Spain has called on the UK to adhere to the UN doctrine on Gibraltar, recalling what they say is a historic anachronism, that in this day and age, Spain should have a colony in its own territory.

A Press statement from the Spanish foreign ministry stresses that Spain's territorial integrity is affected.

This, they say, is different from other territories , as it is Spanish territory that has been colonised.

Such a situation has been recognised by the UN since 1965, they say, which is diffrent to other colonial issues where self-determinsation is applied while in Gibraltar's case it is a question of restoring Spain's territorial integrity.

Spain's views before the seminar will serve to lay the basis for consideration by the so-called Committee of Twentyfour, which considers decolonisation issues.

The seminar is the start of the decolonization season, to be followed by debates in the UN itself in coming months.

The stand taken by the UN in the past has not been that favourable to Gibraltar, although it is upheld that the 'interests' of the inhabitants of Gibrltar must be taken into account. But the Spanish claim that the principle of self-determination does not apply to Gibraltar.

The socialist PSOE party may have won the recent Spanish election, but to hail this as some kind of a victory for Gibraltar is not right because , while it may be better to have thre solialists in power than the right-wing, it is clear that the central tenet of Spanish policy on Gibraltar has not changed.

09-05-19 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR