Tuesday, February 12, 2019 - 11:00 Joe Garcia

REVENGE: Spain to turn screws on Gibraltar

ANALYSIS By Joe Garcia

The Spanish government has decided to turn the screws on Gibraltar, and already a toughening of its position has become evident.

The revenge comes after 33 years, they say in Spain, as the Spanish had to cede much about Gibraltar in its application to join Europe. There was a country that turned the screws on Spain then, that was the UK. Now, Spain prepares its revenge.

Spanish diplomats are referring even to the closure of the frontier, which Franco ordered in 1969, and how the restrictions were subsequently lifted until the frontier was re-opened, after Spain was allowed to enter what was then the European Community and subsequently the European Union.

Now it is the UK that is leaving the EU. The divorce negotiations have ended, and it is now 'our turn to turn the screws,' says Madrid, in an attempt to rebalance what was created as a result of the entry of Spain into the EU.