John Culatto
GIBRALTAR’S Chief Minister has slammed the GSD Opposition leader for allegedly suggesting an Andorra solution for the Rock that would give Spain a say in its affairs.
The issue was the subject of a fiery debate in parliament this week when the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said that he would refuse to work with a GSD government on an EU treaty if they won this year’s election.
The GSD claimed in a statement that this amounted to ‘political arrogance’ and was so ‘shameful’ that it would be a ‘total disservice to Gibraltar’.
But Picardo quoted GSD leader Keith Azopardi’s book ‘Sovereignty and the Stateless Nation’ in his reply.
The book says that ‘the Andorran model is not one of joint sovereignty but rather a model based on sovereign independence of Andorra’.
But the Chief Minister said that his coalition ‘fundamentally rejects’ this point of view.
“We do not want anything other than exclusive British sovereignty,” Picardo said in a government statement,” he said in a statement.
“We cannot agree to form part of the GSD’s negotiating team on Brexit because of the deep policy differences between us.”
He also accused the GSD for having ‘flip flopped and u-turned repeatedly on the UK/EU Treaty’.
This is another reason his coalition would not want to form part of a GSD negotiating team in the ongoing talks.
He argued that the GSD criticised his actions for not being part of the original UK/EU Trade and Commerce Agreement.
That would mean, ‘no fluidity of movement for people or goods’, rather than the bespoke deal the Rock needed to continue the current status quo.
“The GSD have undermined our position on Brexit at every possible occasion in a cheap and transparent attempt at trying to garner votes,” Picardo concluded.
“The only way to keep Gibraltar safe is with a GSLP/Liberal Government.
“The hysterical overreaction of the GSD Opposition on the question of the treaty talks with the EU and Spain shows that they are not prepared, competent or experienced enough to represent Gibraltar.”
The exchange comes as EU treaty talks hang on a knife-edge with the possible entry into government of a right-wing coalition in Spain at the country’s national elections on Sunday.
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