The Vice President of the European Commission responsible for relations with the United Kingdom, Maros Sefcovic, has moved this Thursday to the British Foreign Minister, James Cleverly, the willingness to «further intensify» negotiations to agree on the status of Gibraltar in its relations with the European Union, talks that have been going on for a year.
«The European Commission remains ready to further intensify the pace of negotiations on Gibraltar,» Sefcovic wrote on his social networks, after meeting in Brussels with Cleverly in what was the first face-to-face meeting with the head of British diplomacy since Liz Truss left the government.
The meeting was set to stage the new dynamic between Brussels and London with the arrival of Rishi Sunak in Downing Street and the options for resolving the dispute over the British breach of the protocol for Northern Ireland negotiated between the parties as part of the Brexit agreements.
«We are determined to find joint solutions that work for people and businesses in Northern Ireland and protect the Good Friday agreements,» said Sefcovic, who called for «making the most of the window of opportunity» offered by this new momentum.
For this reason, he said, the negotiating teams will continue to work to make progress on both the Northern Ireland protocol and the terms of the relationship with Gibraltar. After a dozen rounds of negotiations since formal contacts began in October last year, the negotiating teams will meet again in the new year with a view to an agreement as soon as possible.
On this point, Sefcovic also wanted to emphasize the support of Brussels to the «work of Spain and the United Kingdom towards an agreement», a day after Cleverly traveled to Madrid and, in an appearance with the Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, showed the will of agreement.
The United Kingdom and the European Union must agree on the conditions of Gibraltar’s relations with the rest of the Community bloc, but the Community Executive has left it in the hands of Madrid and London to seek practical solutions for some of the provisions that will be applicable with the new status of the Rock.
It should be recalled that the negotiating mandate finally given by the EU-27 to Brussels, although it endorsed the elimination of the fence, made it conditional on Spain being ultimately responsible for the border crossings, despite the presence of Frontex, something that the British government did not like, as it considered that it called into question its sovereignty.
Likewise, Albares ratified on Wednesday that according to the proposal made by Spain and the EU, the fence will be removed, facilitating the flow of people and goods, that there will be a shared use of the airport and an equalization of pensions between those who work in the Rock but live in Spain and residents in Gibraltar.
However, Cleverly warned that «if it were acceptable we would have accepted it by now» and that there were still issues to be resolved. «We have to polish it because there are still some bangs and there are still differences,» he added, betting on maintaining a «fluid dialogue» to see how to «circumvent» these pitfalls.
