MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Gibraltar logged 431 Spanish vessels' incursions into territorial waters
The number of unlawful incursions by Spanish state vessels into British Gibraltar territorial waters rose last year compared to 2014. But the number of serious incidents tailed off in the final months of 2015 against the context of diplomatic efforts to increase cooperation at sea, according to a report published in the Gibraltar Chronicle. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesTreaties of Imperial Times no longer in existence, can not apply in the XXI century.
Jan 14th, 2016 - 10:01 am - Link - Report abuse 0Consequently, those “illegal” incursions lack validity because those waters are in fact Spanish and not British. The time will come when Albion will have to relinquish that settlement. It's a matter of when, not if. Maybe the editor hasn't noticed that England is a little island and not an Empire anymore.
@1 HaHaHa you jest noble sir, when has the UK ever given up anything especially to the Spaniards. When Spain gives up their North African colonies then perhaps ( just perhaps ) the UK will give up Gib, but I would't hold your breath. You are such a hypocrit. Get out of Argentina as that is a colony of Spain.
Jan 14th, 2016 - 10:19 am - Link - Report abuse 0@1
Jan 14th, 2016 - 11:22 am - Link - Report abuse 0For England you should say UK. We have always been a small(ish) island, the physical size of UK hasn't changed. True we no longer control the biggest empire the world has, or will ever see but we are still, according to a Chinese report, the only Global Power in the world, behind the only Super Power, the USA.
Spain doesn't even make it as a regional power and Argentina just doesn't make the list at all.. Gib will always be British as will The Falklands.. Grow up, open your eyes and smell the coffee!
@1. Perhaps you could inform us. Are you ignorant or are you lying?
Jan 14th, 2016 - 12:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The only party that relies on that ancient treaty is spain. That also lies. The relevant treaty says that the waters within the Port of Gibraltar go with the ceded territory.
Unfortunately for you, and spain, there are other considerations. Until 1964 territorial waters were defined by cannon shot. The distance a cannon could fire a shot, provided a cannon was mounted at the relevant point on the shore. In 1964, the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone Done at Geneva on 29 April 1958 came into force. You can find the relevant LAW in Article 1. It was one of four conventions that are known as UNCLOS I.
But then, between 1973 and 1982, another Convention was drawn up that came into force in 1994. This is known as UNCLOS III. It determined that the breadth of the territorial sea is 12 nautical miles, although this can be extended. In the case of states such as spain and Britain, where the territory on one side of a bay is owned by one state and the territory on the other side is owed by the other, the territorial limit is the median line. In this case, some 2.5 miles.
As an afterthought, Britain would be quite happy for spain to announce that it no longer recognises the Treaty of Utrecht. It is only a provision of that Treaty that might require Britain, if it relinquished sovereignty, to offer sovereignty to spain. Repudiate the treaty by all means.
431, such a small number. Dont moan about it.
Jan 14th, 2016 - 12:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Im sure come 2017 there will be zero illegal incursions into those waters.
Just as there will be zero illegal land traffic from non-eu gib into Spain.
Both will be perfectly legal and in direct propirtion.
5. Not in your lifetime.
Jan 14th, 2016 - 01:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“That incident was described as “outrageous” by the British and Gibraltar governments at the time and led to diplomatic efforts to defuse tension and focus instead on cooperation.”
Jan 14th, 2016 - 01:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Well that worked, NOT.
Perhaps stronger ships for the UK and more balls for the UK Government may work, the Spanish are, after all, a bunch of cowards in funny costumes who are allowed access to firearms.
SCRDMGL: WHO SAID DON T=EXIST?? YOUR BRAIN >>? APE
Jan 14th, 2016 - 02:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I have said this before, and never tire of saying it,
Jan 14th, 2016 - 02:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Spain, like Argentina will do what it wants-when it wants- and to whom it wants
until someone stops them.
Sink the bloody ships,
then see what unmighty Spain has to say.
@8 George, do try and write in English so that we can understand you, it must be really frustrating thinking what to say and not actually making sense when saying it. Have a nice day.
Jan 14th, 2016 - 02:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Latins are useless at sea battles. Remember 1588 and 1805! When the chips are down the Spanish will run.
Jan 14th, 2016 - 03:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0In 25 years Gib will still be British and other small territories will join as BOTs to be part of the club with the best human values in the world.
#6 - Do you think GB will stay in the EU ?
Jan 14th, 2016 - 03:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If yes that kind of puts an end to the many visions foreseen on this site of the EU collapsing. Folks in here will have to shut it and GB will get back in line and be a good little cooperative EU asset.
If no, well you better believe Spain will bargain unrestricted travel out of the theme park in exchange for many liberties, including an end to this “illegal incursion” nonsense.
No Spanish ships entering the waters = no Gibites leaving the theme park.
Stop a vessel, gate gets closed for 24 hours. No EU to cry to.
Very much so one of these in my lifetime.
2017 to be exact.
@6
Jan 14th, 2016 - 03:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Depends on what deal Camoron makes ref: the immigrants. We don't want the dregs of society entering the UK. We must be able to choose who comes into the UK. Anyway too early to tell what the population will accept.
@10 Gordo
Jan 14th, 2016 - 04:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Smeagle is doing Sauron's bidding, and speaking in the Elven tongue
What must be realised is Spain needs us more than we need them, in fact we don't need them at all. In or out of the Eu we buy hundreds of thousands of tons of salad, fruit and vegetable pruduce, without us Spain would crash.
Jan 14th, 2016 - 04:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 015
Jan 14th, 2016 - 06:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Its not the fruit and veg they will be worried about. 60 million tourists visited Spain in 2014, a full quarter of which were British. That is also a quarter of the UK population.
All of those people could quite happily go to Greece if the UK government chose to attach a levy to Spanish travel. How keen would Spain be to lose a quarter of its tourist industry?
Conversely, we don't need a single thing from Spain which we cannot easily get elsewhere.
true.
Jan 14th, 2016 - 07:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 016
Jan 14th, 2016 - 10:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Agreed
“Treaties of Imperial Times no longer in existence, can not apply in the XXI century.
Jan 15th, 2016 - 12:35 am - Link - Report abuse 0Consequently, those “illegal” incursions lack validity because those waters are in fact Spanish and not British.”
If you were right, then a state of war exists between The United Kingdom and Spain.
If you were right, then Menorca belongs to The United Kingdom.
What are you smoking in order to become so ignorant?
@5. I wonder what you're talking about.
Jan 15th, 2016 - 11:52 am - Link - Report abuse 0@12. Here's a concept. UK leaves the undemocratic, overbearing, thieving EU. The UK doesn't need the EU. How many years did we do without?
Here's the good bit. Every spanish vessel illegal entering BGTW gets sunk. The whole of BGTW is within artillery range. Roll on.
What “gate” are you referring to? The one at the frontier that Gibraltar will have already closed? Entry to Gibraltar via Morocco and France?
What a great plan.
Jan 15th, 2016 - 08:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 02017 looks set to be entertaining.
BRITON: I never get tire to say it, who stopped us?? chech under the atlantic yojur dumb bout 7 sunk ship, idiot!!!.plus other that were out of the game, remember?? GOLFA CRONIE:frustration must you feel cause you cant think right, and knowledge is a good pill dumb boy.ICEPILOT: WHAT I REMMEBER IS BLAS DE LESO AT SEA.BRITWORKER: JUST A THIRD DUMB ASS BRIT, YOU ARENT THE ONLY ONE , you can start saying good bye now and go to another nation to get drunk and breaks things up as usual.DON ALBERTO:: then the treaty bet argentina and chile got not validity alt all, did you tried BILLIKEN MAGAZINE??try and read it.
Jan 16th, 2016 - 12:30 am - Link - Report abuse 0@19 Don Alberto
Jan 16th, 2016 - 03:26 am - Link - Report abuse 0Eventually, Spain's internal issues and domestic politics, will overwhelm them to the point that Gibraltar will not matter. Britain will support Gibraltar sovereignty. If Britain and Gibraltar leave the EU - it will be bad for Spain, and Spain's neighbours.
They will fight over market share of tourism scraps left to them, with no subsidies for their industries.
Catalonia will inevitably separate.
That will keep them preoccupied and they'll forget about Gibraltar.
@ 23 Troy Tempest
Jan 16th, 2016 - 01:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0can't agree with you there.
The worse it gets, the more you need an external enemy, exactly as we observe in Venezuela, as could be observed in kirchnerista Argentina, etc.
I see your point.
Jan 16th, 2016 - 03:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Do you think it will reach a point where Spain actually does something, before things unravel at home?
I feel absolutely certain that Spain will continue its theater thunder and do nothing concrete except these intrusion needle stings, which can be stopped if the UK warns that firing at a Gib boat will result in the sinking of the perpetrating ship, and then actually fire back.
Jan 16th, 2016 - 07:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Spain cannot risk a real confrontation, resulting in the loss of so many billion Euros from British tourists.
Munich 1938 taught us all we need to know about appeasement.
Something our government seems to have forgotten abt lately.
Jan 16th, 2016 - 08:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 0especially where the EU is concerned.
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