Wednesday, November 17, 2021 - 09:46 Mark Viales

Border anti-Gibraltar bullying policies encouraged by EU

The issuing of border stamps to British citizens and Llanitos without local identification cards represent age-old Spanish anti-Gibraltar bullying policies currently shamelessly encouraged by the European Union. The limbo of Gibrexit is haunting the Rock around its vulnerable chokepoint with scare tactics reminiscent of those used by the Spanish Dictator, General Fransisco Franco. The tyrant was shrewd in his manipulation of the public within his subdued nation and spiked its anger towards a tiny British population, somehow legitimising the attempted strangulation of his small neighbour.

Now the Rock is backed into a corner once again in some sort of perverted purgatory of a phantom Brexit ominously floating above and draining its life. Segregating Gibraltarians and granting free access to EU citizens is the kind of act of fruit ripening that a villain like Franco would have revelled in all those years ago. That is if he had more power and influence on the continent like his nation currently has through its many cross-sections of Frankenstein’s democracy, namely, the EU.
RED MARKS THE SPOT
First, the Rock was told that a RED I.D card was no longer sufficient to cross the frontier without the backing of a Gibraltarian passport.
Then both became mandatory for British citizens to avoid the nefarious marking that begins the 180-day countdown towards European exile, at least until the bureaucratic golden ticket in the form of a local I.D card is awarded. Never has the tailor-made laminated Llanito card ever been so important in granting passage through the controversial frontier fence that separates the Rock from its hostile neighbour.
Quite contrary to the privilege it supposedly grants, most locals would strongly agree that the card has often been used by Spanish border police as an excuse to chastise and harass them when crossing into Spain. Yet the advice the Gibraltar Government and its customs officers give to Llanitos who wish to cross the frontier is to carry both travel documents to avoid having their passports stamped.