The Rock shakes hands with Spain, and everyone is a winner

Just three years after Gibraltarians roundly rejected Anglo-Spanish attempts to impose a joint-sovereignty deal on the Rock, and just 18 months after embarking on sensitive negotiations, a ground-breaking ‘tripartite’ agreement has been reached that signals an end to the long-standing Spanish policy of economic siege and restrictions.

The agreements reached in Cordoba on 18 September between Britain, Spain and Gibraltar — note and Gibraltar — may not be as dramatic as the border opening of February 1985, but their significance is at least as profound for the long-term resolution of the thorny Gibraltar question.

It is no coincidence that it has been socialist PSOE governments that have been behind both these progressive initiatives, and which have now shifted the debate on Gibraltar onto completely new ground.

Thirty-seven years ago Gibraltar was given a new Constitution. In retaliation, and after years of increasing restrictions imposed by him, General Franco closed the frontier gates that separate the Rock from La Linea. Thousands of Spanish labourers, mostly MoD employees on the Rock, lost their jobs and had their pension fund frozen.

That old wound will now be healed under the Cordoba pact. A realistic financial offer is being made to elderly pensioners, former Spanish workers, and their families that will settle a debt Franco created. Spain bears some of that cost with the UK by waiving a claim for millions which, under EU rules, Britain should have paid her for the health care of Spaniards who hold exclusively non-Spanish pensions.

A significant benefit is the goodwill that this arrangement generates in the neighbouring Campo de Gibraltar where Andalucia’s unemployment figures peak in the bordering town of La Linea de la Concepcion.

But psychologically the most important improvement will be the introduction of extra lanes, staff and red and green channels at the frontier itself.

For years Spain has opened and closed the flow of traffic across the border, depending on the political climate of the day. An end to the use of this device as a regular stick amongst very few carrots will, undoubtedly, lead to a rapid sense of normality in relations and ease the access for thousands of Spanish and hundreds of British cross-border workers. It will also encourage an already sizeable investment by Gibraltarians in Spain, where many with very small flats on the Rock can buy more sizeable homes at reasonable prices.

The political hot-potato is, nevertheless, the ‘enhanced’ use of the airport. That adjective is chosen to avoid words like ‘joint’ or ‘shared’ or any language that would imply that Gibraltar has given up any sovereignty, but at the same time keeps Spain’s claim intellectually intact.

Whilst Spain and the UK stand by the Treaty of Utrecht as governing sovereignty, Spain argues that the isthmus upon which the runway is built is outside that Treaty and ‘illegally occupied’. That claim is rejected by Britain and Gibraltar and this dispute led to the airport being excluded from the EU liberalisation process that began almost 20 years ago.

Inevitably these strained conditions have led to a very complex process of discussions. Whilst Spain has insisted on passengers travelling to and from La Linea being able to use the airport without passing though Gibraltar immigration and customs controls (the same is true for cargo), Gibraltar politics was adamant that there could not be a presence of Spanish officials on the isthmus.

The solution has been a combination of using a commercial company to run the airport and an architecture that takes the splitting of these political hairs to an extreme. For example Spain will have an office on the Spanish side of the frontier fence but from it exercise an inspection of passengers who are transiting through the terminal in an area which is on the Gibraltar side and under Gibraltar’s control.

The final element is both practical and symbolic. Spain has agreed to accept the use of the +350 international dialling code, thus allowing mobile roaming and easing the pressure on the telephone system in Gibraltar. For Gibraltarians it also is Madrid’s recognition of Gibraltar’s specific international identity.

Where will this take the Gibraltar question? In terms of sovereignty the pace of expectation on all sides has been slowed down. Spain has learnt that ‘consent’ is central to any success, but it is also keenly aware that developments with Gibraltar can have implications for their highly sensitive constitutional debate with the Basque country and Catalonia. The focus instead is in creating a climate of normality in the region and, ultimately, trust.

In reality the main win for the region — and Gibraltar in particular — is the message globally to investors that Gibraltar is moving forward and the weight of the traditional Spanish claim is no longer a burden. But it is, as gaming leader Victor Chandler has pointed out, La Linea which is likely to enjoy most rapid investment and growth simply because it has more land resources. It will mean that the Rock and the Campo will begin to see that they can achieve more in a symbiotic social and economic relationship than at loggerheads over historic claims.

Following the agreement Miguel Angel Moratinos, Spain’s foreign minister, highlighted the importance of creating trust and recognising the ‘consent of citizens’. More significantly he had taken the unprecedented step of sitting at a table where Gibraltar, represented by its chief minister Peter Caruana, was a third party alongside the United Kingdom, represented by Europe minister Geoff Hoon.

Curiously, this process is undoubtedly partly the fruit of the misconceived and failed attempt at imposing a joint sovereignty deal. That episode taught Britain and Spain that the future of Gibraltar cannot be imposed on Gibraltarians.

The agreements, running alongside the new constitution that has been agreed with Britain (a referendum is expected before Christmas), are a triumph for the punctilious political steering with which Mr Caruana has pursued the difficult issue of relations with Spain. Gibraltarians have always known that resisting Spain cannot mean turning our backs to her.

This is a watershed moment because it will finally allow good relations to develop at a natural pace. ‘Cordoba’ has been a triumph for the principle of democratic consent and the recognition that people’s rights must take precedence in what remains an historic dispute over sovereignty.

With this diplomatic trophy under Caruana’s belt, an election in Gibraltar no doubt looms, perhaps for the spring.

Dominique Searle is editor of the Gibraltar Chronicle.