The Quartet with Gibraltar and Spain ends after “significant progress” has been made.
Years after the United Kingdom leaves the EU in 2020, the last piece of the Brexit puzzle is starting to fall. This last part of the group's relationship with Gibraltar is now ready after a quartet of sub-states. The President of the European Commission, Maroz Cefcovic, the Foreign Ministers of Spain and the UK, José Manuel Alvarez and David Cameron, and Prime Minister Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo.
“General political principles regarding airports, goods and movement have been agreed,” they promised. Joint Statement, after this encounter in a form never seen before. These are some of the thornier points of agreement between European union And this KingdomUnited According to the Spanish minister, neither Álvarez nor Picardo wanted to elaborate on the matter because “negotiations are at their peak and we want to protect them.”
To raise it, highlight it Picardo, there is “very little time,” though he refrained from specifying an exact date. However, in their statements to the press, both emphasized the crowd's “positive” and “constructive” attitude. Negotiations are expected to continue in the coming weeks.
According to Picardo, the agreement will bring a “new energy and a new relationship” with Spain, which will begin Tear down the fence It separates British territory from the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. “This agreement is good for the whole people of Campo de Gibraltar, including the 300,000 Spanish citizens who live there and who are the ones who guide what we do all the time,” he argues. Alvarez. The Spanish Foreign Minister also insists that the aforementioned agreement “fully protects our sovereign position.” In fact, there was no discussion of who owned what in the negotiation of the contract Rock.
Last frictions
Picardo explains that the first agreement concluded between the United Kingdom and the EU at the end of 2020 “continues to be based on the New Year agreement”, but it has not turned cold. Text. In this way, they try to undo A condition that continues for more than three years.
The removal of the fence is one of Gibraltar's major changes and will ease circulation. 15,000 border guards cross it every day. Border controls will be transferred to Gibraltar port and airport. Further, FrontexThe European Agency, which controls the group's borders, will also be responsible for overseeing the Gibraltarians. New Year's Eve deal.
Gibraltar was one of the British territories and then Brexit, now has a land border with the EU, as happened in Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom has left the European Union February 2020, but the debate over what happened to its land borders continued for years. oh Final Agreement It was completed a year ago to regulate the situation in Northern Ireland.
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