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Reuters
By Gabriela Baczynska and Alastair Macdonald
BRUSSELS, Nov. 24 (Reuters) – Spain stood between Theresa May and an agreement on Brexit, threatening to derail a European summit on Sunday, if she does not receive new assurances as to her influence on the country. 39, the future of Gibraltar.
While negotiations between Spanish, British and EU officials continued on Saturday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he was ready to thwart the hopes of his British counterpart, May, to see European leaders sign their promises of close relations with London after Britain leaves the block he did not get his way.
During a visit to Cuba, Mr. Sanchez said that he had still not received assurances that any future decision regarding Gibraltar would be made during direct talks between London and Madrid.
"The guarantees are still not sufficient and Spain maintains its right of veto on Brexit.If there is an agreement, it will be lifted," he said. "If there is no agreement … the European Council will probably not take place."
Spain can expect its European allies to be more clearly behind its claims of 300 years of sovereignty over "The Rock", a British naval base on the country's southern coast, which has some 30,000 inhabitants and whose economy is facing serious problems after Brexit.
But the treaty documents recently agreed between Brussels and London need to be amended to give greater weight to Spain over its implementation against Gibraltar and the resistance of Britain and the Allies. from the EU who fear that any building of the long-negotiated agreement will collapse.
"PEOPLE PROUD"
Diplomats said the Spanish arguments were not doubtful when the advisers of the 27 European leaders met Friday in Brussels to prepare the summit: "The Spaniards are very proud and it is absolutely important for them" , said one of the interview participants. told Reuters.
"We need to have a solution, I'm sure we will have one."
Some in Brussels stress that Sanchez is fighting for regional elections in Andalusia, the neighboring province of Gibraltar, next week-end, and may wish to play on the issue for his personal consumption.
For him, forcing the cancellation of the summit or dragging it beyond the morning, would provoke the anger of his peers.
May will meet the European CEO, Jean-Claude Juncker, Saturday at 18 hours. (1700 GMT), and the diplomats say this should be the moment when they confirm that the Gibraltar issue is settled. May will then meet with Summit President Donald Tusk.
In Germany, a government spokesman said he was confident that a solution would be found in time for Sunday's summit.
Berlin had previously stated that there could be no more technical negotiations at the summit and that Chancellor Angela Merkel might ignore them if not all the texts were ready in advance.
The biggest obstacle to the Brexit deal is vehement opposition in the UK Parliament. Without its approval, Britain could leave the bloc on March 29 without an agreement to mitigate the economic and legal turmoil.
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