MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spanish opposition willing to accept advances in Spain/Gibraltar relations

La Línea mayor Alejandro Sánchez said he received full support from Spanish opposition leader Mario Rajoy.

The Mayor of the Spanish town of La Linea, Alejandro Sanchez has declared that relations with Gibraltar and “attaining the maximum level of cross-border understanding and cooperation” should be pursued by an incoming PP (Partido Popular) (conservative) Government in Madrid.

Speaking in the Spanish capital where he attended the 30th National Congress of Nuevas Generaciones, the PP’s youth wing, Sanchez expressed the conviction that leader Mariano Rajoy will be leading the party to an election victory in 2012.

“As mayor I will be conveying this message as a top priority so that both La Linea and Gibraltar can prosper like never before.”

Meanwhile the La Linea branch of the PP has expressed full support for Sanchez’s “policy of friendship and neighbourly collaboration with Gibraltar” noting that a new chapter in mutual relations has been established.

“The mayor has invested great effort to ensure that dialogue becomes the basic norm in our relationship with Gibraltar,” said a spokesman.

La Linea PP was responding to criticisms levelled by the local PSOE against Sanchez accusing him of political ‘doublespeak,’ of saying the right things about cooperation with Gibraltar when he is with Chief Minister Peter Caruana, yet adopting a the hard-line stance against dialogue in PP meetings in Cadiz, Sevilla and Madrid.

A La Linea PP spokesman expressed regret at the PSOE remarks while counter arguing that it is precisely the socialists that resort to ‘doublespeak’ in Gibraltar related matters.

“It was the Government of the nation that changed the parameters of Spanish policy toward the Rock. We defend and will always defend good neighbourly relations with Gibraltar outside of diplomatic and politics of state positions regarding sovereignty negotiations.

“Perhaps the socialists forget that the future of La Linea depends on Gibraltar as much as their future is tied to ours,” said the spokesman.

According to the PP, the local PSOE has a lot to learn about good neighbourly relations and they should “refrain from making public comments about issues they know nothing about.”

“They should find out more about what we are doing in terms of relations with Gibraltar and maybe even ask their own Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos about the results of the Tripartite Forum, such as the opening of the Instituto Cervantes and why not, about the pensions issue,” he added.

Mayor of La Linea Sánchez, attended the meeting of Nuevas Generaciones the PP youth wing, that celebrated its 30th national congress at the weekend in Madrid. Sanchez said his presence underlined the strong support he has from the highest echelons of the Partido Popular and the commitment toward La Linea expressed by its leading national figures.

Sanchez was the only PP mayor in the Cadiz province to be invited to the convention, which he believes is “recognition of the policies carried out since becoming mayor of La Linea.”