This was the number one priority of the Cabinet and of the Government and it has been achieved.

It means that Gibraltar will not crash out of the European Union in March 2019 and that things will largely remain as they are until the end of 2020. This period will allow for the negotiation of the future relationship with the European Union which would be expected to apply after the end of the transition.

The Agreement and the Gibraltar Protocol has been concluded between the United Kingdom, which is departing Member State, and the European Union.

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Article 3(b) of the Withdrawal Agreement makes it clear that any reference to the term “United Kingdom” shall be understood as referring to Gibraltar to the extent that Union law was applicable to it before the entry into force of the Agreement.

This means the the use of the term “United Kingdom” means Gibraltar. It is the same formula that has been used for the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus and the other UK Overseas Territories.

Moreover, the Government of Gibraltar has been fully and directly involved in the negotiations as they affected Gibraltar.

It is important to recall that the Withdrawal Agreement, the Gibraltar Protocol and indeed the Memoranda the flow from it, are all time limited. These agreements come to an end on 31 December 2020. The citizens’ rights section, which protect EU nationals in the UK and UK nationals in the EU, is all that is expected to remain.

16-11-18 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR