MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Gibraltar referendum “does not affect Spain's position”

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos has played down the references to self-determination contained in the question that will be put to Gibraltarians at the forthcoming referendum for a new constitution on November 30th.

Speaking to the Madrid press this week Moratinos said the referendum was "an internal matter that does not affect the Spanish position or Gibraltar's international position, as clearly stated by United Kingdom Minister for Europe Geoff Hoon".

Moratinos declared that Mr Hoon's declaration July 4th and subsequently last week, "clearly established the limits of this internal exercise (the referendum) for modernization of Gibraltar's self-government."

According to the Spanish Foreign Minister the references to self-determination in the new constitution are limited by two factors, "the Treaty of Utrecht, that wholly safeguards our position, and the principles and norms of the United Nations where the criteria for decolonization also include territorial integrity as Spain is seeking in this case."

Moratinos added that the Spanish Government is not concerned that Gibraltar should invoke the right to self determination in the forthcoming referendum.

"It is a purely internal matter which UK and Spain have agreed to treat in the same manner", he underlined.

Earlier in the week Gibraltar's House of Assembly unanimously approved a consensus motion on the referendum for a new draft constitution after a marathon debate tabled by Chief Minister Peter Caruana.

The session was dominated by lengthy technical exchanges between government and opposition on the intricacies of UN self-determination criteria and the complex mechanics of parliamentary amendments.

The Government stood firm and rejected an Opposition amendment supporting a "new international status" for Gibraltar, with the Chief Minister defending that the inclusion of the term status was sufficient since it would cover all dimensions.

Caruana said Gibraltar was a self-governing territory but still in the UN list of non-self governing territories. "It was after the referendum that Gibraltar could go to then seek UN recognition".

There was also substantial debate on the wording of the referendum question with the Chief Minister arguing the question in the referendum has to be neutral and straightforward.

Mr Caruana said that Gibraltar's colonial experience through history was not one of a population under an oppressive colonial yoke as was the case in India and other colonies and the question of decolonization was differently received by modern society.

He said that in Gibraltar people were more concerned with preserving British sovereignty than with decolonization.

Gibraltar's desire to decolonize and retain the sovereignty of the colonial power "is not something the UN system is geared to accommodate".

Caruana also cautioned that Gibraltar's referendum and thrust for self-determination is an area of development that is not easy for Spain to accept "in the context of its own political debate".