The rock’s government wants open borders with Spain to make life easier for its residents. But there are no further rounds of talks in the calendar.
LONDON — Negotiations to strike a Brexit deal for Gibraltar are stuck between a Rock and a hard place.
Four-way talks between London, Madrid, Brussels and Gibraltar began in 2021 in a bid to hammer out one of the trickiest remaining issues thrown up by Brexit: how a 6.8km² rock off the southern coast of Spain can function outside the EU.
A British territory since 1713, Gibraltar’s economy is heavily integrated with Spain’s. But since Brexit, border controls have become more onerous — making life harder for the 15,000 people who commute across its frontier daily.
To solve the problem, the Rock’s government wants to do away with border checks.
While big questions remain over how the system will work in practice, talks seemed close to a conclusion ahead of last year’s snap U.K. general election.
But the so-called “quad” of top negotiators has since met just once — on Sept. 19 — with no further rounds in the calendar for the last four months.
One EU diplomat said of the talks: “It’s basically stuck, is our assessment.”
Another person, an EU official, said that “nothing is foreseen” in terms of a deal or immediate further rounds of talks. Both were granted anonymity to speak on a sensitive matter.
In May last year Conservative Foreign Office minister David Rutley had told MPs to expect a deal “over the coming months, possibly even sooner.”
The negotiations, which were in their “political” phase, however had to be suspended during the U.K. general election campaign, which resulted in a Labour landslide and a change of administration in London.
‘The last sticking points’
MPs were told last year that the territory would likely have to align with some EU rules on product standards — while “juxtaposed” passport controls similar to those used on the Eurostar would be installed at its airport.
Speaking to broadcaster RTVE earlier this month, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said: “Right now, there’s a particular issue on the free movement of people and another on the free movement of goods which are the last sticking points to us being able to reach agreement.”
Albares said there was a determination on both sides to reach a deal, adding: “Those of us who have to decide on this are agreed that we have to get there and reach agreement for Gibraltar.”
U.K. officials say progress was made at the September meeting, but would not be drawn on why no further quad meetings had been scheduled. The quad meetings consist of the U.K. and Spanish foreign ministers, Gibraltar’s chief minister, and European Commission Brexit lead Maroš Šefčovič.
A spokesperson for the government of Gibraltar said it remained “committed to securing a mutually beneficial treaty that is safe and secure for Gibraltar, and which crosses none of either party’s red lines.”
They added: “Through dialogue, both negotiating teams have already found solutions to problems that seemed insurmountable.
“Gibraltar continues to prepare on a daily basis for further rounds of negotiations, which it anticipates will be convened soon, in order to work jointly to overcome the obstacles that remain.”
A spokesperson for the U.K. Foreign Office said that all sides of the negotiations agreed on “the importance of concluding an EU-U.K. Treaty as soon as possible.”
“The U.K. is committed to working with the Government of Gibraltar to conclude a treaty which protects sovereignty, U.K. military autonomy and secures future prosperity for Gibraltar and the region,” they said.
“We are steadfast in our support for Gibraltar and will only agree to terms that the Government of Gibraltar is content with.”
