MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spanish government has abandoned the Trilateral Forum, claims Gibraltar

Minister Garcia-Margallo: ‘nobody hopes for the existence of a Trilateral forum’

The Gibraltar Government issued a statement on Tuesday saying it took note of comments made by Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo indicating the Spanish government is abandoning the Trilateral Forum which involved three-side talks: Spain, UK and Gibraltar.

In a report on Sunday in Madrid’s conservative newspaper ABC the Spanish minister is asked whether he had received a reply from London to his request for a Quadripartite Forum over Gibraltar and is quoted as having said the following: “Yes, and it is entirely satisfactory, in the sense that now nobody hopes for the existence of a Trilateral Forum. What we would have instead is a series of “ad hoc” meetings with equality of representation”.

However, the Government of Gibraltar in response said it wished to place on record that it remains ready to participate in the Trilateral Forum.

“The Government understands that the United Kingdom Government, for its part, remains strongly committed to the Forum and has specifically communicated this to Mr García-Margallo, rendering his remarks in the interview quite astonishing. Moreover, it will be recalled that the continuation of the Forum is also the policy of the main Spanish Opposition party, the PSOE. It is, therefore, only the Spanish Government, following the general elections in Spain at the end of last year that has abandoned the Forum.”