Key Malvinas: the EU now considers Gibraltar as a colony

The news has provoked a jubilance in Spain, which claims sovereignty over this small territory located in the extreme south of the country, and could set a precedent for a change of European position regarding claims such as those of France. Argentina to the Falklands.

By 502 votes in favor, 81 against and 29 abstentions MEPs yesterday supported the possibility for British citizens to visit the Schengen European free movement area for a short stay (90 days out of 180 days) without a visa. after the "brexit". In addition, the European Parliament has approved a regulation that defines Gibraltar as a "colony of the British crown". The reference irritated London.

A spokesman for the Spanish government said it was "the first time that the European Parliament and the European Council, ie the Member States, badume that Gibraltar is a colony, already recognized by the United Nations ". He also added that it was "a big step forward for the position and claims of Spain".

Spain ceded to the UK's enclave after a war in 1713, but claims its sovereignty. Gibraltar was a "Crown Colony" when the United Kingdom entered the European bloc in 1973, but London reclbadified its status in European regulation as "British Overseas Territory" in 2002, the same who has ruled so far for Malvinas.

Gibraltarians, whose economy depends on an open border with Spain, have overwhelmingly voted to keep the EU in the British referendum on the "brexit" of 2016. 32,000 people are currently working there.

As in the case of the islands claimed by Argentina since its occupation by the United Kingdom in 1833, London rejects claims of sovereignty by invoking the right to self-determination of peoples, unaware that both populations were implanted by force.

The treatment of the new EU regulation was not without controversy because of the inclusion by the EU Council of the term "colony" to define Gibraltar, at the request of Spain, and because of pressure for approve before 12 April, the UK withdrawal date from the bloc.

The European Commission yesterday qualified "acceptable" the new definition of Gibraltar as "colony". The EU Council, which brings together bloc countries, must now formally approve the text by 12 April.

Analysts have stressed the importance of the European turn.

"This is a major shift in the EU's position," said Camino Mortera, senior researcher at the British Center for Reform of Europe (REC).

The 27 partners who will remain in the EU after the British exit "will obviously have to side with club members and not leavers, which we see not only in Gibraltar, but especially in Ireland", added the president. badyst

Spain's accession to the European Community at that time in 1986 took place 13 years after the British. Madrid had to badume the status imposed by London on Gibraltar. But the "brexit" allows "to re-establish truths and facts that have been cleverly put in a history drawer when the UK has set the conditions" for Spain's entry. , said Spanish Secretary of State for the EU, Luis Marco Aguiriano.

When the Europeans adopted legislation referring to this strategic enclave located south of the Iberian Peninsula, they were content until now to specify that there is "a controversy between Spain and the Kingdom Kingdom concerning sovereignty ".

The inclusion in a regulation of the European Union that "Gibraltar is a colony of the British Crown" therefore constitutes a step forward towards the Spanish position.

Reuters and AFP agencies,

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