Thursday's “Stronger in Europe” rally at Gibraltar at which UK Prime Minister David Cameron was due to speak, was cancelled at the last minute after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed in an attack in West Yorkshire. The news of the fatal attack came shortly after Cameron arrived t the Rock.
UK exit from the European Union would be “a disaster” that would risk creating “an economic and social rift” between Gibraltar and the neighbouring region in Spain, the Cross-Frontier Group said in a report published by the Gibraltar Chronicle. The group’s president, Ángel Serrano, warned that Brexit posed a serious risk to employment and investment on both sides of the border.
Conservative member of the European Parliament, MEP, Julie Girling has rubbished suggestions by the Acting Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, that Gibraltar will have to contemplate a joint UK/Spain sovereignty arrangement in the event of a Leave vote in the European Union referendum.
Spain's anti-austerity party Podemos and its allies could leapfrog the Socialists in this month's repeat general election to become the country's main opposition, three polls released over the weekend.
Britain's Foreign Secretary's arrival and departure flights into Gibraltar last week were not allowed to overfly Spanish territory and flew over Portugal instead. This was one of several hostility incidents of Spanish officials towards London. The overfly ban was confirmed to Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation by the Convent (Governor's residence in the Rock).
Spain's King Felipe VI signed the decree dissolving parliament following December's inconclusive general election. As no political parties were able to coalesce their support into a coalition government in time for the deadline, new elections will be held on June 26.
Spain will hold a repeat of national elections in June following the failure of a last-ditch effort by King Felipe VI to prod bickering Spanish politicians to form a new government. The King chose not to ask any candidates he interviewed this week to try to form a government and break a stalemate that has left Spain with a caretaker government in the wake of inconclusive elections in December.
The British Ambassador to Madrid has defended Gibraltar against attempts by the Spanish Foreign Minister to portray Gibraltar as a tax haven. In a letter published in El País Simon Manley says Jose Manuel García-Margallo is mistaken in his view, pointing out that Gibraltar has taken important steps to ensure that its tax system is open and fair.
Gibraltar and Falkland Islands flatly deny any “colonial situations” as was referred to by the foreign ministers of Spain and Argentina, and regret profoundly that two large countries with democratic credentials “seek to gang up to bully two very small territories and in the process completely ignore the right of their people to choose what they want to be”.
Argentina and Spain have decided to re-launch bilateral mechanisms that have been “asleep” for too long, promoting political and trade relations, said Argentine foreign minister Susana Malcorra who on Monday met with her visiting Spanish peer, Jose Manuel García/Margallo.