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Rock in Rajoy's mind as Spanish meet Cameron in London today for talks
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by JOE GARCIA
The Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy will hold talks in London today with prime minister David Cameron.
While Cameron wants to settle for a wide agenda, Rajoy has a Rock in his mind, which is typical of visits to London by Spanish politicians.
Rajoy's aim is to step up the momentum on Gibraltar talks at bilateral level, with sovereignty in the air.
But Cameron is certain to reiterate that sovereignty talks will only take place if the Gibraltarians are content and that, in any event, the UK government will stand by the long-standing guarantee that there will not be a transfer of sovereignty against the wishes of the people of Gibraltar.
SELF-DETERMINATION
It is to be hoped that Cameron will re-state what he said in the Council of Europe recently that self-determination applied to both Gibraltar and the Falklands.
This would be the last thing Rajoy will want to hear, as it is PP policy that Gibraltarians should not have any say on sovereignty or have self-determination recognised.
But many in Gibraltar think it is only by being being seen to be firm that the Spanish leadership will begin to understand that the UK government really is firm on what it says, and that there is no prospect of any shift from current British policy.
It is not clear how long the exchanges on Gibraltar will last. If the Spaniards have their way, the longer the better; but Cameron is taking a wider look on European affairs and will want to point out, in his best diplomatic language, that it is in Spain's interest to concentrate on the serious problems facing Spain as a member of the Eurozone.
It was chief minister Fabian Picardo who recently urged Madrid to concentrate in solving their 5-million unemployment problem and to forget about their historic claim to the Rock - which is obviously an issue without solution!
Not only that but as Cameron recently suggested the Gibraltar claim is as anachronistic as the Treaty of Utrecht, because self-determination can only mean that.
In the past the Foreign Office line has been that Spain should woo the Gibraltarians, but Gibraltarians were to become increasingly annoyed at the repetitive references to wooing, for the simple reason that Gibraltarians see a UK-linked Gibraltar as their permanent homeland.
It was apparently agreed prior to today's meeting that each side would raise 'any other matters' if time permitted, which for Rajoy means making a Rock reference.
Since Margallo took over at the Spanish foreign ministry there have been noisy attempts to shift the UK position on Gibraltar, but so far without any success for the Spaniards.
FRICTION
Even the trilateral forum is a source of friction, as the Foreign Office sees it as paving the way forward, while Madrid sees it as ceding rights which they claim to be outside Utrecht.
The fact that the UK in 2001 was prepared to negotiate sovereignty is something the Spaniards have in mind, given that such a development took place when a PP government was in power in Madrid.
2012-02-21
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