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European Council President Donald Tusk and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez agreed Saturday on an agreement on the future of Gibraltar, eliminating a major obstacle the day before a meeting of the European Union to approve the agreement on Brexit.
Spain had requested amendments to the agreement and an accompanying statement on the new EU-Britain relations to make clear that the future of Gibraltar, ceded to Great Britain in 1713 but still claimed by Spain, was to be decided during direct talks between Madrid and London.
Sanchez had warned that he could boycott the summit on Sunday if London and the EU member states did not confirm his country's right to a veto over any future agreement involving Gibraltar.
The agreement was reached after the British and Spanish negotiators had discussed all night with EU officials.
Sanchez said the agreement "will allow us to have direct negotiations with the UK regarding Gibraltar," added that Spain would vote in favor of Brexit.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said of the agreement: "I will always be at Gibraltar's side.The position of the United Kingdom on the sovereignty of Gibraltar has not changed and will not change."
After speaking with Sanchez, EU President Jean-Claude Juncker said that solidarity and dialogue were "the European way of finding solutions".
Spain does not currently have have a veto over the Brexit agreement, which need not be unanimously approved, but would preclude any free trade agreement between Great Britain and the United Kingdom. European Union, which would require the approval of the 27 EU Member States.
The Brexit package also faces strong opposition from the UK parliament, which must vote in favor of its entry into force. Otherwise, Britain would leave the bloc on March 29, 2019 without an agreement to mitigate the economic disruption.
As negotiators from EU member countries attended a preparatory meeting at the summit in Brussels on Saturday, May had to discuss disputed British territory with Juncker and Tusk.
In an open letter published in British Sunday newspapers, May made a direct appeal to the British asking them to support the EU's exit agreement, even though support for her own conservative party seemed uncertain.
"It will be an agreement that is in our national interest – an agreement that works for our entire country and for all of our people, whether you vote" Quit "or" Stay, "she said, adding that she would campaign "body and soul" to obtain her agreement on Brexit by the British Parliament.
Former British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday called for the appointment of a minister to oversee preparations for a UK "no agreement" EU exit. .
"It is very important that we show that we are negotiating with confidence and conviction and that we have a new Secretary of State with powers … to make things move and that this country is ready if we have to join forces with WTO (World Trade Organization) terms. "
EU diplomats were hoping that a draft clause would be approved on Friday night. And they feared that Sanchez wants to discuss the matter with the highest officials on Sunday in order to show determination and win the favor of voters before the December regional elections.
The clause is considered by some experts as a major opportunity for Spain, including Ignacio Molina of the Royal Elcano Institute, a research organization based in Madrid.
"Madrid saw in Brexit an opportunity to reconfigure the status of the territory administered by the United Kingdom," Molina wrote to the newspaper Publica & # 39; s agenda website.
Molina wrote that Spain could "do everything" and ask the question of sovereignty or adopt a more modest approach to "solve concrete problems in the areas of regulation, taxation and freedom of movement across borders."
