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Four years after Cordoba - and frontier problems remain
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It is high time to raise the problems with frontier flows within the tripartite process.
"After all freer access via the border was a key commitment of the Cordoba Agreement. This was supposed to be bolstered by a promise to monitor traffic flows and improve these in accordance with the commitments," says the PDP.
The reality is that there have been numerous problems on this score. The PDP has issued numerous statements calling for action from Spain to assist frontier flows and for the Gibraltar Government to take the matter up with Spain.
As far back as 27 July 2007 the PDP issued a statement saying “It should be self-evident that if Spain operated two green channels for cars as we do in Gibraltar that the queue could be cut down by half. Surely with all the resources of the Spanish State and the scrutiny with which Spain follows Gibraltar’s affairs it should be obvious that she could do much more to alleviate the situation. Of course there may be increased volume of traffic but the parties committed themselves at Cordoba to study improvements to traffic flows.
As such this is a welcome although much delayed first acknowledgment by the Chief Minister that he is going to take steps that the PDP have been urging for years should have been taken.
However the PDP say they are not as quick as the Government to dismiss the causes for queues as being simple volume. The reality is that the performance of the Cordoba agreements or any other agreements reached with Spain depends on political will.
PDP Leader Keith Azopardi said: “We all know the massive traffic problems that exist in Gibraltar. These are constantly compounded by the difficulties encountered at the border and now by the measures being taken by the La Linea Mayor. These would be alleviated by Spain introducing a second green channel into Spain, allocating greater police resources and dealing decisively with the nonsense of the proposed toll. The people of Gibraltar want action not words to guarantee freer flows at the border. The Cordoba Agreement is now four years old. People will be unwilling to declare it a success if it cannot deliver on the key promises it made in 2006.”
02-09-10
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