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Garcia-Margallo column in the WSJ: “We need to talk about Gibraltar”
The following column was published on Tuesday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal displaying the Spanish position in the current dispute with Gibraltar and the border controls.
The column is credited to Jose Manuel García-Margallo who is Spain’s Foreign minister. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesI was looking for something new..... alas nowt!
Aug 20th, 2013 - 09:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Gibraltar's status will only be fully resolved when it declares indepedence; of which the UN fully accepts as an appropriate solution to any 'colonial' situation.
All other problems are the same problems that dozens of countries who share borders encounter and deal with.
“Spain's government, unlike Britain's, is fully at ease complying with its international obligations”
Aug 21st, 2013 - 04:47 am - Link - Report abuse 0Spain is currently in breach of EU law, UN Charter & the Lisbon treaty, but other than that Spain is complying fully.
“Her Majesty's Government does not consider itself bound by the resolutions of the General Assembly and therefore will not negotiate with the Spanish Government on the basis of the same.”
Their are no resolutions from the UN regarding Gibraltar, You would think Spain would know that as they have never taken the matter to the UN. It's really hard to be bound by the resolutions that don't exist.
“General Assembly had adopted Resolution 2353, stating that any colonial situation that partially or completely destroys a country's national unity and territorial integrity”
You cant claim territorial integrity when you have freely given away that territory, in Gibraltars case in exchange for other territorys & then enshrined it in a treaty. You sold it, it wasn't stolen from you so 2353 simply do-sent apply. Now the Spanish-held territories in North Africa that were taken by force Ceuta, Melilla and Isla de Alborán they are in breach of Resolution 2353.
“Spain has no doubt about its sovereignty over these waters. They are off the isthmus connecting Gibraltar to Spain, which was never ceded by Spain to the U.K. under the Treaty of Utrecht.”
Spain has a selective memory, what about the UN convention of the law of the Sea's & a few other treaty's that Spain has signed since Utrecht that do give Gibraltar sovereignty over its waters. No treaty's from that era included territorial waters as the concept didn't even exist back in the 16th century.
It's about time Spain considered the colonial situations that disrupt the territorial integrity of morocco, and so are not in line with the principles of the UN charter and various resolutions that they quote with regard to gib.
Aug 21st, 2013 - 04:48 am - Link - Report abuse 0Snr Garcia-Margallo is, as WE say, being economical with the truth. “Her Majesty's Government does not consider itself bound by the resolutions of the General Assembly and therefore will not negotiate with the Spanish Government on the basis of the same.” That would because resolutions of the General Assembly are NON-BINDING. So it wasn't really a “surprising” response. In December 1968? Gibraltar is, of course, a UN trust territory. And the UK is the trustee. As trustee, the UK has certain responsibilities under the UN Charter. It will discharge those responsibilities. If Snr Garcia-Margallo were to read more extensively, he would find that all people have the right to self-determination. And the UK's responsibilities do not include handing the territory over to another state. And the people of Gibraltar have voted more than once against Spanish sovereignty. There will be NO negotiations.
Aug 21st, 2013 - 06:17 am - Link - Report abuse 0The dumping of the concrete blocks has the approval of organisations such as Greenpeace for creating artificial reefs. There are at least 11 similar reefs in Spanish waters. Besides, those fishing, without permission, in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters aren't “fishermen”, they are “poachers”.
Smuggling, of course, exists. Mostly by Spaniards.
But, what the hell, it is Spaniards who are suffering. Around 10,000 Spaniards cross the border every day to get to their jobs in Gibraltar. So they won't be getting paid. That's good, eh?
I have just been told by my Spanish teacher that confusing words in Spanish are also known as false friends.
Aug 21st, 2013 - 03:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Seems to me that is exactly what we have with Spain at the moment. NATO ally, EU member country and a mendacious friend.
But they will eventually be put in their place and they will be the loser of this little skirmish.
“Her Majesty's Government does not consider itself bound by the resolutions of the General Assembly and therefore will not negotiate with the Spanish Government on the basis of the same.”
Aug 22nd, 2013 - 06:03 am - Link - Report abuse 0This was the ''''SURPRISING'''' response by Michael Stewart, the British foreign secretary, in December 1968 to Resolution 2429 of the U.N. General Assembly, which called for the United Kingdom as administering power to put an end to the colonial situation in Gibraltar, stating that the continuation of such a situation was contrary to the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter.
+++++++
Why is this 'surprising'?????
General Assembly resolutions are not binding...
**ONLY** Security Council resolutions are binding!
“The dumping of concrete blocks also constitutes a violation of the most basic rules of environmental conservation. These waters account for 25% of the activity of local fishermen, who had been carrying out their normal activities”
Aug 23rd, 2013 - 05:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0So the basic rules of environmental conservation involve fishing areas out?
New one on me.
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