MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Gibraltar’s Picardo meets UK minister to discuss controversial Spanish legislation
Gibraltar Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo held a meeting on Monday with UK Minister for Europe David Lidington in which they discussed their concerns over Spain’s purporting to pass legislation banning land reclamation and the offshore storage of fuel in Gibraltar waters. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesjust ignore anything the spannish want, its illigal anyway.
Dec 04th, 2012 - 08:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0So their economy is completely furked and the only thing they have left is to annoy their neighbours who are doing decidedly better.
Dec 04th, 2012 - 10:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I never knew that spain was the chav of europe, but apparently that's what they are.
Spain is coming apart at the seems, they are desperately trying to hold everything together and looking for common causes that will unite the people, Gibralter being perfect example. Just like another Spanish speaking country everyone knows.
Dec 04th, 2012 - 10:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@3 They came apart at the seams about a year ago. Now they're just a rotting bag of nonsense.
Dec 04th, 2012 - 10:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.
Facing the Bay of Gibraltar is the Bay of Algeciras where Spain has an oil refinery and container port ... you couldn't make it up .
Dec 04th, 2012 - 11:40 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@5 You don't need to make it up when it involves spanish speaking folks.
Dec 05th, 2012 - 09:14 am - Link - Report abuse 0Well, it's news to me that the Spanish 'nature reserve' just happens to cover the 'entirety of Gibraltar's territorial waters'.
Dec 05th, 2012 - 10:54 am - Link - Report abuse 0This might preclude any and all marine or coastal activities ... you know, building a jetty, fishing for crabs off the pier, sandcastles on the beach, sailing in the harbour....
Just might be time to declare the whole Spanish coastline an EU nature reserve ... in the greater interests of the EU, Europe and the biosphere.
Seem to remember that Drake, Nelson, etc found it opportune to restrain Spain's over-reaching hand (I'm sure all those in South America will agree).
They are so pathetic that they would rather see the break up of the Spanish mainland, rather than give up a hopeless cause over Gibraltar.
Dec 05th, 2012 - 01:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Still
Once a loser, always a loser.
Their greed will ruin everything .
@7 Spain has no “territorial waters”. They are not mentioned in the Treaty of Utrecht. So Britain and Gibraltar can do whatever they want. How about a new mole that stretches right across the mouth of the bay? SUPPORT GIBRALTAR! DEMAND BRITISH GOVERNMENT MILITARY ACTION! If it floats and it's Spanish, why?
Dec 05th, 2012 - 01:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Don´t worry about Spain..They will get out of the economic crises...
Dec 05th, 2012 - 01:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Foreign investment is again coming back into Spain...Its people are fighters and resilient...
Says sunshine sitting there in Australia. The facts on the ground are quite different, and I should know, because I live in Spain. You are quite right about the Spanish being fighters - they are constantly fighting with each other, driven by “pura envidia”...
Dec 05th, 2012 - 03:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0'Gibraltar debuts in UEFA competition draws'
Dec 05th, 2012 - 03:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/soccer/wires/12/05/2020.ap.soc.uefa.gibraltar.1st.ld.writethru.517/index.html
@10
Dec 05th, 2012 - 03:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I think your vantage point may not provide you with a very clear view of what's actually going on in Spain. Thousands and thousands of Brits live their and have second homes there, we have a much clearer view of what's going on, trust me they are going to be fooked for a very long time to come.
It doesn't help when they take a 3 hour lunch break (including snooze) in the middle of an important conference call.
Dec 05th, 2012 - 05:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I guess they're just genetically lazy.
*11 can´t be all that bad in Spain when you are living in Spain...
Dec 06th, 2012 - 12:54 am - Link - Report abuse 0*14 Funny you mention the snoozE. Medical practitionars encourage a snooze in the middle of the day: They must be doing something right. Besides all Northern Europe is flocking to sunny Spain....
Good luck with your diplomatic protest. I'm sure Spain will be trembling in its metaphoric boots.
Dec 06th, 2012 - 01:11 am - Link - Report abuse 0The critical issue here, which the article completely fails to mention, is that the British Government recently lost a crucial appeal before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) relating to Britain's claim to Gibraltar’s territorial waters.
Britain was seeking to overturn an earlier judgement dismissing its legal challenge to the European Commission’s approval of a Spanish EU nature site in the disputed waters.
The latest court decision follows the Gibraltar Government’s defeat before the ECJ last August in a separate case on the same issue.
By ruling on two separate occasions against the UK and Gibraltar, the ECJ has in effect ensured that Spain continues to have a listed nature site in Gibraltar waters.
Betelgeuse #16
Dec 06th, 2012 - 12:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0No, you're wrong.
The territorial water locations are well known and are lodged in EU legislature and the Law of the Sea documentation (etc). They have never been extended to a 12 mile limit and - as far as I am aware - there is no Gibraltar EEZ in the Western Med.
The Territorial Water map and the extent and location of the Southern Waters of Gibraltar SAC/SPA, and the Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) are described and delimited in the document that I attach as a pdf for your perousal:
http://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/images/stories/PDF/environment/Southern_Waters_of_Gibraltar_Management_Scheme_2012.pdf
The EU is, like Merosur, Unasur, the UN, etc, not immune from politicization - as can be seen from this ECJ ruling.
The desire for the Spanish to create a nature reserve into and across Gib. territorial waters and across an existing Reserve, is politically understandable, though legally suspect.
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