Brexit: €1.2 million cross-border waste deal in jeopardy

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 Monday, January 27, 2020 - 11:22 Mark Viales

A hard Brexit that hampers cross-border fluidity could place the future of Gibraltar’s €1.2 million per year waste deal with a Spanish company under threat. This is according to a report by Spanish publication last month following a meeting in London between Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and Juan Lozano, President of the Mancomunidad de Municipios. 

At present all of the Rock’s municipal waste, around 30,000 tonnes a year, is sent to Sur Europa, a landfill site in Los Barrios. But the Gibraltar Government is searching for alternatives should frontier fluidity take a hit post-Brexit, despite assurances within the cross-border Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on Environmental Matters.

“A key part of the Economic Plan is the drive for further self-sufficiency, achieving greater efficiency and the elimination of waste,” Picardo said in his New Year’s message.

CROSS-BORDER COLLABORATION

The President of the Mancomunidad de Municipios explained to journalists that authorisation for the treatment of waste falls under the Junta de Andalucía. However, the consequences of Brexit would result in the Spanish Government taking control of the situation, which may or may not be fulfilled considering Spain’s history of non-compliance in treaties with the Rock.

Nevertheless Lozano claimed after the meeting with Picardo that he was ‘willing to continue along these lines of collaboration’ should a positive outcome occur once the UK and Gibraltar leave the EU.

“We have many things in common and we are going to put them on the table and work to make life easier for the Gibraltarians and the Campo Gibraltarians,” he said.

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