Tuesday, January 7, 2020 - 10:35

CHIEF MINISTER'S NEW YEAR MESSAGE 2020

My dear friends I hope you have all enjoyed restful and uneventful Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year celebrations. Our Hindu and Muslim brethren have also peacefully enjoyed their Diwali and Eid festivals respectively throughout the year.

Once again, it has been a year of plenty in most of our homes. Children delighted with presents, and tables bountifully laden with nothing but the best to indulge in. These days are also days of reflection. Tonight, as Christmas trees come down and we return to our daily routines, I want to share with you some thoughts about the year to come.

I believe that this year we will be called upon to reflect long and hard about the values and the blessed nature of the life we lead here in Gibraltar. This year we must appreciate and value what we have and not take anything for granted. Because 2020 will undoubtedly be a year of great challenges for Gibraltar.

And these challenges we face are ones we did not choose. But they are challenges we are confident we will surpass. Because we have already been working 36 months to deal with the relevant issues since the morning of the Brexit referendum result. And although 2019 was not the year Gibraltar left the European Union, this year we will leave the EU.