MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

CPA Conference calls on London

Commonwealth Parliaments have made a powerful call on Britain to recognise the results of Gibraltar's November 7 Referendum. The call comes in a resolution backed by 27 countries during the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association meeting held in Namibia last week, according to press reports from the Rock.

The statement on Gibraltar declares:
"It is resolved, that the delegates of the branches of the British Islands and Mediterranean Region meeting in Windhoek, Namibia, on September 9 2002, affirm their recognition of the right of the people of Gibraltar to self-determination, that they will therefore recognise as definitive the results of the referendum of the people of Gibraltar to be held on November 7 2002 and hope and expect that the Government of the United Kingdom will do likewise."

The vast majority of delegates present were very critical of the British Government stating that Gibraltar had the right to self determination and that the outcome of the referendum should be endorsed by the CPA and respected by the British Government as representing Gibraltar's wishes.

Spain's Ambassador in Namibia, Mr. Perez Griffo, provoked a major incident at a reception hosted by the Namibian Minister for Trade and Industry for delegates attending the meeting of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Apparently Mr. Griffo, "gate crashed the dinner and proceeded to verbally harass the Gibraltar representative Mr. Linares".

Mr Linares says that after the dinner, Mr Griffo had been "hovering around the room throughout the dinner" and enquired from the British delegation where the Gibraltar delegate was. When this was pointed out, he approached and sat on an empty chair next to Steven Linares. "He then proceeded to criticise Gibraltar and the Chief Minister Peter Caruana, accusing him of doing a disservice to Gibraltar. In reply, Steven Linares defended the Chief Minister and defended the Gibraltar position.

However the fact that the Spanish Ambassador gate-crashed the dinner in order to talk to one of the delegates has caused uproar in the meeting of the CPA. "The British delegates there have described this as totally unacceptable," said Mr Linares in a statement.

Delegates coincided that "the profile of Gibraltar in the conference has therefore been raised considerably as a result of the activities of the Spanish Ambassador."

Mr Linares has been advised to lodge a formal complaint with the Executive Committee of the CPA and will do so in writing.

September 27th. Straw-Palacio meeting in London
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Ana Palacio, his Spanish counterpart, are to meet in London at the end of this month. The September 27 encounter is not a formal Brussels process meeting but Whitehall sources confirmed that Gibraltar is on the agenda and they intend to "review progress" on their current talks which include proposals for joint sovereignty.

All indications are that no agreement has been reached on 'red line issues' but the question of the timing of any statement - before or after the November 7 referendum - is believed to be in the minds of officials from both sides.

Governor Drurie to retire next May
Gibraltar's Governor David Durie has confirmed to the local Gibraltar Chronicle that he will be retiring in May 2003. Mr Durie's three year term ends in the spring and he has made clear that he is retiring not only as Governor but also from the British Civil Service.

The second civilian Governor, and the first ever civil servant in the post, Mr Durie's background was the Department of Trade and Industry in Britain where he had been Director General Enterprise and Regions. He courted controversy in July when he followed the statement on joint sovereignty plans by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, with a call for Gibraltarians to reflect on the statement.

But it is understood that Mr Durie's relationship with the Foreign Office has not been without tension. His departure at this juncture of the political scene will make the appointment of a new Governor a challenge for the Foreign Office.

It is known that Gibraltar is no longer seen by high flyers as an attractive option, especially given the tension between London and Gibraltar following the new Brussels initiative.

Gibraltar Government has made no secret of the fact that it would like to see the role of the Governor much more symbolic and the proposals for Constitutional reform would see reserve powers go. But London, keen to resolve the dispute with Spain and at the same time advocating a 'once and for all' solution on sovereignty, has stepped up the tension between the Convent and No 6 considerably. From the outset Mr Durie made clear this would be his last job before retirement. When interviewed on the eve of his arrival he rejected concerns about his being a civil servant influencing his role.

"The responsibilities and duties of the Governor are the same. They were the same for a military as for a civilian governor and for me. We share the same responsibility, which is to the Queen, to the people of Gibraltar and to HMG. It is unchanging as between personality of Governor. Where I come from, in those terms, has no relevance," he said in 2002.

Mr Durie declined to comment on the detail of the decision but told the Gibraltar Chronicle that he had informed the Chief Minister of this move and emphasised that he and his wife Susan look very much forward to carrying out their public duties and commitments in the coming months.