MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK tells Spain: sovereignty negotiations only if Gibraltar so wishes

Europe Minister David Lidington told the House of Commons in a written answer

Britain would only enter into sovereignty negotiations with Spain if Gibraltar was happy for it to do so, Europe Minister David Lidington told the House of Commons this week

The statement was made in a written answer to a question and was released on Monday, two days before Mr Lidington’s visit to Madrid for talks with his Spanish counterpart, Iñigo Mendez de Vigo.

It followed statements by the Spanish Government insisting on a return to bilateral sovereignty negotiations under the Brussels Agreement.

Madrid wants progress on sovereignty as a condition for any cross-border cooperation under a new quadripartite forum that would include the Junta de Andalucia.
But in a response to fellow Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell, Mr Lidington underscored Britain’s position on the issue of sovereignty.

“The UK will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their wishes,” he said. “Furthermore, the UK will not enter into a process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content”.

The statement will serve to ease concerns in Gibraltar at the Popular Party’s robust position on Gibraltar. But it will not be welcomed by officials in Madrid, who complained last week when British Prime Minister David Cameron said he supported self determination for the people of Gibraltar.

Jose Garcia Margallo, the Spanish Foreign Minister, wrote to his British counterpart William Hague and said Spain did not support that view given the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht and UN doctrine.