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Spanish regional leader says current Spanish policy on Gibraltar “is going nowhere”

Monday, May 26th 2014 - 08:15 UTC
Full article 28 comments

Manuel Chaves, the PSOE (Socialist opposition party) MP and former president of the Junta de Andalucia, has said Spain’s policy on Gibraltar “is going nowhere” because Gibraltarians are the ones who will decide their own future. Read full article

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  • Anglotino

    Wow, he's been reading my comments!

    May 26th, 2014 - 08:30 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Troy Tempest

    ...or reasoning for himself and coming to rational conclusions, with the courage to speak out.
    Well done, Sir!

    um, not sure what that oddly tacked-on Chavez bit was all about though.

    May 26th, 2014 - 08:35 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • reality check

    This guy is something else, a living oxymoron.

    A politician with common sense.

    I would vote for him.

    May 26th, 2014 - 09:25 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • darragh

    Argentines please note!!!!!!

    May 26th, 2014 - 10:10 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • JimHandley

    Hello Everyone,

    Chavez is a senior member of the Spanish Socialist Party and former president of the Regional Government of Andalusia –the huge southern Spanish territory which adjoins tiny Gibraltar.

    As I’ve been trying to convince some of you for such a long time, gratuitously insulting ALL Spaniards is completely counterproductive because by no means ALL this country’s citizens hold common cause with Madrid’s cynical, self-proclaimed Thatcherist national administration.

    In my view, the only reason that the current rightwing national governing party is still in power is that Spanish youth is so disillusioned by so much corrupt and uncaring mis-governance (some 168 Spaniards’ homes are repossessed each day, for instance) that most of this country’s youngsters no longer bother to vote. Thus, radical sentiment has been stifled in favour of the views of the conservative middle-aged middleclass and above all, in pro of the interests of the big international Banks and their multinational business cohorts who, believe or not, still continue to increase their profits year after year.

    Cheers!

    Jim, in Madrid.

    May 26th, 2014 - 10:40 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Vulcanbomber

    wow, some sense at last.

    Or is it because he saw what happened over the Olympics and what we could do by adding a tax on holidays to Spain, just as they are trying to come out of recession.

    As long as the message is understood, leave the guys on the Rock to decide for themselves, no pressure

    May 26th, 2014 - 10:41 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • GALlamosa

    Well done Sr Chavez, you have clearly read the UN charter and understand people. Spanish policy makes Gibraltarians stronger, just as Argentine policy makes Falkland Islanders stronger.

    May 26th, 2014 - 10:58 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • aussiesunshinee

    *5 Chavez is up before the law with a case of corruption which could put this “crook” behind bars like so many socialists who have made themselves rich calling themselves socialists....This “crool” would sell his mother if it was only to hurt the current government in Spain.......ummmm

    May 26th, 2014 - 01:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Conqueror

    @2 It's not Chavez, it's Chaves. An understandable typo from Uruguayans.

    Chaves isn't actually saying anything new. It's what the last PSOE government believed. It led to the Tripartite Forum. The same Forum that the PP abandoned as soon as they got into power. A little bit of research shows that the PP can trace its origins back to fascist Franco. The PP is, of course, corrupt. Back in '96, the PP became the governing party supported by the Basque Nationalist Party, the Catalan Convergence and Union and the Canarian Coalition. And the thanks the Basques and Catalans get is.........? That's right. “No independence for you”. At least a couple of instances of “illegal financing”. Including “pay-offs” for people like Rajoy.

    The PP are, of course, stupid. Do they really think Gibraltar will give way? Do they think Britain will give way? Britain is committed to acting in accordance with the wishes of the people of Gibraltar. Even if a British “government” wanted to change that policy, the British people wouldn't stand for it. Although it is to be hoped that the people of Gibraltar aren't dumb enough to rely on the EU. The EU will no more “protect” Gibraltar than the UN “protected” the Falklands. The people of Gibraltar can do whatever they wish. Unlike the spanish, we Brits believe that Gibraltar belongs to the Gibraltarians. BUT Gibraltarians should note the reaction of the rest of the UK to scotland's “wish” for independence. It's “If you go, you go. Nothing to do with us anymore. and you can't come back. You're on your own”.

    May 26th, 2014 - 02:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Porto Margaret

    #1 Well done Anglotino.

    Plain talking and clarity of thought have given positive results.

    Keep up the good and diligent work.

    #8 sunburn : Do try and learn. Your failure is ever presence.

    May 26th, 2014 - 05:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • paulcedron

    british wannabes please note

    'Falklands? We just thieved it': Football pundit Stan Collymore sparks fury by rubbishing 1982 conflict as over a 'f***ing island with sheep'

    well said stan.

    May 26th, 2014 - 05:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Porto Margaret

    # 11

    I would suggest Collymore is in need of a private chat with Simon Weston .

    May 26th, 2014 - 05:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Pete Bog

    @11
    Collymore is a nobody who got caught dogging on Cannock Chase. That's how stupid this cretin is.

    May 26th, 2014 - 06:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Troy Tempest

    9 Conqueror

    “@2 It's not Chavez, it's Chaves. An understandable typo from Uruguayans.”

    Thx, Conq.

    May 26th, 2014 - 06:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Briton

    Spain has no rights on Gibraltar,
    Gibraltar just like the Falkland's just want to be left alone to live in peace,
    Spain will not get Gibraltar , now or ever according to the Gibraltarians themselves,

    the Spanish government needs to grow up and concentrate on their own problems and leave Gibraltar alone before some one gets seriously hurt.

    May 26th, 2014 - 08:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Gordo1

    Someone is seeing sense at last!

    May 26th, 2014 - 08:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • JimHandley

    For 9 Conkers, et al.

    Hello Everyone,

    What’s in name? Chaves, Chavez, Chiavi, Clés, Schlüssel; they all signify the same thing, being simply corrupt forms of the original Latin word CLAVES –meaning KEYS, in English– expressed in different European tongues. And I suspect that English/Spanish/ et cetera words such as ENCLAVE, also spring from the same ancient linguistic root.

    I must confess to erroneously using the name CHAVEZ rather than the correct CHAVES, without really thinking. I guess I’m yet another of the many who’s subconscious has become subliminally conditioned by the recent demise of that widely known Venezuelan, DON HUGO.

    Mr CONKERS is also right in stating that CHAVES is under judicial investigation for fraud. However, we must presume his innocence for the present, anyway –not that I hold any great aspirations of his vindication, for –as I never cease to reiterate– almost ALL politicians of ALL creeds, colours, spots, stripes, ethnicities and nationalities are ‘suspect’ to say the very least. Remember the recent British parliamentary expenses scandal. Lamentably, by no means ALL our MP’s are as impeccably honourable –nor as lovably eccentric– as that notable workingpersons’ champion, the late Tony Benn!!!

    Back to Chaves and Andalucía… Some years’ ago, a number of unremunerated rural village mayors were caught ‘inflating’ the ‘hours worked’ records of certain JORNALEROS registered in their respective jurisdictions. Jornaleros are daily-paid, casual agricultural workers who’re often on piecework. These men and women must literally toil in all extremes of weather, during a minimum number of hours annually, in order to qualify for unemployment subsidies during the slack seasons in the countryside, when no work is available. Possibly this cruel, exploitative system engendered the idea for Zero Hours Contracts. Be that as it may, thanks principally to deliberate wage-suppressing manoeuvres by the landowning oligarchy, it became nigh on impossible for many

    May 26th, 2014 - 08:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Gordo1

    paulcedron

    To take Collymore seriously is like believing every word la Kretina says is the truth!

    May 27th, 2014 - 06:06 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Britworker

    So after September when Scotland have expressed their democratic will, do Spain think they are going to contain the people of Catalonia and continue to deny them their democratic right to their self-determination?????

    I don't think so. It won't be long now before Spain is going to find itself having to seriously deal with the independence movement within its own borders, never mind territories which have nothing whatsoever to do with them.

    Although they might be able to charm the people of Catalonia and the Basque by demonstrating that they can produce a vibrant and strong economy with low unemployment. (sarcasm) Most Spaniards would consider themselves extremely lucky to be serving me a plate of Paella next week and the last thing on their minds would be Gibraltar.

    May 27th, 2014 - 08:21 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • aussiesunshinee

    *19when the wise and good people of Scotland say NO WAY JOSE!! to independence and remain within The Uk. The Catalans are going to chicken out and their nationalism is just going to deflate like a party balloon!!! ummmmm

    Enjoy your plate of Paella and a wise choice to holiday in Spain. Where else would you eat good food..like paella but Spain. Ole!!!

    May 27th, 2014 - 12:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • JimHandley

    For 9 Conkers, et al + 8 AUSSIESUNSTOKE, OR IS IT AUSSIEMOONSHINE?

    PART 2 of 2.

    Be that as it may, thanks principally to deliberate wage-suppressing manoeuvres by the landowning oligarchy, it became nigh on impossible for many Jornaleros to accrue sufficient ‘hours worked’ to qualify for unemployment pay. Thus the village mayors’ little fiddle –a rouse which when discovered, was viscerally denounced by Spain’s Capitalist Media. However, hardly a word was heard of the contemporaneous evasion of huge sums of VAT by small, medium and big businesses. Neither was anything published about the Big Banks’ manipulation of the L/IBOR rates nor of their systematic illegal exports of Spanish currency to Switzerland, on behalf financial institutions, corporate interests and wealthy individuals alike.

    Jim, in Madrid.

    May 27th, 2014 - 12:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • paulcedron

    18 fatty
    collymore was a great footballer, and no doubts he is a sensitive, intelligent guy.

    May 28th, 2014 - 06:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • JimHandley

    Hello Everyone,

    To my addled old mind, the only significant difference between footballers and trained circus animals is a huge disparity in their respective remuneration.

    Cheers!

    Jim, in Madrid.

    May 28th, 2014 - 09:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Vulcanbomber

    Its just right for Paul and others to give high value to Stan Doggymore's opinions.

    After all, he has not idea about the Falklands and no understanding

    But I notice when academics from both countries say something in favour of the falklands, they ignore them.

    Thats the logic of the brainwashed argies

    Never forget, The Falklands belong to the Falkland Islanders. The flag contains a Union Flag of Great Britain as we will always support them

    It is not the argentine flag, which contains a lot more white, so that it can easily be converted into a flag of surrender

    May 29th, 2014 - 06:37 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • JimHandley

    For: 24 Vulgarbombast

    Re:
    “Its just right for Paul and others to give high value to Stan Doggymore's opinions. After all, he has not idea about the Falklands and no understanding But I notice when academics from both countries say something in favour of the falklands, they ignore them. Thats the logic of the brainwashed argies Never forget, The Falklands belong to the Falkland Islanders. The flag contains a Union Flag of Great Britain as we will always support them It is not the argentine flag, which contains a lot more white, so that it can easily be converted into a flag of surrender.”

    Opinions about the Falklands.

    You complain (above) that the Argentineans give too much weight to the opinions of a former footballer (whom you insult by changing his name to suggest certain form of copulative concourse) and yet you also whinge that no one in Argentina takes any notice of views expressed by certain academics, on the same subject.

    What else on earth do you expect?

    Your poorly put missives contain little more than unwarranted abuse and unjustified effrontery –characteristics hardly likely to stimulate a rational discussion leading to an improvement of UK/Argentinean Relations, which ultimately would benefit the Kelpers.

    To my mind. those of your ilk are hell-bent on revenge and making matters WORSE. Of course, I understand that other people will share your desire to extract retribution for the former enemy’s dastardly deeds –amongst whom will be the residents of Iraq, perchance?

    Of course thanks to your HIDDEN PERSONA, one doesn’t know if your home is on the Falklands, nor if –in the event of further armed conflict, whether YOU & YOURS would be in firing line. If not, it must so easy to keep opening your big vacuous mouth.

    Jim, in Madrid.

    May 29th, 2014 - 10:28 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Vulcanbomber

    Jim

    The best way for Argentine and Falkland relations, would be for Argentina to respect the Islanders and their right to self determination.

    To impose economic blockades, fishing disputes, invasions and sabre rattling are all far above a little name calling.

    Spain should also learn this lesson over the rock.

    And to answer your last part, I have always been willing to stand for my country and its dependencies, through peace and hostility. Same as generations of my family have on land and sea

    May 29th, 2014 - 08:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Pete Bog

    @24
    Fantastic! Dogggymore sums Stan the ignoramus up-his research on the Falklands war was likely to be as extensive as reading a comic in the back of the car he was humping in while enjoying the sights of Cannock Chase at 2am.

    And a great footballer?

    Well he's a better player than me but I could cite many who could outplay him and who don't make arses of themselves.

    May 29th, 2014 - 09:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • JimHandley

    26 vulgarbombast

    Re:
    “The best way for Argentine and Falkland relations, would be for Argentina to respect the Islanders and their right to self determination…are all far above A LITTLE NAME CALLING” et cetera.”

    Agreed!

    However, your insulting, threatening invective and foulmouthed menaces are hardly a “little name-calling” and certainly not calculated to persuade any brainwashed yet reasonably minded Latin-American to see your point of view. Even I –who totally opposes the official Argentinean posture toward the Kelpers– find your ugly, offensive diatribes utterly OTT. So too –I imagine do many Chileans, who’s successive recent Govt’s, have –for whatever reasons–done much to help the Islanders and also, will those Uruguayan businesspeople who at this very moment are taking tentative steps to open up trade with the Falkands.

    Re:
    “I have always been willing to stand for my country and its dependencies, through peace and hostility. Same as generations of my family have on land and sea.”

    To be willing is one thing. To have actually DONE summat, is quite another. If push were to come to shove, you might find your BODY much less hardy than your SPIRIT! Anyway it hardly matters if you and every other Briton is WILLING to defend the Falklands, or not, ‘cos in reality, our politicians have left our military so depleted that it could hardly fight its way out of a wet paper bag. Furthermore, DISCRETION always was the better part of valour. So why not let those who know more of this matter than you, do the friggin’ talking?–and, judging by the tenor of your intemperate Posts– that’s just about any moderately competent fellow on the block.

    Jim, in Madrid.

    May 29th, 2014 - 10:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0

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