Tuesday, April 6, 2021 - 09:34 Carmen Gomez

by CARMEN GOMEZ
When writing about Spain and Gibraltar, on many occasions I have tried to explain the way that the Spanish mentality works, something which at times it seems to us that UK politicians appear never to have quite grasped.

I say this because in Anglo-Spanish talks, there has in the past, often been a sense of what one might call polite and courteous dialogue where there has been no real comprehension between each others thought processes. In fact, British politicians have been known to regard their allies, Spain, in a way very different from us; something which at times has been of some annoyance. Then, there is the way in which they regard us.
NUANCES
I came across a Lord’s meeting on Hansard which illustrates some of their nuances. This was a time when the British Government was working on a secret deal to resolve the dispute with Spain over Gibraltar. On December 12th in 2001, Baroness Hooper rose to ask her Majesty’s Government what their current policy was towards Gibraltar.