the UK government to meet the needs of Gibraltar.

Since 1986, Gibraltar numbers have formed part of the Cadiz province with 30,000 numbers using the 9567 code.

The Spanish see the new numbering plan now offered as being within the Brussels Agreement.

The calls would be treated as being part or the Cadiz province, such as regarding tariffs, in the same way as the 9567 calls have been.

Spanish sources said that the offer can be seen as a gesture of goodwill by Spain at a time when the Anglo-Spanish talks have reached a point of stalemate. 

2002 - The year of the people of Gibraltar

2002 goes down as the year of the people of Gibraltar, when a small but brave community again showed its mettle. It went out and voted, in exemplary fashion, for what they wanted, without fear, without inhibitions. It was a truly democratic occasion. November 7, the day of the referendum, will go down in history as another great day, when the Gibraltarians showed they are a mature people — and that this is their homeland.

The referendum result was a massive 99% against the joint sovereignty deal with Spain - and there was jubilation in the John Mackintosh Hall as the result was announced, echoed through Gibraltar.

Over 30 years ago, in 1967, other generations also voted freely and convincingly, despite massive threats and provocations. Time may have gone by, but the people of Gibraltar remain strong in their convictions, an example to the wider world.

New year honours

In the New Years Honours list, the MBE goes to Dr John Cortes, in recognition of his work as a dedicated conservationist and Ecologist: to Professor Clive James Finlayson, in recognition of his dedication to Gibraltar's past and its projection as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and Mrs Irene (Tita) Stagnetto in recognition of her contribution to the bench as Chairperson of the Justices.

His Excellency the Governor has awarded the Gibraltar Award (Governor's Certificate and Badge of Honour) to Maria del Lourdes Lima, for voluntary service to the people of Gibraltar.

Charity Pram Race

Sergeant Ian Miley of the postal troop on Devil’s Tower Camp organised a ‘Pram Race’ recently. The event was organised to raise money for two local charities. The chosen charities were Wireless for the Blind and The Lady Williams Centre for Cancer Relief. A Grand total of £1153.46 was raised on the day. Seven teams entered in this years race. 

All in fancy dress themed to compliment their superbly decorated prams. One such competitor was Tina Brown normally a Navy writer in the Headquarters British Forces but on the day resplendent in her outfit as a cowgirl. She said “The whole event is great fun and hopefully we’ll raise a bucketful of cash for charity”.

The standard design and decoration of the prams was magnificent and it was obvious that a lot of time and effort had gone into the preparation and building of them. 

The teams were sent off from Devils Tower Camp in pairs at 5 minute intervals on the arduous course which included a compulsory visit to several pubs along the way! 

Trophies were presented for the best pram (judged by Lieutenant Colonel and Mrs Mellows) and the fastest time.

The best pram trophy went to the Mystery Machine (Of Scooby Doo fame) and the fastest time went appropriately to the Gym staff in a time of one hour and twenty minutes. 

The aim of the day however, was not to win prizes but to have fun and raise money for charity. 

The team from middle hill took this very seriously indeed taking nearly four hours to complete the course. 

Gib-based company changes hands after 'Prestige' oil spill

The company that chartered the doomed tanker 'Prestige', which has offices in Gibraltar, has seer its ownership change hands. Crown Resources has been bought by its managers. Its name has also been changed. Reports said that the management of the Swiss-based commodities trading house bought the company from its Russian owners.

Crown was in the news last month when the Prestige sank off the north coast of Spain and leaked its cargo of Russian fuel oil across a stretch of Spanish coastline, causing much concern in Galicia in northwest Spain. Over a month later, the oil spill is still news in Spain. Crown were part of the giant Russian conglomerate Alfa Group. It has been bought by a management team led by Jost Villiger, head of its Swiss operations.

Its headquarters will remain in Zug, Switzerland, but the company will now be known as ERC Trading Co. It is expected its Gibraltar office will also make the name change.

Chief Executive Officer Steven Rudofski is leaving the company.

Crown has been described as a medium-size trader with the bulk of its business in Russian crude.

There were unconfirmed reports in Gibraltar recently that the local office was either closing down or cutting back.

U-boat hunter who played leading role in Gibraltar area dies

Air Vice-Marshal Ronnie Knott, who died last month aged 84, was a successful U-boat hunter whose operations over the Gibraltar Approaches, Bay of Biscay and Western Approaches earned him a DFC and a DSO.

During the war, Knott's Coastal Command squadrons were equipped with two-engine Wellington bombers, which were not the best aircraft for hunting U-boats.

Serving in No 179 Squadron, operating from Gibraltar against enemy submarines in the approaches to the Mediterranean, Knott had one slung beneath his Wellington's fuselage.

Countless hours of searching the ocean below brought fruitful results. "During his present tour of operational duty," the citation for the DFC Knott received in 1944 stated, "this officer has sighted four enemy submarines at night and has made determined attacks at night on three of the U-boats. "On each of these occasions Squadron Leader Knott pressed home his attack in the face of intense fire from the U-boats' guns. This officer has displayed commendable courage and devotion to duty." Although it was never officially confirmed, Knott always believed he had sunk one of the U-boats.

May Day on 1st May

A campaign by the Chamber of Commerce to change May Day to a Monday has failed. Labour day this coming year will be on 1st May, which happens to be a Thursday.

This has been officially announced.

Last October, the Chamber went to the extent of organising a survey in which people were asked for their preference - should May Day he held on a Monday or should it be held on the day of the week in which it falls.

PREFERENCE

They said that the survey showed that 750/0 of respondents preferred May Day to be celebrated on the Monday nearest to 1st May.

With this result in mind the Chamber urged "Government to urgently consider changing the May Day holiday for 2003 onwards so that it falls in line with the UK."

But the Government has not taken heed of what the Chamber has been saying.

While the survey may have been accurate, it lost much credibility in that it was organised by a company which is run by the Chamber's own Hon. Secretary.

There had been complaints from the unions who said that May Day, like Christmas Day for example, should fall on the day it falls.

The same happens with National Day.

There are exceptions, though. The Queen's Birthday is always officially celebrated on a Monday in June - it will be on 16 June this coming year.

Those who want May Day on a Monday would say: If the Queen can celebrate her birthday on a Monday, why cannot we celebrate May Day always on a Monday as well?

Supporting such a line is that Commonwealth Day is also celebrated on a Monday.

Of course, it would be unthinkable to celebrate New Year's Day on any day other than 1st January, is a contrary argument.

There was uncertainty some months ago about the whole issue.

This led to the leader of the Opposition moving a motion in the House last March, which read: "This House notes the fact that the Transport and General Workers Union and others in Gibraltar consider that the celebration of International Labour Day on 1 May is an important commemoration of an event in the protection of workers' rights and notes also that, in response to a letter of request from the District Officer of the Transport and General Workers Union dated 16th November 2001, the Government has already agreed to restore the public holiday to the 1st May with effect from next yea ~

And that's that. However, some people say that what works against the unions is that May Day goes by without a major celebration of it - so what's what?

The passions that have been aroused are considerable

In Full: Message by the Governor, David Durie

2002 has been an historic and dramatic year in the history of Gibraltar – to pick a few highlights: the mass demonstration of 18 March in support of the motion from the House of Assembly about the Brussels Talks, Jack Straw’s statement of 12 July explaining the state of the Anglo-Spanish Talks and the Referendum of 7 November with its massive opposition to the concept of joint sovereignty. 

The passions that have been aroused are considerable. It is a tribute to you all that, despite these passions, participants in the debate have been able to use cogent and rational arguments to support their position. In a liberal democracy like Gibraltar that should always be the case. 

hope and believe that next year will be quieter on this front. I do not detect great enthusiasm either in London or in Madrid to pursue the talks with the same urgency or intensity as was the case earlier in the year. It may well be that a period of reflection on all sides would be beneficial.

In that context I think that some of the actions by the Spanish Government in connection with the events leading to the catastrophe of the sinking of the oil tanker the MV Prestige were worrying from a Gibraltar standpoint. 

I want, however, first to say that I believe that everyone in Gibraltar would join me in our sympathy for the plight of the coastal communities in Galicia, elsewhere in Spain and in France and Portugal who were and are affected by the tragedy. 

But the atavistic reaction of the Spanish Government in trying to pin the blame on Gibraltar for an incident which had nothing at all to do with Gibraltar was both troubling and revealing. 

Such instincts are counter-productive and serve to damage the relationship between Spain and Gibraltar, not to improve it.

On the wider international front, this year has seen two historic developments – last month’s agreement that seven new members – former members of the Communist bloc – should join NATO next year, and this month’s agreement that 10 new members are to join the European Union in 2004 – 8 former members of the Communist bloc and two Mediterranean states, Cyprus and Malta. 

In the case of Cyprus it is to be hoped that it will be a reunited Cyprus that joins the Union. The pace of change however is incredible. If we go back 20 years, anybody who forecast such a reunification of Europe in this timescale would have been dismissed as out of touch with reality. 

Both are exciting developments. But the enlargement of the European Union is the more fundamental and holds great long term promise of a prosperous and secure future for the whole of Europe.

Of just as great significance is the opening of the European Union towards Turkey with the possibility of negotiations on the entry of Turkey to the Union beginning at the end of 2004.

This will be the first time that a country, the majority of whose population is Muslim, will have the opportunity to become a member of the European Union. 

In Gibraltar, with its long tradition of tolerance and co-existence of different religious faiths, this may seem of little moment, but it does represent a truly historic shift and a welcome one as that.

Not all developments on the international front are as welcome, however. We live in a world of constant change and we have to be ready to respond to that change and to find the best way forward. Last year in my broadcast I drew attention to the events of September 11 and the consequences of them. We are still living with those consequences. They touch virtually every aspect of international affairs and may yet lead to full scale confrontation.

They also touch our everyday lives with the constant need to be alert to ensure that we remain as secure as possible. The Government, the Ministry of Defence, the Royal Gibraltar Police and the civil protection services all remain alert to ensure our safety. We are grateful to them. 

In particular also we are all conscious of unfolding events as they affect Iraq. We must hope and pray that they end peacefully while leaving the world safer than it appears at present.

But I do not want this Christmastide to dwell only on such weighty and serious matters. 2002 has also seen the Golden Jubilee of the reign of Her Majesty the Queen which we have marked here in Gibraltar in traditional ways. 

The highlight was the Trooping of the Colour by the Royal Gibraltar Regiment in the Victoria Stadium in June. All who were privileged to see that display were impressed by the skill and the discipline and the drill – it was a fitting tribute to Her Majesty. 

The Jubilee was also marked in less formal ways – the Scouts and the Guides put on a special display in April; an open air ecumenical service was held to which all faiths represented in Gibraltar were invited. This was made particularly memorable by the singing of the choir of the Hebrew School. And, of course, in keeping with a tradition that goes back almost a hundred years, we planted a tree – an oak- in the garden of the Convent.

Tributes were sent to Her Majesty to mark the event – but also, more sadly, to mark the deaths of Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret and of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Books of Condolence were opened for both and signed by many Gibraltarians.

One way in which the Jubilee was marked was the issuing of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal – the first medal of this type to be awarded since King George V’s Silver Jubilee in 1935.

Serving members of the Armed Services as well as serving members of the uniformed civil protection services with 5 years or more service on 6 February this year – the actual anniversary of Her Majesty’s accession to the throne – were all eligible.

I am glad to say that a grand total of 742 medals have been issued in Gibraltar to members of the Royal Navy, the Army including of course the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, the RAF, the two Police Services, the two Fire Services and St John’s Ambulance.

While world events continue to dominate the headlines, life in Gibraltar continues to its own rhythms. People often remark how generous people in Gibraltar are in giving to charity – and it is true. 

The amounts raised for so many different charities per head of the population are really very considerable. And the money is raised for people and causes outside Gibraltar as well as in Gibraltar. 

This is just as it should be. Despite all the difficulties, the fact remains that the standard of living in Gibraltar is high – and this gives us the opportunity – some would say the obligation – to do what we can to help those worse off than ourselves. People in Gibraltar understand this and respond accordingly. 

But I do know that a number of charities with which my wife, Susan, and I are associated would welcome wider active participation from new members.

One of the delights of the past year has been the opportunity to see some of the young people from the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme prepare for their Awards, particularly the expedition. 

This Scheme with its emphasis on self-development and action to help others has always attracted good support in Gibraltar – and this year we have a record number entered for the Gold Award. I wish them well. 

I am sure that their effort and dedication will pay off with the youngsters earning these coveted Awards before long. 

The Scouts and the Guides have also been active. The Scouts held a memorable concert last month in St Michael’s Cave. 

Music of all sorts has been as popular as ever – the variety available for music lovers of all tastes in Gibraltar is really tremendous.

Sadly, for Susan and myself, this will be our last Christmas in Gibraltar. We are joined here for it by our whole family including my mother, our three daughters, our two sons-in-law and our granddaughter. 

Like us, they have come to value the friendliness and warmth of the people of Gibraltar at this season and throughout the year.

Over the Christmas period we will join with other Christians in Gibraltar in remembering and marvelling at the birth in the stable at Bethlehem of the one we believe to be our Saviour. 

We shall exchange presents – admittedly probably largely secular in content – as will others to mark the occasion. 

I hope that everyone, whatever your faith, will also be able to enjoy the holiday season. In our family we also have a separate reason to celebrate that day because it marks the fifth birthday of our grand-daughter, Ruby, who has come all the way from Norway to join us for her birthday and for Christmas.

I am sure that you will also want to join me in thinking of the sick and the elderly and those who look after them – as well as of the emergency services and those responsible for maintaining the essential services on which our everyday lives depend. 

I want to thank them for their dedication. I hope that everyone in Gibraltar – whether Christian or of other faiths or none – will have a peaceful, contented and happy time over the Festive Season.

Gibraltar's essential Britishness undeniable

says Scottish Sunday paper

YOU would have to be a true romantic to call Gibraltar a beautiful place, though I am sure in the eyes of British sailors heading into the Mediterranean from some long and tedious patrol in far-off waters, it must have been a sight for sore eyes and beer-starved lips, writes Jeff Mills in Scotland on Sunday.


The Rock, for it really is little more than that, doesn't simply sit in the sea just off the coast of southern Spain (to which it is attached by a narrow isthmus), it very thoroughly dominates the immediate vicinity, as though John Bull's bulldog was standing guard with his arms folded, daring any foreigners to proceed beyond the border. 'Gib' has been British since it was wrenched forcefully from the Spanish in 1704 and then politically in 1713 when the Treaty of Utrecht ceded the Rock to the British crown "in perpetuity". Mind you, that did not stop the Spanish trying a number of times to take it back. And they have not given up yet, even though today it is politicians rather than the military who engage in the skirmishes.

After saying that Gibraltar has seen more than its fair share of bloodshed over the centuries, it adds: Visit the Rock today and you simply cannot escape its history; there is evidence everywhere you look.

Even away from the military installations, Gibraltar's essential Britishness is undeniable. Take a walk down the main street and familiar sights spring out at you at every step. So, towering rock aside, you could easily be forgiven for thinking you were still in some UK country town, admittedly during the height of summer.

The paper adds: Not only is Gibraltar one of Britain's last remaining colonies, it must be one of the best-value places on earth to buy your booze, cigarettes, scent and dozens of other luxury goods, and it makes very little difference whether you buy at the airport or not, the whole place is virtually duty free.

Small wonder that the battalions of ex-pat Brits who spend time sunning themselves at their villas just over the border in Spain make a weekly trip to do their shopping here. public.

For all its hustle and bustle, though, and in spite of what the tourist board may hope to achieve, the reality is that many people you will see shopping in the streets, following the tourist trail and snapping pictures of the apes are day trippers who pile off the coaches from the popular Spanish resorts both up and down the coast, where the beaches are much better and there is a far wider choice of hotels. An increasing number of people do choose to stay in Gib itself, though, and one or two hotels stand out for the quality they offer.

Gibraltar Questions in Parliament

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what powers the Gibraltar Government has to (a) regulate financial services, with specific reference to pensions and (b) initiate referenda. 

Mr. MacShane: In relation to financial services, the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission, established by the Financial Services Commission Ordinance of 1989, is charged with the responsibility of supervising institutions carrying out financial business in or from within Gibraltar. The Commission is appointed by the Governor with the approval of my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary.

Providing the Government of Gibraltar is acting consistent with the Gibraltar Constitution, they are able to initiate local referenda if they so choose. We have made clear that Her Majesty’s Government would, in consultation with the Government of Gibraltar, expect to oversee any referendum on a change in sovereignty, since any such change could trigger primary legislation in the UK.

DEVOLVED

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those responsibilities of HM Government and the Crown to Gibraltar which are not devolved to the Gibraltar Government. 

Mr. MacShane: The Despatch to the Gibraltar Constitution Order of May 1969, a copy of which is in the Library of the House, sets out responsibilities which are devolved to the Government of Gibraltar.

EC LAWS

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which EC laws and regulations, other than those excluded by the 1972 Act of Accession, do not apply to Gibraltar. 

Mr. MacShane: Other than those areas of Community policy from which Gibraltar is excluded by virtue of the UK’s Act of Accession, EMU does not apply, since the UK is not a member. Gibraltar airport is suspended from the scope of the following measures:

Regulation 87/602: 1st Package—Market Access;

Directive 89/463: Scheduled Inter-Regional Air Services;

Regulation 2343/90: 2nd Package—Market Access;

Regulation 294/91: Operation of Air Cargo Services between Member States;

Regulation 2408/92: 3rd Package—Market Access;

Regulation 95/93: Slots;

Directive 96/67: Access to Ground Handling Market;

Regulation 925/99: Hushkits; and 

Protocol of accession of the European Community to the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL).

PENSIONS

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on pension regulation in Gibraltar. 

Mr. MacShane: The Gibraltar Commissioner for Income Tax is responsible for the regulation of pension schemes. The Financial Services Commission supervises businesses carrying out investment and asset management and administration.

Arsenal supporters club formed in Gib

Arsenal supporters are pleased to announce the formation of a club on the Rock.

Arsenal Football Club can trace its origins to 1886 when a group of workers at the Woolwich Arsenal armaments factory got a team together. The

club has grown to become one or the most successful league sides in football history and has been in the top flight of English football since 1919, a unique and incredible achievement given the standards set by the modern game.

Committee

At an inaugural meeting the following were elected:

Chairperson: Neil Rush

Secretary: Bill Bishop

Treasurer: Alex Bonavia

Committee: John Desousa, Lee Russo, Steve Victory

A Press release says: The club will aim to meet the demands of an increasingly large number of Gibraltar "Gunners" who are currently witnessing another memorable period in Arsenal's history.

Our "mini-Highbury" will meet at Amigo's Bar in Marina Bay where a large screen will be installed to enjoy the total football experience. All Arsenal games will be shown, they say.

ANOTHER MEETING

There will be another meeting in January to formally endorse the club's constitution and collect the annual subscription fee of £15. A trip to Valencia for the Champions league match in March is also planned.

For further details and information please contact one of the committee members or visit Amigo's Bar (telephone: 79241) and ask for Neil.

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