MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“Gibraltar issues remain to be discussed with Spain”

Despite the resounding rejection of the concept of joint sovereignty by the people of Gibraltar in last week's referendum, the office of the British Prime Minister insisted that issues remain to be discussed with Spain regarding the future of the Rock.

However Prime Minister Tony Blair official spokesman stressed no deal would be struck between London and Madrid without the support of Gibraltarians in a referendum. But following last week's 99% vote, there's no date set for the next round of talks between Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Spanish counterpart Ana Palacio. In Gibraltar Governor David Durie said that the people of Gibraltar "have spoken very clearly. I am sure the UK Government will listen and I hope the Spanish Government will also listen". In London Downing Street insisted that the bottom line is that "no deal will be imposed on the people of Gibraltar without their support in a referendum. Equally however, there are real issues which cannot be run away from, and they have to be discussed with the people of Gibraltar and with the Spanish". "Whether they are discussed next week, next month, next year, those issues are not going to change". "The key question is how do we ensure a more prosperous future for the people of Gibraltar, how do we resolve the real practical issues and how do we work with the Spanish government to resolve those issues". "Those are the key issues and that is the key dilemma which will not go away." But for the shadow Conservative Foreign Secretary, Michael Ancram, the referendum result proved joint sovereignty was now a "dead end". Eric Illsley, a Labour MP member of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, said Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had "muddied the waters" over the Gibraltar negotiations with his summer statement. "I think the referendum only came about after the Foreign Secretary's July statement to the House of Commons in which he said that there was broad agreement between the UK and Spain on joint sovereignty". "The press reports at the time tended to suggest that there was no broad agreement, in that Spain would not relinquish their claim to full sovereignty, and they regarded any joint sovereignty arrangement as temporary". "So I think the agreement began to falter at that stage". "It muddied the waters, because the reaction to that was the Gibraltar government calling the referendum, because of his use of the words 'broad agreement'. So if Jack Straw had not made that statement there probably would not have been a referendum ... so I think he made matters worse rather than better." Foreign Office Minister for European Affairs reiterated the official line indicating that "there is no possibility of any sort of any agreement with Spain ... that can be put into place without the approval of the people of Gibraltar". Mr McShane declared the result of the referendum came as "no surprise", adding that many on the Rock have long had serious concerns about a dialogue with Spain. "I understand that and will continue to listen to people's views, but the fact remains that there can be no stable future for Gibraltar as long as the dispute with Spain continues and important issues remain unresolved". "It's the young people of the Rock that we have to be concerned about". "They have got a very worrying and rather wearisome future ahead of them, and I just want to ensure that the Union Jack flies over Gibraltar but that that part of Europe starts to function normally." Whether the Spanish flag would be flying alongside the Union Flag was a matter for the people of Gibraltar. In Spain Gustavo de Aristegez, the ruling party's spokesman on foreign affairs, said the referendum had not been called by "competent authorities" and was "not legally binding". "This referendum is not going to help resolve the problems of Gibraltar, the region of Gibraltar or the problems that have been facing both the United Kingdom and Spain in trying to solve this dispute that has been lasting for over 300 years" he told the BBC. An agreement between Britain and Spain would be "positive for Gibraltarians" and would promote "peaceful co-existence".