MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Talks on Gibraltar resume in autumn

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and his Spanish counterpart Ana Palacio have agreed to meet for formal ministerial talks on Gibraltar this autumn.

Speaking from Elsinore, Denmark, Ms. Palacio said she had detected in Mr. Straw a willingness to engage in serious discussion although ?political and legal' problems remain.

Ms Palacio added that the coming autumn meetings will be with ?papers and issues', and described Mr Straw's willingness to reach an agreement as "real, not just institutional".

Interviewed during the European Union ministerial meeting held in Denmark Ms. Ana Palacio denied negotiations with Britain over the future of Gibraltar were stalled and confirmed Madrid wants results from those talks "as soon as possible".

Ms. Palacio told Europa Press: "there has been no interruption, or stagnation, it's an on going process", adding that Foreign Secretary Jack Straw' statement to Parliament on July 12th., "was evidence that the process is in no way blocked".

According to Spanish press, Ms. Palacio and her British colleague Jack Straw talked informally about Gibraltar during the Elsinore meeting. Britain and Spain have to reschedule the July talks that were postponed when President Aznar appointed Ms. Palacio as new Foreign Affairs Minister, a lieu of Josep Piqué, and then were further delayed as a consequence of the "Isla Perejil" incident with Morocco.

Talking about her predecessor, Josep Pique, Ms. Palacio said Gibraltar negotiations had been left "at a very advanced stage"

Ramón de Miguel, Spain's Press Secretary for European Affairs remarked that the Elsinore meeting between Mr. Straw and Ms. Palacio was a first personal contact, and "although there would be no political negotiations in this encounter, it was expected that a calendar for forthcoming working sessions would be agreed".