MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

?Gibraltar has no plans to negotiate on sovereignty”

An ?open agenda' for dialogue is the main novelty in the approach to Gibraltar being adopted by the PSOE Government in Spain. Peter Caruana, Chief Minister, in an interview with Luis Ayllon, ABC published yesterday, states that he is satisfied with the recent agreements because Gibraltar participated in its design.

On dialogue Mr Caruana states: "As far as Spain is affected it is not very different to ?two flags, three voices' except that it has the novelty of an open agenda."

Mr Caruana said that an open agenda would allow each party to take to the table the issues they wish to discuss. "It is a formula which is sufficiently wide to encompass the positions and aspirations of all sides but without compromising any party to the objectives of the others. It is not an initiative for a negotiation for the transfer of sovereignty since everyone knows what Gibraltar's stand is on that," he says.

Mr Caruana adds that Spain is free to raise sovereignty under an open agenda and Gibraltar and Britain are equally free to raise their own issues as well as responding to Spain's sovereignty objectives.

"For the most important thing is that we engage in dialogue to create a new climate and that we do not raise false expectations that can lead to recriminations. We have stated clearly what the Gibraltar position on sovereignty is. I do not speak for future generations of Gibraltarians. If you agree to negotiate it can be assumed that you are willing to cede on some point. We are not prepared to accept a negotiation because we are not in a spirit of reaching a compromise. Gibraltar will not go to those meetings to negotiate the transfer of sovereignty to Spain. We will be there to prevent a repetition of what has happened in previous dialogue such as the infamous Brussels Agreement?"

Mr Caruana tells ABC that the Brussels process is discredited and useless for any party. Asked if he had guarantees from London that it will not return to joint sovereignty Mr Caruana said that this was not a realistic option and that Britain has not the slightest intention of returning to that "and we have a guarantee that they will not strike any agreement that we do not accept."

Mr Caruana said that it would not be constructive for Spain to ignore Gibraltar and operate bilaterally as if it did not exist. What is worthwhile, he says, is to create a climate in which all sides may in the future have different perspectives. The politics of turning the screws on Gibraltar, he said, is an anachronism and pointless.

An editorial in ABC argues that Gibraltar "cannot give what it does not have" and also warns that the PSOE Government should not now make concessions ? such as any recognition of Gibraltar's Constitution ? that it will have to pay for in the long run.