MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cameron and Rajoy scheduled to meet this month, says Madrid media

The official agenda the Euro-zone crisis but yes, Gibraltar is also expected to the addressed

The prime ministers of Spain and Britain will meet in Madrid during the second week of April, according to a weekend report in ABC. The article said the meeting between Mariano Rajoy and David Cameron would centre primarily on the Euro-zone crisis.

But the newspaper’s veteran diplomatic editor, Luis Ayllon, said it could not be ruled out that Gibraltar might also make it onto the agenda.

A spokesman for No.10 Downing Street declined to comment on the ABC report. “We don’t confirm the Prime Minister’s travel arrangements in advance,” the spokesman said.

Ever since it was elected into government late in 2011, Spain’s Popular Party has repeatedly called for a return to bilateral negotiations with the UK over Gibraltar.

But on each occasion, Britain has robustly rejected any return to bilateralism.

Under the so-called ‘double lock’ formula, the UK will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their wishes.

Furthermore, the UK will not enter into any process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content.

In common with the Gibraltar Government, the UK advocates a return to the trilateral process.

The ABC report also said that Rajoy would meet in Madrid with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during the first week of April. Among the issues they will discuss is Spain’s wish to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council.