SPAIN’S far-right Vox party has launched a bid to block Gibraltar from joining certain international sports federations.
The new non-binding parliamentary motion (PNL) was submitted by the party and calls on the Spanish government to oppose Gibraltar’s inclusion in international rugby and padel federations.
The proposal calls Gibraltar’s sporting bodies ‘pseudofederations’ and criticises the inclusion of territories listed by the United Nations (UN) as non-self-governing in international competitions.
Vox believes that sport ‘has a deeply rooted national dimension and serves as a tool for national cohesion,’ according to Europa Press, and claims that international federations should not represent what it describes as ‘colonial territories or enclaves with controversial political status’.
Here the party implies that Gibraltar should be excluded from international sporting bodies.
Furthermore Vox claims that participation in these international competitions leads to recognition, affecting relationships between governments, federations and international organisations.
Allowing ‘pseudofederations’ to compete poses a ‘risk’ to the internal stability of sports bodies and relations among their members, Vox claims.
Gibraltar’s admission into international rugby and padel federation, according to Vox, also lacked ‘due transparency’ and ‘the statutorily required support’.
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These claims have been echoed by the Real Federacion Española de Rugby which has expressed dismay at Gibraltar’s inclusion without having achieved the necessary two-thirds majority – the group have announced that they will be taking legal action.
Citing the International Olympic Committee’s strict rules that limit membership to sovereign states to avoid conflict, Vox is urging the government to intervene.
The party has called on the central government to block Gibraltar’s participation in the aforementioned international sports federations and to support legal action presented by the Real Federacion Española de Rugby.
In addition to this, Vox has requested that the government lodge a formal complaint with the International Padel Federation and urge all international sports bodies to limit membership exclusively to sovereign states.
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