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As Britain prepares for a weekend summit intended to seal its future departure from the European Union, Spain is threatening to launch a last-minute key in the works of the European Union. the tiny peninsula of Gibraltar.
Madrid, which has long claimed the British overseas territory attached to the Spanish mainland, threatens to derail the entire process of Brexit at the expense of the status of "The Rock" – barely 30 000 inhabitants.
Spain fears that the withdrawal agreement does not explicitly confer on it a post-Brexit veto on future relations between the EU and Gibraltar, which, in a 2002 referendum, had voted overwhelmingly against shared sovereignty between London and Madrid.
After Britain and the EU on Thursday agreed to a draft declaration on Brexit, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez repeated that he was threatened with sabotaging the deal.
"After my conversation with (British Prime Minister) Theresa May, our positions remain very far apart, and my government will always defend the interests of Spain," he wrote on Twitter.
"If there is no change, we will veto Brexit."
The chief minister of Gibraltar had previously accused Spain of wanting to force an affair that regularly dug a gap between London and Madrid.
Fabian Picardo told the Parliament that Spain, the eurozone's fourth-largest economy, "does not need a whip to convince Europe's smallest economy of its own." sit around the table and engage in a constructive debate on cooperation ".
– & # 39; Verges on Madness & # 39; –
The geography of Gibraltar – a rocky outcrop of 6.6 km2 located at the southern tip of Spain – means that the reasons for cooperating with Spain were not lacking, he added.
Spain wants to negotiate directly with London on all matters related to Gibraltar, ceded to the British crown by a peace treaty in 1713, after the departure of Britain from the EU.
This was originally envisaged in a clause in the draft withdrawal agreement that effectively gave Madrid a veto over any agreement on Gibraltar between the bloc and the United Kingdom.
The clause however disappeared from the final project.
And while Spain threatens to derail the entire Brexit agreement following this omission, the Greeks say that they are being used as pawns in a struggle for power.
For Hamish Thomson, a 44-year-old anesthetist, "it makes perfect sense that a country (Spain) of half a million square kilometers with a population of 46 million" The inhabitants and deep internal problems devote so much of their energy to three years – a square mile of limestone with 30,000 people. "
Elton Moreno, also 44, who runs a Gibraltar-based gaming company, said, "I'm not surprised, I'm surprised anyone is surprised that we're being used to this tussle. I'm just tired that we always seem to be in the news.
"And I'm angry that our currency fluctuates because of the incompetence of the British government."
Gibraltarians voted 96% to stay in the EU in the Brexit referendum of 2016.
– & # 39; Unsurprisingly & # 39; –
Prime Minister Sanchez said on Wednesday: "We defend the interests of the Spanish nation and we will do it until the end".
In 1969, the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco ordered the closure of the border between Spain and Gibraltar, after the majority of Gibraltarians voted overwhelmingly in 1967 to maintain ties with Britain.
The border only reopened 13 years later, seven years after his death.
As the tension mounted again, lawyer Moses Anahory, 48, complained that it was "absolutely unacceptable for the Spanish government to threaten to exercise its veto over the Brexit withdrawal agreement at the eleventh hour.
"Unfortunately, although unacceptable, it is hardly surprising that Spain tackles the" Gibraltar problem "at the last minute," Anahory said.
"It certainly does not help to create a local atmosphere that allows Spain to respect the agreements it has signed up to," including a 2006 tripartite cooperation agreement.
Owen Smith, 41, lawyer, said: "Like the vast majority of Gibraltarians, I voted in favor of keeping my position and I would be happy to see the Brexit process derailed if the result was to stay in l & # 39; EU.
"But I do not see the current line on Gibraltar capable of derailing the Brexit process." Spain is pushing for last-minute concessions over Gibraltar. "I hope they will not succeed. But I'm afraid they could. "
© 2018 AFP
