MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spain warns Hague that it will continue to enforce strict Gibraltar border checks

Garcia Margallo says Spain has to comply with EU environmental protection legislation and check on contraband

Foreign Affairs minister José Manuel García-Margallo has told his UK counterpart, William Hague that Spain will continue to enforce strict Gibraltar border checks “whenever necessary” because this was in line with Madrid’s EU obligations and that Guardia Civil officers were searching for contraband.

García-Margallo conveyed the message during a telephone call with Mr Hague on Sunday evening, during which the British Foreign Minister transmitted the UK’s “serious concerns” about the situation at the border where hundreds of cars and passengers were retained for hours under a sweltering sun.

On Monday traffic flow in both directions across the border was normal, in sharp contrast with queues of up to seven hours to leave Gibraltar over the weekend and, on Sunday afternoon, four hours to get back in.

The chaos arising from the Spanish border checks this weekend received ample coverage in the UK and international media yesterday.

Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo interviewed on the BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today Programme spoke of the human impact of the queues last weekend. Picardo left no doubt that the Gibraltar Government believed the queues were a retaliatory measure that had nothing to do with customs checks.

“We’ve got it from the horse’s mouth that they are linked to our creation of an artificial reef last week for environmental protection purposes to prevent Spanish fishermen from fishing in a manner that is contrary to our law,” he told the program.

Picardo explained that Gibraltar’s artificial reef sought to encourage marine life while ensuring compliance with Gibraltar’s legislation.

“This affects…a very small Spanish fishing boat with one person on it and the Spanish government appears to believe that they should take reprisals as a result of that, and forget about the 10,000 people who come into Gibraltar every day to work in all of our businesses,” the Chief Minister said.

According to the Spanish news agency Europa Press, Garcia-Margallo also raised the issue of the Spanish fishermen in his conversation with Mr Hague on Sunday.

The Spanish Foreign Minister reportedly told Foreign Secretary Hague that Spain also had to comply with “EU environmental protection legislation” and was obliged to “defend the interests of Spanish fishermen fishing in Spanish waters”.

Europa Press reported that Spain was considering filing a formal complaint with the EU over Gibraltar’s creation of artificial reefs. This would be on the grounds that the reefs could be damaging the environment as well as “interfering” with artisanal fishermen.

Picardo told the BBC that Mr Hague had “a full and frank” discussion about the issues with García-Margallo.

“There’s a lot that joins the UK and Spain. It’s just that this issue in particular, as a result of the present Spanish government’s attitude to Gibraltar, is being allowed to cloud the relationship”,

Picardo was pushed on the question of what the UK could do to counter the Spanish checks other than protest.

“Public opinion…doesn’t like to see a bully being allowed to get away with bullying, and this is exactly what we’ve seen here,” the Chief Minister replied.

“Spain is a great nation of 40m people. Gibraltar is a small state of 30,000 people. I don’t think it does Spain any credit in the international media to be seen to be doing this”.