MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
EU will decide if cement blocks dumped in Gibraltar Bay is an environmental crime
Brussels will determine whether the 70 cement blocks dumped in the Gibraltar bay are legal or not, according to the European Union spokesperson Olivier Bailly who anticipated an EC fact finding mission can be expected next month to visit the controversy area. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesWhat about the emissions from tens of thousands of cars forced to queue for hours for politically motivated reasons by a bunch of 3rd rate fascists ! Is that an environmental crime Mr EU ?
Aug 27th, 2013 - 02:33 am - Link - Report abuse 0I'm sure they won't forget the other 25 reefs established by Spain along the Andulucian coast since 1989!
Aug 27th, 2013 - 02:52 am - Link - Report abuse 0Yup, Viva Las Falklands, there is one very nearby, off La Linea, which affects the same fishermen. When it was built in 2006 do you thinnk there were any complains from them? No...
Aug 27th, 2013 - 03:58 am - Link - Report abuse 0http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/agriculturaypesca/portal/servicios/noticias/_detalles.html?uid=299d4b01-0db5-11df-b553-cb335ec5269b
I wonder IF the EU says that these blocks damage the environment, whether Spain will be required to remove ALL of the concrete blocks that they have laid over the year AND to pay environmental damages to the EU too?
Aug 27th, 2013 - 05:17 am - Link - Report abuse 0Spain is playing a very dangerous game here, and their problem is that Gibraltar holds all of the cards.
If the 'reef' is illegal, then so are all of the Spanish ones.
If Gibraltar has to remove it, then Spain will have to remove theirs.
This is a lose-lose for Spain.
As a distraction for the general public in Spain, I would assume that it isn't working. Who cares about a rock with 30,000 people living on it, when you are unemployed and your chances of becoming employed is slim at best?
The starting point must be the ownership of “the waters”. Some interesting facts here. Spain claims that Gibraltar has no territorial waters because they are not mentioned in the Treaty of Utrecht. Where are Spanish territorial waters mentioned in the Treaty? When did coastal states get international legal agreement on “territorial waters”? 1958 wasn't it? So the Treaty of Utrecht is of no relevance. However, there are important issues. For example, there is the issue that Spanish nationals interfere with the operation of Gibraltar's airport. When Spanish nationals undertake activities, on the water, at the end of the runway, it interferes with aircraft departures for health and safety reasons. Then there are the environment-related issues. Under Gibraltar environmental law, certain types of fishing are prohibited. “Raking” the seabed is such a prohibition and it is the activity in which the Spanish poachers engage. The artificial reef laid by Gibraltar, approved by the likes of Greenpeace, therefore serves two purposes. It safeguards the airport operations and helps with fish re-stocking. In any event, the Spanish have no competence in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters. And, even better, London is now apparently giving serious consideration to extending BGTW, where practicable, from the current 3 miles to the international limit of 12 miles.
Aug 27th, 2013 - 06:35 am - Link - Report abuse 0The reef is not new, the dumping of those blocks was to re-inforce an existing artificial reef as tidal pressures had displaced the lighter material used previously. The reef project was started in 1976.
Aug 27th, 2013 - 06:39 am - Link - Report abuse 0Anyone care to explain how something that has been there for nearly 40 years has suddenly become a problem?
Oh and the fishing technique used by these fishermen is illegal in Spanish and EU waters.
EU money funded a large chunk of the Spanish reefs if not all. Gibraltar paid for theirs.
Aug 27th, 2013 - 06:40 am - Link - Report abuse 0@7 Rooter
Aug 27th, 2013 - 08:23 am - Link - Report abuse 0The figures that I've seen were that Andalucia paid for 1/4 of the total cost of the Spanish reefs, with the other 3/4 coming from the European Fisheries Fund.
So either the EU will find in Gibraltar's favour, or it will be finding not only against Spain, but also against itself. Probability: low...
I see UK tourist visits to Spain for the 1st half of the year are up on 2012. In fact Spain received her highest visitor numbers ever!
Aug 27th, 2013 - 11:09 am - Link - Report abuse 0You are a magnanimous lot.
Well, if that artificial reef is an environmental crime, then it is strange that Greenpeace and pretty much every single environmental organisation in Spain have praised it ... and of course it would also make the 130 identical artificial reefs, build off the Spanish coast, with € tens of millions of EU funding, a monumental environmental crime.
Aug 27th, 2013 - 11:14 am - Link - Report abuse 0@9
Aug 27th, 2013 - 12:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0UK tourists book their holidays months in advance.
Spain acting like an arse will be reflected in reduced bookings for next year .
There are plenty of other EU countries that need help,
Aug 27th, 2013 - 02:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0And an increase in tourism in those countries will help no end, and screw the Spanish greed..
.
Hey Pigardo keep your fat trap closed.....foreign relations for Gibraltar is not your job or concern that is for London to decide. Besides, it would be common sense to see what the EU's decision was..... before trying to stir up more trouble.
Aug 27th, 2013 - 03:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Its about time the British FO reigned you in.....and gave you a few lessons in diplomacy!
Maybe Picardo should learn something from this great aussie diplomat.
Aug 27th, 2013 - 04:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsnpeed6rNc
Illegal fishing practices cannot be entertained by the EU, despite the Guardia Civil's approval. Especially after all the regulations on the North Sea.
Aug 27th, 2013 - 05:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0EU will not look foolish and say one law for the Spanish fishermen and another for everybody else. Otherwise that European Court is going to be busy!
While this ends up in Court, the fish and shellfish stocks will recover, spilling out passed the reef and the fisherman (one in particular) will probably have enhanced catches - where will that leave him. A pawn of Madrid govt. or instigator? A convert to sustainable fishing? - unlikely.
Or have they paid him to keep quiet?! Not much heard from him recently.
Perhaps the EU will go for the modern day Judgement of Solomon, but instead of a child they can use a child like substitute: Gollum Lite.
Aug 27th, 2013 - 05:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0One half into Gibraltar waters and the other half in Madrid: seems like a win – win to me!
@13 Such a foolish, ignorant and uneducated fool. Tip: British Gibraltar Territorial Waters are a “competence” for the Government of Gibraltar. And, as the European Commission has already admitted, it has no “competence” in territorial disputes. So the EC decides that the reef breaches EU environmental law? Unlikely as it is the same type of reef that Spain has planted all around its coast. What then? The UK says “None of your business. Piss off!” And then suggests to Gibraltar that it lays some more. And then the UK increases the current BGTW 3 mile limit to 12 miles! Currently being considered in London. Enforcement shouldn't be a problem. A line of cable-linked buoys with trailing cables to foul propellers. And a radio-controlled minefield. That's an “improvement” on the argie idea of laying unmapped minefields. Switch 'em off, switch 'em off. But with anti-personnel features so that, if approached by unauthorised divers, a whole area would detonate. With enough force to implode any submarine hull and turn any diver into jelly.
Aug 28th, 2013 - 09:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0Bonkueror
Aug 28th, 2013 - 10:23 am - Link - Report abuse 0You are right ...you are indeed.....Such a foolish, ignorant and uneducated fool.
Tip:.....is Spain a foreign country, is the EU a whole bunch of foreign countries?
YES.....ergo Pigardo doesn't deal with them.....he asks the UK to deal with them on his behalf.
So he should keep his mouth shut about dealings with foreign countries....like EU and Spain and stop creating more unnecessary headaches for the UK!
His jurisdiction is limited to Gibraltar only!
tut tut,
Aug 28th, 2013 - 02:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0remember, spain is the bad guy here,
just spain..
*19 Spain the bad guy
Aug 28th, 2013 - 05:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0??!! Since when??
since she is doing bad things,
Aug 29th, 2013 - 03:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0but alas, as you think spain and argentina are entitled to everything, the point is thus lost..
20 Spanish “aussie sunshine”
Aug 29th, 2013 - 03:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Modern History Sourcebook: Fordham University, Queen Elizabeth I: Against the Spanish Armada, 1588. (Abrev):
“My loving people, we have been persuaded by some, that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you, I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear; I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good will of my subjects. And therefore I am come amongst you at this time, not as for my recreation or sport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die amongst you all; to lay down, for my God, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour and my blood, even the dust. I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England, too; and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realms: to which, rather than any dishonour should grow by me, I myself will take up arms; I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field.”
That is what these Spanish dickheads have never understood, the resolve of The British People.
Now you can rant and rave you fake aussie bastard.
agreed
Aug 29th, 2013 - 03:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0aussie, we bet your ancesters were proud to be british,
sadly you seem to dislike.
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