John Culatto
LA Linea will be the setting of the third round of meetings over Gibraltar’s relationship with the EU after Brexit later on in the month.
The discussion concerns the Memorandums of Understanding signed between the UK and Spain over how Gibraltar will be treated after December 31.
The main goal of the Gibraltar Government is to continue to operate a free-flowing frontier.
This is covered in the citizens’ rights MoU, with the other agreements supporting it with action on tobacco, police cooperation and tax.
Previous rounds of meetings were held in Algeciras and Gibraltar with officials from the UK and Spain attending.
At the same time the Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo has continued his trips to Madrid over the last few weeks.
These are different talks to the technical ones being held locally as they are at a higher political level.
After the previous meetings in February and June, this third round will take place on October 20-21.
However, in a recent visit to the area, the Spanish Foreign Minister has said any agreement depends to a great extent on an EU-UK future agreement.
In the latest international development, the EU could take the UK to a European court for threatening to pull out of an international agreement.
Flying low
On the technical side, Gibraltar has provided four notices so far about what the situation could look like from January 1, 2021 if there is no deal in EU-UK talks.
The last one was issued today on the airport and flights to UK and Morocco.
It declared that there would not be much change in practical terms.
There are currently no flights to the EU from Gibraltar, so the only difference will be that a UK agreement with Morocco will replace the EUone used at the moment.
“We will continue to do everything possible to mitigate the effects of leaving the
transition period at the end of the year without an agreement,” said the Gibraltar Government.
“However, there are some areas which are outside the control of the Government and where little can be done.
“These are the consequences of leaving the European Union.
“It is therefore important that citizens and businesses fully investigate the impact of those consequences on their daily routine and that they too plan accordingly.”
The other technical notices have been about the use of passports and carrying goods across the border.
