MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Gibraltar: referendum is an act of self determination.

The Gibraltar Government expects the text of the proposed new Constitution to be published during the next fortnight. Speaking to the Chronicle Chief Minister Peter Caruana said he will be seeking Britain's agreement to the publication of any additional preamble before the referendum.

However Mr Caruana reiterated the Gibraltar Government's position that acceptance of the constitution is not dependent on any particular de-listing wording in the additional preamble.

"As far as the Government is concerned the referendum will be an act of self determination and the question put in the referendum will make that quite clear," said Mr Caruana. The Government also confirmed that administrative work for publication to the stated timescale is at an advanced stage.

"In so far as concerns Gibraltar's request for an additional preamble, the Gibraltar Government will continue to seek the UK's agreement to the language of any such additional preamble being publicly known before any referendum on the Constitution. The UK's position to date is that they are not "inclined" to do so ahead of the Referendum. The Gibraltar Government will continue to seek to persuade the UK to take a different view. If there is to be an additional preamble, the text of it should be known before a referendum. However, the Gibraltar Government's view that the Constitution should be accepted is not, unlike the Opposition's apparent view, dependent on any particular de-listing wording being present in the additional preamble", said Mr. Caruana.

"The Gibraltar Government believes that Gibraltar should be de-listed and this remains its objective. But, so far as the Government is concerned this objective is distinct from, and does not determine the question whether the Constitution is a good one that should be accepted on its own merits."

"As far as the Government is concerned the referendum will be an act of self determination and the question put in the referendum will make that quite clear. In the Gibraltar Government's view, having recognised the existence of our right to self determination there is no justifiable reason why the UK Government should not be willing to recognise that we have exercised it. Indeed, this is already implicit in the Foreign Secretary's statement that under the new Constitution Gibraltar's relationship with the UK would not be based on colonialism".