MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Spain insists, co-sovereignty proposal for Gibraltar is “a generous offer”
Spain is seeking “the consensus of everyone” in order to further its sovereignty aspirations over Gibraltar, the country’s Minister for Foreign Affairs said in an interview at the weekend.Alfonso Dastis Quecedo told La Vanguardia newspaper that “there is no doubt” as to Spain’s position in respect of the Rock. “We want that piece of Spain to be reintegrated into Spain,” he said. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesBritain's sovereignty of Gibraltar depends on the Treaty of Utrecht and as the First Minister has reiterated “Speaking to the UK Parliament Foreign Affairs committee in March 2008 Peter Caruana the Chief Minister of Gibraltar noted: Spain does not dispute that Gibraltar is properly, in law, British territory. Therefore, this is not disputed land. She has a political claim to the return of Gibraltar sovereignty, but she does not dispute the fact that in proper international law, she ceded sovereignty to Britain in perpetuity and therefore it is undisputed British sovereign territory.”
Feb 01st, 2017 - 10:19 am - Link - Report abuse +4The fact that Spain may regret an event which was a result of the War of Spanish Succession some 200 hundred years' ago is neither here nor there - the Habsburgs should not have intermarried so much over the period of their tenure of the Crown of Spain!
Quecedo Dastis was responding to questions on Brexit during a wide-ranging interview on Spanish foreign policy.
Feb 01st, 2017 - 10:24 am - Link - Report abuse +4He repeated his belief that the co-sovereignty proposal tabled by Madrid was “a generous offer”.
Is there a valid sovereignty claim?
Or just a fairy tale?
Gibraltar – Some Relevant International Law:
https://www.academia.edu/10575180/Gibraltar_-_Some_Relevant_International_Law
“We want that piece of Spain to be reintegrated into Spain,” he said.
Feb 01st, 2017 - 11:16 am - Link - Report abuse +4and I want Ceuta and Melilla to be reintegrated into Morocco - hypocrites!!
A very generous offer of course; and now it is for the people of Gibraltar (and no-one else) to decide if they wish to take it up.
Feb 01st, 2017 - 11:20 am - Link - Report abuse +3Spanish coronel Juan Yagüe's August 1936 merciful treatment of Badajóz was also a “generous offer.”
Feb 01st, 2017 - 12:04 pm - Link - Report abuse +3That is a good point about Ceuta and Melilla.
Feb 01st, 2017 - 02:19 pm - Link - Report abuse +3Sounds a lot like invading someone's home, then offering to negotiate to let the rightful owner have half of it back.....no way José !
Feb 01st, 2017 - 03:51 pm - Link - Report abuse +4Think I've missed a part of this story, I gather that Spain has offered to have joint sovereignty of Gibraltar despite the Gibraltarians being very clear that they aren't part of Spain and don't want to be part of Spain in the past. And they're now insisting that them getting something for nothing is them being generous.
Feb 01st, 2017 - 07:17 pm - Link - Report abuse +4What I think I've missed is the bit where the Gibraltarians told Madrid to stick their “offer” where the sun don't shine (and I don't mean Birmingham).
I'm beginning to understand where the argentines got it.
Feb 01st, 2017 - 07:58 pm - Link - Report abuse +5If Spain has offered to have joint sovereignty of Gibraltar ,
Feb 01st, 2017 - 09:14 pm - Link - Report abuse +4Cant Gibraltar offer to have joint sovereignty of Spain,
surely this is only fair,
if not tell Spain to soddy offy,
Soon we will be free to retaliate with Spain, until now our hands , feet , and speech seems to be prohibited. by the EU.
Brit Bob is a funny man, he believes himself an academic with these articles that seem written by a high school kid. No proof, no substance, no argument. Barely one page long.
Feb 02nd, 2017 - 03:01 am - Link - Report abuse -5Pure laugh anyway.
How much time do you think the brits will be able to protect gibraltar from spanish arms? maybe a couple of centuries, I would not bet more.
LukeDig
Feb 02nd, 2017 - 10:32 am - Link - Report abuse +4Why don't you challenge something I've written?
@Luke. Just the sort of 'thought' the argies had. Remember Francois Mitterand? French president. He told his psychoanalyst that Margaret Thatcher threatened to use nuclear weapons on argieland in '82 if he didn't 'co-operate'. He co-operated. Lucky, eh? Of course, Britain has a policy of not being the first to use nuclear weapons. However, policies change. Britain sent over a hundred ships and upwards of 10,000 troops around 8,000 miles to the South Atlantic in defence of less than 2,000 people for whom it was responsible. Imagine what it might do in defence of over 30,000.
Feb 02nd, 2017 - 11:01 am - Link - Report abuse +1@ lukey “....protect gibraltar from spanish arms? ”
Feb 02nd, 2017 - 11:59 am - Link - Report abuse +4I am quite certain the spanish arms he refers to are the famous Gamo air rifles, available in calibres .177 and .22
Some of the Gamo air rifles include a noise moderator device, something that could be valuable during pronunciamientos from the Spanish.
@luke
Feb 02nd, 2017 - 02:05 pm - Link - Report abuse +4If we can send a mighty military 8,000 miles to Argentina,
just think what we can send around the corner to Spain.
Betfred will never accept it.
Feb 02nd, 2017 - 03:29 pm - Link - Report abuse +1@PukePig
Feb 02nd, 2017 - 08:49 pm - Link - Report abuse +2If you think it'll take a couple of centuries, what's it to you, or do you intend being around when the Spaniards try it ?
Looks like 1982 will repeat itself in 2217...
L'Afrique commence aux Pyrénées.
Feb 03rd, 2017 - 03:51 am - Link - Report abuse 0(Africa begins at the Pyrenees).
On a lighter note,
Feb 03rd, 2017 - 02:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Apparently more Spanish ships were caught in Gibraltar waters and told to leave,
but the remainers want them to stay.??
Hammerblow!
Feb 03rd, 2017 - 02:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The Catalan nation will not appreciate that! I always believed it was correct to say “ L'Afrique commence aux riviére Ebro!”
Grassonet, tens raó. Es veritat que l'Àfrica comença al sud de l'Ebre. En el llibre escrit pel meu professor (durant el règim de Franco) va aparèixer aquesta frase (“L'Afrique commence aux Pyrénées”). És sorprenent que tal observació no va ser censurat pel govern de Franco.
Feb 03rd, 2017 - 03:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Lukedig
Feb 04th, 2017 - 12:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“ No proof, no substance, no argument. Barely one page long.”
Where's your counter-evidence then, that Spain have a definitive unchallengeable case to co-own Gibraltar?
And are Spain going to go to the ICJ?
“We want that piece of Spain to be reintegrated into Spain“
Many Catalonians want to leave Spain.
”How much time do you think the brits will be able to protect gibraltar from spanish arms?”
As long as necessary.
When Catalonia gain independence within the next 25 years, bang goes Spain's wealthiest part. Even with Catalonia, Spain's economy is basically, bust.
So when Catalonia waves adious, and Morrocco takes Ceuta and Mellila, when they can't fish in UK waters, when their salad crops fail again, and when the Brits living in Spain leave with their money, how are Spain going to buy arms?
They can't even afford to properly upgrade to Typhoons.
Gibraltar is safe from Spain, besides what recent combat experience have the Spanish had?
The Royal Marines landed on the wrong beach a few years back and the Spanish crapped themselves.
By the way, are Spain spending 2% of their GDP on their military as required from NATO?
LukeDig
Feb 04th, 2017 - 04:01 pm - Link - Report abuse +1The British have been defending Gibraltar from Spain for the past 300 years.
Spain has, on numerous occasions, tried to steal Gibraltar or starve them out. They have never succeeded.
It is doubtful that any future attempt would be any more successful, as they Spanish are too afraid to get involved in an actual fight where someone might shoot back at them.
I don't mean the Spanish military...I mean the Spanish government. After the Madrid bombing look how they reinforced the terrorists behaviour by doing exactly what they wanted, and pulled Spanish troops out of the middle east.
It's very easy to say the Spanish could take Gibraltar, but the reality is that Spain itself would have to suffer the consequences of such an act...including Spain itself being attacked.
You see the UK can reach Spain very easily...the Spanish haven't got the same reach at all, and could threaten the UK.
So no, Spain could not steal Gibraltar. The ONLY way for Spain to gain sovereignty over Gibraltar is IF the people of Gibraltar wish it...which they don't.
As for the Treaty of Utrecht...it was superseded by the UN Charter...so it is completely defunct...only the people of Gibraltar have the right to determine their own political status.
Just like the people of Ceuta and Melilla are the only ones to decide if those territories should be returned to Morocco.
@peatbog “.....Gibraltar is safe from Spain, besides what recent combat experience have the Spanish had?”
Feb 04th, 2017 - 05:23 pm - Link - Report abuse +1They, els espanyols, have live-fire combat exercises every year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke8uNuJSIrg
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