GIBRALTAR is gearing up to celebrate its first National Day since the landmark post-Brexit treaty tore down the hard border with neighbouring Spain.
Thousands of Gibraltarians will turn the Rock’s streets red and white on Thursday to mark the 59th anniversary of Gibraltar’s first sovereignty referendum in 1967, which saw a staggering 99.64 per cent of eligible voters back remaining under British sovereignty.
But this year’s celebrations will carry added significance, coming little more than eight weeks since the historic treaty between the UK, Spain and Gibraltar was implemented on July 15.
The long-awaited deal removed routine checks at the Gibraltar-Spain land border, allowing people to move freely between the Rock and Spain while effectively bringing Gibraltar into the frictionless Schengen travel area.
It marked a dramatic change to a border that had become one of the most visible consequences of Brexit, with the treaty designed to preserve Gibraltar’s fluid links with its neighbour while maintaining British sovereignty.
But not everyone in Gibraltar is convinced the deal represents an unqualified success.
Opposition leader Keith Azopardi, of the conservative Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD), poured cold water on the agreement, branding the treaty ‘far from perfect’ and warning that it does not provide an ‘absolute guarantee of certainty for Gibraltar’s future’.
Writing in his National Day message, Azopardi described the first weeks after the treaty was provisionally applied as a ‘shambles’ and said his party would seek to improve the arrangements with Westminster if it comes to power.
Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, meanwhile, mounted a staunch defence of the agreement, insisting that it delivers exactly what he promised without compromising Gibraltar’s sovereignty.
“The Treaty signed on 14 July, and applied provisionally since the day after, delivers fluidity at our frontier and legal certainty for our economy,” he said.
“It does so without a single concession on our EXCLUSIVELY BRITISH sovereignty. Spain and Gibraltar, together with the European Union and the United Kingdom have ALL sat down at a table TOGETHER to negotiate a Treaty that works for everyone.”
Picardo also linked the agreement directly to the wishes expressed by Gibraltarians in the 1967 and 2002 referendums, arguing that the deal had protected the principle of self-determination.
“They would be very proud indeed of Gibraltar representing itself at the highest table of international diplomacy and delivering the objectives we had set out to achieve,” he said.
The comments come as Picardo prepares for his final National Day celebrations as Chief Minister, bringing the curtain down on 15 years at the helm of Gibraltar.
“This will be the last National Day that I address you as your Chief Minister,” he said.
“I am not going to pretend that it is easy to write those words. I have proudly led this nation for fifteen years.
“Furthermore, I reinstated the Casemates events and have stood on the stage in good years and in very hard ones. In every one of those years, the same thing has happened. I have looked out at a square full of red and white and I have remembered why representing you was never a burden.”
He added: “We have outlasted sieges, dictators, closed frontiers, and the confident predictions of people who have never set foot here. We will outlast whatever comes next.”
To mark National Day, a cross-party delegation of UK MPs will visit the Rock to see how implementation of the treaty is progressing on the ground.
The group will be led by Amanda Martin, the Labour Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Gibraltar, and the two Co-Vice Chairs, the Conservative MP Martin Vickers, and the Liberal Democrats MP Dr Al Pinkerton.
The delegation will also include the Reform UK MP for Romford, Andrew Rosindell.
Rosindell, who defected to Reform from the Conservatives at the turn of the year, said last week that his right-wing party would form ‘the most pro-Gibraltar government that has ever existed’ and suggested the Rock could be represented at Westminster by its own elected MP.
READ MORE: Reform UK MP calls for Gibraltar to get its own Westminster seat ahead of National Day celebrations
He made the comments at a Gibraltar reception at Reform’s party conference in Birmingham.
Standing next to Nigel Feetham, Gibraltar’s minister for justice, trade and industry, Rosindell said: “I will continue to stand up for Gibraltar and all our proud British Overseas Territories because, ladies and gentlemen, they have given their loyalty to us and we owe our loyalty to them.
“Thank you for your support for Gibraltar. I promise you all that Reform UK in government will be the most pro-Gibraltar government that has ever existed, and I hope one day Nigel [Feetham], you will sit with me in the House of Commons as the first MP for Gibraltar.”
Gibraltar and the other British Overseas Territories do not currently elect MPs to Westminster because they are constitutionally separate from the UK with their own government and legislatures.
Their interests are instead represented through their respective governments and the UK government, which is responsible for international relations and defence.
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