The EU approves the mandate to negotiate the Gibraltar situation with London

After Brexit, the European Union and the United Kingdom have yet to agree on what exactly their future relationship with Gibraltar will be. The beginning of these negotiations is a little closer with the approval yesterday in Brussels of the mandate with which the European Commission will sit down to speak with the British Government.

The ambassadors of the 27 member states of the Union approved yesterday a document that contains the negotiating guidelines, red lines and priorities of the community club regarding the Rock. For strategic reasons, the text is kept secret but once the Council gives its approval, without debate, next week, the position will be official.

The Commission’s draft did not contain the pact between Spain and the United Kingdom

Last New Year’s Eve Madrid and London reached an agreement on the future status of the rock that includes the removal of the gate in exchange for establishing controls at the airport and the port. Now that pact must be transformed into an international treaty. The formula with which these controls will be carried out has been a constant point of friction between the parties involved.

The draft negotiating mandate proposed by the European Commission did not contain the pact reached between the governments of Spain and the United Kingdom for the task to be carried out by Frontex (European Border Control Agency) during the first four years after the withdrawal of the gate.

London made known its disagreement with this point despite clarifications from Brussels that Spain would let it exercise the functions and clarifications from the Secretary of State for the EU, Juan González-Barba, that Frontex will be asked to assume control of that outer border. The negotiating draft has undergone different changes before receiving the approval of the European ambassadors, but it is unknown to what points the modifications affect. As happened during the Brexit negotiations, both sides say they are prepared for the presumably chaotic possibility of no deal.

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