James Bryce
THE UK has dismissed calls by the Spanish prime minister to restart talks over the sovereignty of Gibraltar.
Mariano Rajoy – speaking at the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York – urged Britain to restart talks under the bilateral Brussels process, which excludes Gibraltar.
But the UK responded to the request by insisting that trilateral talks remained the only ‘credible and constructive’ option, despite Spain withdrawing from the process last year.
“The UK restates its longstanding commitment to the people of Gibraltar that it will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another State against their wishes,” read the statement.
“The UK continues to enjoy strong relations with Spain and will continue to work constructively on all Gibraltar-related issues.”
Gibraltar Government responded by insisting that the Rock was ‘entirely united’ against bilateral talks between the UK and Spain.
“Talks under the Brussels process are unacceptable to the Government and to the people of Gibraltar,” said a spokesman.
“Moreover, successive UK Governments have repeatedly made clear to Spain that they will not ‘engage in any discussion about Gibraltar that the Gibraltarians didn’t want us to engage in’.”
So there you have it, again..
As if Rajoy hasn’t got enough to worry about. Just imagine Gibraltar being part of Spain. Overnight, it would go from a thriving place with jobs, investment and actual prospects for its people, to a jobless, underinvested dead zone much like the area one mile over the border.
Self determination is the only way.
I suppose Rajoy must be getting bored with stating the bleedin’ obvious regarding rising unemployment, banking incompetence, financial rescue plans, out of control regional governments, so he entertains himself with a bit of good old sabre rattling with the Brits.
Which part of “NO” does Rajoy not hear?
I am sure Spain knows full well that they will never administer Gibraltar in any way.
This is all an attempt to deflect attention away from the state of Spain in general… broken and failed.
There are parallels here with Argentina and the Falklands.
I wonder how Rajoy would react to the suggestion that Spain should hand its enclaves on the other side of the Med back to Morocco?
Absolutely. A clear case of double standards.
All governments are guilty of double standards, but that does not excuse one over another. As the previous comment says… we do not hear that Spain is relinquishing any of it’s “colonial states”.
At this rate, in a year or two, neither Greece, Spain or even Italy, may not even be part of the Eurozone, and if Europe does not survive in its current state, and countries are forced to leave alltogether, where will Spain be then?
I would suggest Spain is already heading towards another dictatorship, forced on them by a rebellious population. Look at the so called “Arab Spring”: The term frying pan to fire” comes to mind!