Walter Finch
THE Spanish police chief at the Gibraltar border has had his complaint against the post-Brexit transitional agreement thrown out by a La Linea judge.
She ruled that Gibraltarians enjoy a ‘special exemption’ to having their passports stamped as they ‘do not pose a risk of illegal immigration,’ reports Algeciras daily Europa Sur.
“These transitional measures, adopted by the Spanish government and enacted by the Policia Nacional Central Border Unit, are in accordance with the Schengen Borders Code, which allows the application of flexibility criteria in certain circumstances,” Judge Alba Serrano wrote in an order written on March 12.
“They will continue to be applied while negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom are underway.
READ MORE: Spain’s ‘rogue’ border chief is FIRED after provoking Gibraltar with his passport stamping campaign
“All of this takes into account the specific nature of the daily crossing of people through the La Línea border crossing and its socioeconomic implications, since Gibraltarian citizens do not pose a risk of illegal immigration.”
A police report from provincial headquarters in Cadiz to the court explained that, under the current arrangements, both Gibraltarians and British citizens have both their IDs checked and their entry or exit recorded in a police database.
“Therefore border control is being carried out as required by the Schengen Borders Code, and there is therefore no security breach,” the judge concluded.
The complaint was filed by Chief Inspector David Barrero against his own superiors in November after he gave a number of unilateral commands – contrary to his own instructions – to start stamping passports.
Barrero was finally dismissed from his post and suspended without pay for five months for his antics last month.
He was also filmed checking passports at the border in January while drunk and out of uniform, marking an ignominious end to his time at the post.
But the suspicion has been growing that his actions were part of a right-wing plot within Spain to undermine the left-wing PSOE government currently in power in Madrid.
The drama had proven to be a fly in the ointment during ongoing negotiations between Gibraltar, the UK, Spain and the EU over incorporating the Rock in the Schengen zone.
The courtroom dismissal does not quite mark the end of Barrero’s crusade, however.
According to legal representatives, the suspended police chief is set to appeal, either to the same court or directly to a higher court in Cadiz.
