Thursday, May 28, 2020 - 09:15 Leo Olivero

As Spain struggles to get back on its feet after its own historical tussle with the Covid pandemic, huge fragile craters have also left the Spanish economy in a precarious state.

Madrid, with the latter situation in mind, has recently announced it is preparing to welcome foreign holidaymakers for the summer season and is also set to reopen its borders to foreign visitors from July.

Back in the UK however, with Covid-19, foreign policy issues have for some time taken a back seat, even before the Coronavirus entered global life. Although, in the last 4 or 5 days the British nation, it seems, has also put the pandemic aside with focus on the removal of Boris Johnson’s aide Dominic Cummings for allegedly breaking lockdown rules. Which could be viewed as an example of UK priorities during a crisis. All this, while UK deaths rates, the highest in Europe continue, albeit, at much lower rates than a few weeks ago.

So, don’t expect that any of those historical problems with Spain over Gibraltar, is going to disturb many diplomatic sleeping patterns back in London. They hardly have anyway! Even now we are still waiting back here if belonging to the so-called ‘UK Family’ really means some-thing, like making the Rock eligible in evading the 14 day quarantine into the UK as from the 8 June. May be, ‘Governor Steel’ the new FCO Rep in Gibraltar, will bring some news with him on that front, when he takes up his appointment also in June?

The Repeated Spanish Ploy

Once again, this week, Gibraltar fell into the Spanish political trap, where some got all flustered and politically irate. When the current Spanish Foreign Minister, joined a very long list of political compatriots, who also wore the same diplomatic shoes, mentioned Gibraltar touching upon anything close to the sovereignty issue.

Arancha Gonzalez Laya did exactly that, live on some poxy Spanish radio station she said:

‘there were a number of up and coming challenges for the Spanish Government including the bilateral negotiation between the UK and Spain of a new status for Gibraltar’.

There were no details from the Spanish minister, in fact, it was the only point during a long interview she mention the Rock. But, it did generate the usual quick-fire response from Gibraltar with the social media community getting into overdrive, with twitters also flying and the main Opposition party and HM Government trying to outdo each other in issuing appropriate political responses.

I have always considered these repeated short-sharp Gibraltar related remarks from politicians back in Madrid as a ‘Spanish Political Ploy at Work’. Mainly to test if the UK and Gibraltar are still awake to the undeniable and unquestionable fact that ‘No Spanish Government’ will ever truly renounce and will continue with its historical claim over Gibraltar, and repeat the national position and sovereignty claim which any Spanish Government would find hard or impossible to drop without consequences in the context of national public opinion in Spain!

Expected Political Response From the Rock

In their response the Opposition said ‘if the issue had already been raised with London or the Gibraltar Government and that no one will have learned past lessons there is an attempt at bilateral negotiations of anything affecting Gibraltar and expected the Gibraltar Government to be alive to all this and ensure that nothing happens, particularly under the guise of Brexit allowing any bilateral negotiation or agreement affecting the Rocks

status’.Even I could have told Mr Azzopardi to calm down and that his sudden burst of imaginary political theories about bilateral talks and sovereignty with Spain, was really all part of the regular Spanish ploy I spoke of. Though it made a welcome change (even for me) after months of pandemic news stories, it was nothing to get excited or concerned about. But certainly, it was worth issuing a press statement. I would have similarly reacted, at least for historical record purposes.