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Tripartite talks at technical level in Gibraltar next week
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by our Political correspondent
The next round of Trilateral talks between Gibraltar, the United Kingdom and Spain at a technical level will be held in Gibraltar next week, on the 21st and 22nd.
The Gibraltar delegation will be led by the Chief Minister Peter Caruana. The FCO Director for Europe, Tim Hitchens, is leading the UK Delegation. The Spanish Delegation is headed by the
Director General for External Affairs Europe and North America, Luis Felipe Fernandez de la Peņa.
The delegations will review progress of the working groups established pursuant to the ministerial statement of 21st July 2009 under the Cordoba arrangements. The meeting will take place at technical level in preparation for a future full ministerial session, said a government statement.
The ministerial meeting should have taken place this month, but it has been delayed to December. This was because of progress being slower than anticipated due to remaining differences over some of the topics for discussion.
The question of territorial waters will have cast its shadow over questions of cooperation given the prospect of sovereignty being impinged.
Back in July 2008 cooperation on the environment was one of the issues for discussion. They said at the time that 'the environment is shared by all in Gibraltar and the whole region, in particular the Campo area, and by its very nature does not respect boundaries.'
Never better said, as Spain has not respected that the waters of Gibraltar are British territorial waters.
Maritime cooperation was another issue, seeking to establish maritime links between the ports of Gibraltar and Algeciras, especially in the bay. Which bay - the bay of Gibraltar or the bay of Algeciras?
It was also planned to have judicial, customs and police cooperation, such as improving the exchange of information and communications. This would be a good thing if the Spaniards get it into their heads that the waters are British and that they cannot have the Guardia Civil making repeated incursions in Gibraltar waters.
Cooperation in financial services was problematic as the Spanish government did not want to sign with Gibraltar the cooperation agreement all other countries are prepared to sign - they think they would be giving away sovereignty.
There was also the prospect of cooperation on education, with the accent on bilingualism, so long as we do not end up making the mistake of thinking that education must be bilingual, as such a possibility might end up destroying the excellent educational system we have today.
The issuing of visas is also a topic which raises problems because the UK and Gibraltar are not in Schengen. Will they find viable and practical solutions to these problems, to allow non-EU Nationals resident in Gibraltar to cross the frontier? It is essentially up to Spain which is in Schengen.
15-07-10
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