Spanish speaks of ‘new status’ for Gibraltar

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 Wednesday, May 27, 2020 - 08:54 PANORAMAnewsdesk

Towards the end of a wide-ranging interview on Cadena Ser Radio yesterday morning the Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said that there were a number of forthcoming challenges for the Spanish Government including the bilateral negotiation between the UK and Spain of a new status for Gibraltar.

She left unclear what the Spanish view of that new status would be, says the GSD.

Her exact words were: “tenemos grandes retos delante por delante hay que aprobar un fondo de recuperación en Europa, hay que negociar el Brexit y un nuevo estatus para Gibraltar entre España y el Reino Unido…”

The Leader of the Opposition, Keith Azopardi said: “We do not know if this has already been raised with London or with the Gibraltar Government or this is simply a statement of pure aspiration from the Spanish Foreign Minister. "Clearly no-one will have learned the lessons of the past if there is an attempt at the bilateral negotiation of anything affecting Gibraltar or touching upon our status, sovereignty, jurisdiction or control. We would expect the Gibraltar Government to be alive to all this and to ensure that no process is undergone, under the guise of a BREXIT discussion, that allows any bilateral negotiation and still less agreement affecting our status.

"Our future can only be decided by us. We need to be careful that decades of defending our right to self-determination is not eroded in any BREXIT process.”

ONLY GIBRALTAR CAN NEGOTIATE FOR GIBRALTAR

The Government says it is concerned at the throw-away line in an interview yesterday morning on Cadena Ser by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation, Ms Gonzalez Laya, in which she referred to ‘agreeing a new status for Gibraltar between Spain and the United Kingdom’.

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