Spanish negotiator at forum analyses relations with Gibraltar * Airport and Algeciras port could lead regional economic boom
F. Oliva reports
Spain’s Director General for Europe José Pons yesterday declared that the time had come for the three sides involved in the Gibraltar question to show “political, human and mental courage.”
Quoting one of the founding fathers of the European Union Jean Monet, Sr Pons said the three sides had to think that “the future belongs to all.”
During an end of term conference for law students at the University of Cadiz on Friday night, Sr Pons declared that in the face of an anomaly such as the existence of a colony like Gibraltar, it was important that “at least people on both sides could get on with their normal business, obtain benefits and not just the disadvantages of an anomalous situation.”
And he said the function of the Tripartite Forum after the tensions and verbal escalation of the Tercentenary, was “to search for normality for citizens in a situation which is anything but normal.”
Sr Pons argued that isolated, inconvenient problems as may come up occasionally, should not be magnified or be seen as throwing the current diplomatic process into a crisis. Referring to the Monarch flight diversion, he said the Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry (Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores MAE) was still investigating the incident, and reiterated that important and much wider matters were still under negotiation.
But Sr Pons assured Gibraltarians that there was no-one in the Spanish Foreign Ministry who woke up each morning with the malicious thought ‘what can I do today to harm the Rock?’ or believed in making life as difficult as possible for Gibraltar.
“We are all European citizens with rights and there is much more that unites us than separates us. Spain does not intend to impose or bully anyone. This is not the political reality we move in.”
He also called for the emergence of a new relationship that can be built on mutual understanding, respect, the need to overcome permanent frustration and confrontation, and not based on “the dynamics of fear that does not lead anywhere.”
Sr Pons said that if we carry on the way we are, “we can look forward to another 300 years of sovereignty claim, more disagreement, more obstacles and more problems for all.” He argued:
“The future of Gibraltar is not independent of Britain and Spain [whatever some may want], because we have the Treaty of Utrecht and UN resolutions that say what they say, and not what some others would like them to say. That is the reality.”
Sr Pons said Gibraltar is not a nation nor a state, but a non-self governing territory that has its rights. However, these rights are not exercised in a vacuum, and have to be placed in a political, legal, social, and human framework that cannot be done away with.
“Obviously everyone can ask for the moon, and they have the theoretical right to do so. But to ask for what cannot be attained simply produces a feeling of melancholy. One cannot lose sight of what the terms of reference are.”
He continued:
“Clearly, Spain could not one day fulfil its aspirations without taking account of Britain’s legal and political realities and therefore against the will of the people of Gibraltar. At the same time, Gibraltar could not achieve its aspirations without counting with Spain.”
Sr Pons said that Britain’s obligation to negotiate with Madrid to resolve a colonial situation did not nullify or eliminate the people of Gibraltar, and it was absurd to think Gibraltarians were citizens without a voice, without feelings or without preferences. The great challenge, he remarked, is to find “a meeting point” between the demands of all the sides.
“There is something that certainly unites us above all: to achieve prosperity and progress for the region,” he declared.
The Tripartite Forum
Sr Pons proposed that the role of the Tripartite Forum be analysed in the negative and posed the questions “where and how would we be if the Tripartite Forum did not exist? What was the situation a year and a half ago?” which he then proceeded to answer.
He said the prevailing political climate was one of confrontation and disagreement, even of insults, [recalling how the Chief Minister had been called an ape], where it was impossible to negotiate or advance on any issue and with our backs turned on each other. By contrast, now all sides were talking, working to obtain practical and beneficial agreements and sharing an interest in the well being of citizens on both sides. This was being done, he continued, without any side giving away their basic positions and without any violations of what diplomatic jargon calls “the red lines.”
“The forum works, it is going to yield results and the measure of success that is obtained depends only on its participants,” he declared.
Sr Pons said that if we achieve a good airport deal and reached a good co-operation agreement between the ports of Gibraltar (Gibraltar Port Authority) and Algeciras (Algeciras Port Authority), the latter would require a strong legal basis which would allow it to operate, plus modern road and railway infrastructure to the area, “it would be possible to imagine a much better communicated zone with a large space for the re-export of goods that would generate important [valued added] benefits to the region.”
He said it was this type of thinking that could generate practical results, wealth and economic development that was of interest to the citizens, and welcomed the constructive approach from Chief Minister Peter Caruana and the British Government.
Sr Pons proclaimed that the present was “a time for hope,” while the future should be seen as one of “coming together.”
No to Nationalism
We should all work so that the future is “a future of agreement” where we discard everything that has proved to be useless.
“Nationalism,” he said, “is no good. Neither Gibraltarian nationalism nor Spanish nationalism in exacerbated form. This only produces ideological and emotional entrenchment, fear and frustration and that is precisely what we all have to overcome.”
He said the first thing that nationalists do is to “invent a past” that never existed, make claims that are wholly impossible in the present, and imagine a rosy, marvellous future which is unattainable. “That cannot be the basis to build a future of agreements,” he stated.
Sr Pons went on to analyse the emergence of nationalism in Gibraltar and attributed it to the frontier closure of 1969, noting that the Spanish Government had been moved by “healthy and unhealthy” reasons just as there were healthy feelings and more complicated feelings on the Gibraltar side. “But that does not get us anywhere,” he declared.
The Treaty of Utrecht
Sr Pons said that at the risk of stating the obvious, some things needed to be said. Firstly that Gibraltar was not Spanish “even though not everyone follows this line of thinking and some in Spain might think it is, but that we cannot have the Rock in our hands.”
He said the territory - except the isthmus - had been ceded under Utrecht to Britain in perpetuity (article 10) in 1713, while Spain had been granted first option to recover it if Britain ever wanted to relinquish possession. From that point of view, there can be no further discussion.
Secondly that Gibraltarians “do not have to naturally want to become Spanish”, since nobody wants to modify the features of their identity or the legal status that identifies them, and that can only happen through a process of consent not by decree.
“We should not think that by saying why don’t they want to be Spanish - this is something we can analyse at a later stage - that they are going to become Spanish. It is not a natural process,” he said.
Thirdly, he referred to the existence of two Gibraltars, the fortress and castle ceded under Utrecht, and the isthmus that was subsequently occupied by Britain and for which it has no legal title to justify sovereignty rights.
Sr Pons said it was an incorrect interpretation to deny historical validity to the treaty, because some of its aspects such as the ban on Jews and Moors taking up residence in Gibraltar, are no longer valid or make any sense.
“If Utrecht did not exist, tomorrow we could send in the Guardia Civil or the army to recover territory that was occupied by a foreign power during a war, to regain it in the same way even if it was 300 years later. Clearly, that is not our intention in any way.”
Sr Pons argued that the treaty was still valid because it was recognised by the British Government, the United Nations, and the international community and that to refuse to accept this leads to frustration.
Brussels and Airport Agreements
The Spanish diplomat later referred to the Brussels Agreement of 1984 which was the first time UK had agreed to initiate a process that included not just negotiations of sovereignty in the plural, but also a mechanism for cross-border co-operation. However, he noted that when this is “demonised” by Gibraltar the second chapter of the agreement which refers to the setting up of co-operation and dialogue between the Campo and the Rock, is ignored or forgotten.
Some people had also believed that with the opening of the frontier it would be easier to reach agreements since Spain was now a democracy. However, this had turned out not to be the case. He said that within the climate of frustration some optimism was generated as a result of the 1987 Airport Agreement but eventually this also failed to materialise as it was vetoed by the local government.
The election of the GSLP (Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party) government puts an end to Gibraltar participation in the UK delegation.
Now as a result of the tripartite forum negotiations on the airport, Sr Pons said he had found out many things from that time, and was making sure they did not repeat the same mistakes. A new joint use airport agreement was “on course” and could be just months away, he added.
Pensions and Frontier Flow
Sr Pons concluded his intervention expressing confidence that a once and for all solution acceptable to the three sides for the payment of updated pensions to former Spanish workers on the Rock would be agreed by the forum. He said this was a sensitive human issue of maximum priority.
As regards frontier flow he said it was impossible to avoid congestion at peak times like in any other city, but with goodwill and resources the delays would be improved. Greater mechanisms for police co-operation were also envisaged toward this aim.
Gibraltar, he said, could contribute to alleviate the traffic density by increasing taxation on alcohol and tobacco. Conceding that governments can run their affairs as they want, he remarked that nowadays tobacco should not be a mainstay of an economy.
Progress towards an element of solution on the issue of telecommunications was also coming through.
Spain still pressing UK on Submarine Reassurance
Jose Pons, in a separate report is also quoted as saying that “Spain cannot stop vessels from docking at the British naval base”. But he said that Madrid will continue to press for a written reassurance that it will not be UK policy to take troubled nuclear powered vessels to the Rock.
From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801
Related Articles and Links:
Statement by The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Baroness Symons, announcing a Joint Statement on the establishment of a new forum for dialogue on Gibraltar - the now so called ‘Tripartite Talks’ - dated 28th October 2004
27 October 2005 - Madrid pressed to explain return to Tangier diversion
20 October 2005 - Sovereignty status quo will be unaltered by Ariport deal
15 October 2005 - ‘Concessions’ for Airport deal, but not on any fundamentals - Caruana
14 October 2005 - They can talk until the cows come home, says Bossano
12 October 2005 - Tight lipped, but Gib-Spain-UK report ‘progress’
12 October 2005 - Getting there, but not there yet…
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In a statement today, Friends of the Earth Gibraltar Branch say that they have started on a series of meetings introducing the Group to various organisations on the Rock .
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