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17 September 2018

El País: Spain wants a special chapter on Gibraltar in Brexit agreement


PM Pedro Sánchez will meet with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier to push for an annex addressing cross-border workers, tax evasion and smuggling in the British territory.

Spain is working to include a specific chapter on Gibraltar in the Brexit agreement. Britain’s planned departure from the European Union in March 2019 is being viewed by Spanish authorities as a good moment to make progress on long-standing claims involving taxes, environmental issues and smuggling in the British overseas territory, which is located in southern Spain.

The chief Brexit negotiator for the EU, Michel Barnier, is due to arrive in Madrid on Monday to meet with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to discuss these issues. For now, however, Spain will not bring up the matter of sovereignty over a territory that was ceded to Great Britain in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht.

“This is about working toward mutual benefit. We need a more balanced relationship,” said a source familiar with the matter. “And in future, it is inevitable that Gibraltar will come closer to Spain because that means coming closer to the EU.”

The Brexit negotiation guidelines drafted by Brussels in March 2017 awarded Spain power over whether Gibraltar may benefit from any advantages of the future relationship between the UK and the EU. A clause in that document states that once the UK leaves the bloc, “no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom.” [...]

Full article on El País



© El País


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