MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Gibraltar in a list of potential “risks or threats” to Spain's maritime security strategy

While Gibraltar is singled out in the document, there is no mention of any tension with other countries sharing maritime borders in this region, including Morocco.

The Spanish Government has included Gibraltar in a list of potential ‘risks or threats’ to its national maritime security. The claim is contained in a single paragraph of a new 48-page national maritime security strategy policy approved by the Spain’s National Security Council last Thursday.

 The public version of the policy document states that differences between neighboring countries over the extent of maritime territorial boundaries were among the many factors that could present challenges to Spain.

“In this sense, Gibraltar presents Spain and Europe with diverse security problems that require efficient solutions in line with the parameters established by the United Nations and enshrined in the Brussels Declaration of 1984, agreed by the British and Spanish governments,” the document states.

While Gibraltar is singled out in the document, there is no mention of any tension with other countries sharing maritime borders in this region, including Morocco.

This is not the first time this year that Gibraltar has been included in an official Spanish strategic policy document of this type. The Rock was mentioned in similar language in a 61-page document entitled National Security Strategy approved earlier this year by the Spanish Government.

“The colony of Gibraltar is an anomaly in today’s Europe and a dysfunction in the relations between two countries that are partners and allies,” the document said.

“It presents Spain and Europe with security problems in diverse areas, which require efficient solutions in line with the parameters established by the United Nations and enshrined in the Brussels Declaration of 1984, agreed by the British and Spanish governments.”

The document covers all the various potential risks and threats faced by Spain, ranging from terrorism and organized crime through to espionage, energy security and financial instability, among others.

It also presented clear lines of action and a plan for the reorganization of national security structures. As with the latest publication, the reference to Gibraltar was contained in a single paragraph.

The maritime security policy document published last week highlights the importance of the sea to the Spanish economy. It sets out in broad how Spain proposes to protect its interests in the marine sphere from risks as diverse as terrorism and clandestine traffic flows to pollution and shipping accidents.

And while the document refers to the bilateral Brussels process as the way to resolving issues relating to maritime boundaries around Gibraltar, it also acknowledges that the 1982 UN Convention of the Law of the Sea is “the main international legal framework” governing marine spaces.

“The rights and obligations that the Convention attributes to a coastal state over the various marine spaces opposite its coasts - internal waters, territorial sea, continental shelf and exclusive economic zones – and the rules and principles that govern the utilization of these zones beyond state jurisdiction are the starting point for any effort, internal or international, aimed at resolving the challenges presented by maritime security,” the document said.