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Andorra comments leads to PP calling for talks between UK and Spain on joint sovereignty
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The GSLP/Liberal Opposition says it notes that Spanish politicians have once again called for a resumption of talks between the United Kingdom and Spain with the objective of establishing joint sovereignty over Gibraltar.
This has come about following the Chief Minister’s comments at a seminar in Seville that he would be prepared to examine the viability of an Andorra type solution for Gibraltar and might even be prepared to recommend it to the electorate.
'THE ONLY WAY'
The Partido Popular MP for Cadiz Jose Ignacio Landaluce has declared that the only way to resolve Gibraltar’s status is to examine formulas which will allow Spain to recover sovereignty over the Rock and the waters around it.
Mr Landaluce has added that during the final stage of the last PP Government in Spain, the then Foreign Minister Josep Pique proposed a formula of joint sovereignty followed by full Spanish sovereignty for Gibraltar. The PP MP expressed the view that this formula could serve to unblock what he described as the current dispute.
The Opposition says that it is obvious that for the Chief Minister to have proclaimed in Spain his willingness to look at an Andorra solution was obviously not a very wise thing to do. This has led to a number of media reports, both in Spain and elsewhere, reflecting the perception that Gibraltar is now more receptive to examining with Spain so-called solutions to its sovereignty claim, when the reality is that nothing could be further from the truth. It is also quite likely that this has encouraged Mr Landaluce to make his latest pronouncements.
The Opposition considers that Mr Landaluce has clearly still failed to get the message sent by the 2002 referendum. The people of Gibraltar overwhelmingly rejected the very principle of sharing sovereignty with Spain, regardless of the nature or the name of the arrangement.
"This means, as far as the Opposition is concerned, that the sovereignty of Gibraltar is not a matter for discussion or negotiation with Spain. Moreover, if any Gibraltar Government wants to engage Madrid in talks on sovereignty then they are honour-bound to hold a referendum first and seek the approval of the people of Gibraltar before they embark down that route," they say.
WEAKENING SOVEREIGNTY
And add: Mr Landaluce must understand that sharing sovereignty, or sharing a Head of State like in the modern Andorra model, by its very nature, represents a dilution and a weakening of British sovereignty and this is something that the Opposition is totally against.
16-12-10
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