MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK pressing Spain and EU on Gibraltar waters incident

Deputy leader Chris Bryant grilled in Commons

Britain is pressing Spain and the European Commission to resolve the dispute over designation of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters and will continue to do so until a solution is found, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle

That was the message in the UK parliament this week from Chris Bryant, deputy leader of the House of Commons. Mr Bryant said that the UK has made written and oral representations at ministerial and official level to the European Commission regarding Commission Decision 2009/95 EC.

“As the UK is the only member state competent to propose a site covering British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW), we do not recognise the validity of the adopted site. The UK is deeply concerned that Spain should seek to designate an area of BGTW and that the UK was not formally consulted. In our view, the adoption procedures were deficient, and there was a clear lack of transparency and effective consultation involved. We continue to press the Commission to rectify this matter urgently,” he said.

Mr Bryant was answering questions from Andrew Rosindell, Shadow Minister, Home Affairs.

Mr Rosindell also asked what recent discussions the Foreign Secretary has had with the Spanish Government on its designation of waters off Gibraltar as a marine conservation area; what assessment he has made of the effect of the designation on (a) fishing rights, (b) allocation of airspace and (c) development rights.

Mr Bryant noted that under Commission Decision 2009/95 EC, Spain has put forward a Site of Community Importance under the habitats directive which encompasses British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW).

“As the UK is the only member state competent to propose a site covering BGTW, we do not recognise the validity of the adopted site and do not consider that the decision allows Spain any rights in BGTW, nor would we accept that it would have any effects in BGTW. The UK is deeply concerned that Spain should seek to designate an area of BGTW and that the UK was not formally consulted. The UK has made written and oral representations to Spain (and to the Commission) at ministerial and official level on this issue and will continue to do so until such time as the issue is resolved,” he insisted.