Walter Finch
SPANISH efforts to ‘closely monitor’ land reclamation works carried out as part of Gibraltar’s Eastside marina development have been rebuffed.
The Spanish government’s delegate in Andalucia, Pedro Fernández, said yesterday that several ministries along with the Guardia Civil and the Oceanographic Institute are working to assess the environmental impact of the development.
“We’re on top of the matter,” said Fernandez, who also revealed that a judicial investigation is underway to determine whether any ‘illegal dumping’ has occurred in waters off Gibraltar’s eastern coast after the project was green lit last month.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior are closely monitoring this matter to prevent any type of harm or damage from occurring on Spanish soil or in Spanish waters,” he added.
However, efforts by Spanish experts to approach the construction site were reportedly turned away by Gibraltar security forces earlier in the week.
Spanish intentions with regards to the Eastside project rely on the assumption that the development is taking place in Spanish waters, and therefore Spanish institutions have legal oversight.
Spain even designated the area a ‘zone of special conservation’ under its own legislation.
However, Gibraltar has long exercised de facto jurisdiction regardless of the dispute, and the zone is widely considered to be part of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters stretching three nautical miles from the coast of the Rock.
A spokesperson for the government of Gibraltar dismissed the Spanish position as ‘fake and unsustainable’, labelling the concerns as ‘really just political positions.’
“The purported Spanish area of special environmental protection which encroaches in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters is a nonsense in international law and is of no legal application whatsoever as any lawyer in or out of the Spanish Foreign Ministry knows,” the spokesperson told the Olive Press.
“Even former Spanish Ambassadors have disclosed that they are aware in the Spanish Foreign Ministry that their nonsensical position on the British waters around Gibraltar is indefensible in international law.”
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Accordingly, the case currently being examined by a court in La Línea following a complaint from the environmental group Verdemar-Ecologistas en Acción is largely performative.
Separate from the territorial dispute, the group accuses the Gibraltar government and developers of potential breaches of environmental and territorial planning laws.
According to Verdemar, over 50,000 tonnes of rock have been deposited into the sea as part of efforts to reclaim land for the Eastside Project — a large-scale urban development planned for Gibraltar’s eastern coastline.
However, the developer, TNG Global Realty Limited, has rejected the claims.
It says the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Environment found no breach of EU environmental law after reviewing the allegations submitted by Spain and the subsequent responses from the Gibraltar government.
Gibraltar officials have previously stated that the Eastside Project is being conducted in full compliance with environmental regulations.
Despite this, Spanish authorities are insisting they will keep trying to observe developments on the site for damage is caused to areas they consider to fall under Spanish jurisdiction.
