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Is this a goon show from Hoon?
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by ONLOOKER
A Foreign Office junior minister, glass in hand, making the pronouncement that Britain will stand by Gibraltar's wishes does not hold much credibility. But there was FCO minister Geoff Hoon giving the people of Gibraltar such an assurance.
What Gibraltar wants are not meaningless assurances while attending a party, nor other types of assurances which, at the end of the day, mean nothing.
Such assurances have been made in the past, even before and during the period when the Foreign Office and the Spanish Foreign Ministry were engaged in negotiations on joint sovereignty.Had Spain not pulled out of the deal at the 11th hour, where would the joint sovereignty be today?
If Britain really stands by Gibraltar's wishes, why are there many people fearing that concessions have been made to Spain in the tripartite deal. And if the wishes of the people matter that much, why is the tripartite deal not put to a referendum, to allow the people to be heard?
Again, if Gibraltar's wishes are what matter, why are those wishes not reflected in the UN consensus on Gibraltar which Britain and Spain cooked up and which calls for negotiations in the spirit of the Brussels Agreement?
If Gibraltarians are against the Brussels agreement, why is it that Britain continues to back the UN consensus which defends and upholds Brussels?
Viewed from Gibraltar, what the Foreign Office keeps doing is standing by the wishes of Spain, NOT Gibraltar's!
Nice words and assurances litter the Foreign Office's position on Gibraltar, but it has been shown on many occasions, that they then do something else.
There is also the goon show of people like Hoon coming out backing the tripartite deal. Of course they are in favour of it - they are PART of it. Like the Spanish and the Chief Minister.
What do you expect from them?
The 1987 airport deal was also followed by numerous assurances about how good it was for Gibraltar. In those days the Gibraltar Government did not form part of those assurances for the simple reason that it had not taken part in the negotiations, and also that it did not agree with it.
FIRST TIME
Now, for the first time, a Gibraltar Government has been negotiating directly with a foreign government - a government that wants to take over the sovereignty of Gibraltar.
That makes all the difference for more reasons than one, especially when the subject matter includes concessions to the Spanish Government over such a politically sensitive area as the isthmus, which Spain claims its own.
It is not only a question whether people are in favour or against what has been agreed. It is also that this has been a secret negotiation with a foreign country over sensitive political issues concerning Gibraltar's future, and the least expected is that the people affected - that is, all of us - should be consulted in democratic fashion.
What is the point of assurances, of nice words and constitutional commitments if the first and last word on any deal is that of those who have been negotiating it - and not the people of Gibraltar!
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