MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

New Spanish minister proposes Gibraltar ‘quadripartite’ talks on cooperation

Nevertheless for Garcia-Margallo sovereignty talks remain bilateral

Spanish Foreign Affairs minister Jose Garcia-Margallo is seeking to revisit talks on co-operation with the disputed Gibraltar UK Overseas Territory on a new variation of the formulas for talks: a quadripartite forum.

The proposal is aired in an interview with El Pais from Madrid where he says the talks should only touch on the matters that they are designed for and that they should include regional Spanish representatives.

If the Tripartite Forum (UK, Spain plus Gibraltar) was a progression from the two flags three voices concept which was applied to Brussels process in its later meetings, then this might be seen as a new hybrid of the earlier Brussels talks when the Mancomunidad of the Campo de Gibraltar was in effect created to ‘balance’ Gibraltar’s presence at talks. However the difference now is that these talks are seen by Madrid as parallel to Brussels bi-laterals in relation to sovereignty.

“In that forum (on co-operation) there must be some symmetry. That is to say if the UK and Gibraltar authorities are present so must be the Spanish regional authorities.”

The quadripartite forum should talk of nothing other than co-operation and have ‘balanced’ representation, he insisted.

“Although we are disposed towards co-operation, because that favours citizens, we cannot advance much in that area unless we also restart talks on sovereignty,” he said.

Garcia-Margallo told El Pais that “with the question of Gibraltar, the issues of sovereignty and jurisdiction must be separated from the matter of co-operation between the neighbouring people and territories, to be dealt with exclusively with Great Britain.”

The Spanish minister said he hopes to meet with Foreign Secretary William Hague soon.