The Tripartite Forum which includes Spain, UK and Gibraltar is dead and the incoming Conservative government of Mariano Rajoy is not willing to accept Gibraltar as a third party in sovereignty talks over the disputed British Overseas Territory.
The leader of the ruling GSD in Gibraltar, Peter Caruana said he was confident Spain’s Partido Popular would remain committed to trilateral dialogue, even if not necessarily to the Trilateral Forum (Gib, UK and Spain) itself in its present form.
Just a few days after the Conservative Popular Party swept into power in Spain, the British Government has underscored its long-standing assurance that it will not talk about Gibraltar’s sovereignty against the wishes of its people.
Spain’s Conservative daily ABC diplomatic correspondent is predicting the demise of the Tripartite Forum, involving Spain, UK and Gibraltar, under Mariano Rajoy PP government expected to take office in mid December
A UK-based company named as the Ministry of Defence’s new infrastructure support provider in Gibraltar has also won contracts for other British complexes in the Falkland Islands, Ascension Island and Cyprus as well as Gibraltar.
Gibraltar could be heading for stormy days if as opinion polls indicate Spain’s Partido Popular sweeps into power and has plans to resuscitate the ‘bilateral’ Brussels process by opposition to the current ‘trilateral’ talks.
The governor of Gibraltar dissolved parliament on Thursday and called a general election in the contested British territory for December 8. The event will take place almost three weeks after Spain’s general election November 20 when the Conservatives are expected to sweep into office.
Gibraltar’s new iconic £50m Air Terminal, flagged as an architectural symbol of the Government’s program of infrastructure development and a pivotal piece of the expansion of the local aviation industry, will be opened for viewing to the general public on November 3rd.
UK Europe Minister David Lidington declared that Prime Minister David Cameron “is a firm and loyal friend of Gibraltar and of its people” and the present British Government is “firmly and uncompromisingly committed to the security and the sovereignty of Gibraltar including British Gibraltar Territorial Waters”.
Already in difficulty under Spain’s Socialists, PSOE, the Trilateral forum (Spain, UK and Gibraltar) is unlikely to flourish under a Conservative PP government. That is the view expressed by Luis Ayllon, diplomatic correspondent of the right-leaning ABC Spanish national and a veteran reporter of Gibraltar affairs.