MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Scrap Sovereignty negotiations

Dr Joseph Garcia Liberal Party leader has made representations to the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw calling for an end to negotiations on the sovereignty of Gibraltar.

Dr Garcia says he has argued that London's position over the Falkland Islands today is that sovereignty is not negotiable, and he has added that this should be the position over Gibraltar also.

The Liberal leader has explained that for many years the Liberal Party has lobbied international Liberal political organisations to take a position in favour of self-determination for Gibraltar. Six such organisations have now done so, including the European Liberal Democrats (ELDR) at a European level, Liberal International at a global level, and the British Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom.

Dr Garcia has told Mr Straw that following the referendum it would be totally unacceptable, in the face of such a massive expression of popular will, for the United Kingdom to continue negotiations with Spain under the Brussels agreement as if nothing had happened.

"If the Preamble to the constitution means anything, then these talks must now come to an end. I have called on the British Government to rethink its policy over Gibraltar and to come out with a new strategy. This would involve a three pronged approach by which appeasement of Spain would end, Britain would solidly defend Gibraltar and in Europe and elsewhere, and the sovereignty of Gibraltar would be removed from the negotiating table."

Dr Garcia says he has advised the Foreign Secretary that the "weakness which has been shown to Spain in the past has only served to encourage them and to whet their appetite in the expectation that if they tightened the screws further more concessions would follow." He has also called on Britain to learn the lesson of history and stand firm and support the people of Gibraltar by terminating sovereignty negotiations.

"It is not clear why the British Government decided to go down the opposite route in the first place. It is logical to assume that they would have saved themselves a great deal of trouble and embarrassment had they sounded out opinion in Gibraltar from the outset."

Dr Garcia says that the people of Gibraltar have massively rejected Spain in the referendum in the knowledge that a massive "No" vote would entail the continuation of Spanish hostility. The way forward now was the decolonisation of Gibraltar through the new constitution that was approved by the House of Assembly in February, he said.