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Anglo-Spanish relations on Gibraltar and -
CHERRY PICKING AND BANANA SLIPPING
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Panoramic View by Joe Garcia
In Gibraltar we have been told that political deals reached under the Trilateral Talks must be accepted as a package, that is to say, that all the topics within a package must be agreed if there is to be a valid accord. Likewise, once a global agreement has been reached, all aspects of it must be accepted - there can not be cherry picking.
Yet, the new PP government in Spain can go banana slipping: not only is it intent on cherry picking but even want to uproot the cherry tree.
The joint sovereignty negotiations that took place during their last term in office may have whetted their appetite. They want to embark on more negotiations under the bilateral Brussels process, which essentially is about sovereignty.
The much-vaunted Preamble to the Constitution has long been seen in some quarters to be flawed because it guaranteed a referendum if sovereignty was at stake, which was important enough, but unfortunately it did not prevent negotiations on sovereignty.
It is the loophole that Jack Straw used to hold joint sovereignty negotiations with Spain in 2001. Of late, Britain has qualified the holding of Anglo-Spanish talks to the people of Gibraltar agreeing to any such talks, which serves to strengthen the concept promulgated by the Preamble.
What is happening now is that the PP have been returned to power in Spain with more political clout, so that it is conceivable that the Rajoy government could deliver, if it was so inclined, on the UK's 'red lines' which it was not able to do so at the time of the joint-sovereignty negotiations.
And Britain, by emasculating its defence presence in Gibraltar, is helping to make it easier for Madrid to accept the military 'red line', because the importance of the UK military presence is increasingly not what it used to be.
So, the Spanish war cry 'Gibraltar espanol' will not be a real threat only if London remains rock-solid on its new-found policy on Gibraltar.
If one looks back to look forward, at the very first Anglo-Spanish discussions, the then UK foreign secretary turned to Sir Joshua Hassan, sitting to his right, and told the Spaniards: Britain will accept whatever Gibraltar wants.
Years later, at an international press conference which followed another round of talks, another Spanish foreign minister, Moran, started talking about me when I asked him a question. He spoke of my professional standing, disclosing that he had been 'one of your readers over many years, learning much about the feelings of the Gibraltarians, through your articles in the UK press."
Subsequently, he was to say that even if served on a silver platter, he would not accept the return of Gibraltar against the wishes of the Gibraltarians.
Earlier, when I was granted a formal interview by another foreign minister, Oreja, at the Spanish foreign ministry in Madrid in 1978, it was important because it was the first time that a Spanish minister had been interviewed by a Gibraltarian journalist.
It shows to what extent the Spanish policy on Gibraltar is ingrained in the past, but the fact that other interviews have been granted to others since then, shows that at least it served to break the barrier that had existed of not recognising Gibraltarian journalists.
Likewise at a political level. The concept that Gibraltar should be treated as a separate entity at Trilateral Talks is at present being resisted by the new PP government in Madrid. But the political barrier was broken when in 2004 Spain accepted such a development. Now, if the Foreign Office remains firm in defence of such an advance, the chances are that sooner or later, the present or a future Spanish government will end up accepting the inevitable.
Not only Britain, but also Gibraltar, must remain firm.
16-03-12
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