Britain’s Leader of the Opposition, Ed Miliband and Clare Moody, Labor candidate for the South West and Gibraltar in the coming European Parliamentary election have confirmed that Labor fully supports self determination for the people of Gibraltar.
The Gibraltar Football Association has announced that UEFA President Michel Platini will visit Gibraltar on Saturday and attend the Rock Cup final.
Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo met with top officials from Malta this week during a two day visit focused on building links with the island state. The officials included Foreign affairs minister George Vella, Speaker of the Maltese Parliament Angelu Farrugia and Financial Services and Gaming Minister Albert Isola.
UK Ambassador to Spain, Simon Manley has told a Spanish newspaper that British people hold Gibraltar ‘close to their hearts’ and that delays at the border are politically motivated. He underscored Britain and Gibraltar’s desire to engage in “practical” dialogue toward better cross-border relations that would benefit communities on either side of the frontier fence.
UK Minister for Europe David Lidington, said the British Government would have no objection “in principle” to Gibraltar integrating further into the EU than Britain. He was reacting to recent comments by Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, who said Gibraltar may in future want “more Europe, not less Europe, than the United Kingdom.”
Gibraltar top elected officials this week went on a lobbying tour in the United States where they met government officials, visited Capitol Hill, talked trade and strongly defended the British Overseas Territory freedom, self determination and sovereignty.
The Government of Gibraltar and The New Statesman launched a six-month media partnership that will see New Statesman online host a Gibraltar micro-site featuring the latest news, interviews and insight from the Rock. The partnership also includes a monthly print feature published on the last issue of every month until August 2014.
Gibraltar will play against the might of Germany, Scotland, Poland, the Republic of Ireland and Georgia in Group D of the qualifying rounds in the Euro 2016 football championships. Gibraltar’s first match is a home-fixture on 7 September against Poland.
Gibraltar lawmakers unanimously approved new legislation that will dramatically expand Gibraltar’s network of agreements for the exchange of tax information. The legislation implements OECD’s Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters in Gibraltar ahead of the March 1 deadline.
The Spanish Government is “furious” at Gibraltar’s high profile with EU decision makers, the Rock’s Liberal Democrat MEP, Sir Graham Watson, said on Monday. The lawmaker was speaking on the eve of a three-day visit to Brussels by a delegation from the Gibraltar Government led by Chief Minister Fabian Picardo.