PP congratulates new coalition government in Gibraltar
Coalition wins narrow victory in elections
The center-right Popular Party (PP), which will soon govern Spain after a landslide victory in November elections, congratulated the left-leaning winner of Gibraltar's vote and expressed hope for a new period based on "permanent dialogue" and cooperation.
But the Spanish conservatives, who will take power on December 21, added that they also hoped to make progress on the issue of sovereignty over the British overseas territory through a return to the 1984 Brussels Process, a negotiation between Spain and Britain in which Gibraltar had a voice but no vote. When the Spanish Socialists rose to power in 2004, that system was changed for three-way talks in which the contested territory had the same power of decision as its counterparts.
José Ignacio Landaluce, PP mayor of the nearby Spanish city of Algeciras, said that his party is willing to propitiate good relations with the new chief minister, Fabian Picardo of the socialist-labour coalition GSLP/LP, in order to find solutions to both sides "without the interests of one having priority over the other."
Landaluce added that the three-way forum in which Gibraltar enjoyed the same status as Spain and Britain was "foolish" because "it went against Spain's interests."
"It is necessary to underscore the positive side that the Brussels Process can have for Gibraltarians and tell them about it," added the Algeciras mayor.
Meanwhile, the regional premier of Andalusia, José Antonio Griñán, encouraged Picardo to have "a more cooperative and pro-dialogue vision" than his predecessor, Peter Caruana, who served as chief minister for 15 years.
Thursday's election awarded a narrow victory to the GSLP/LP, which took 49 percent of the vote versus 47 percent for the ruling Social Democrats.
Picardo has stated that Gibraltar's sovereignty is not up for negotiation with Spain. "The policy of a Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party/Liberal Party government is that the sovereignty of Gibraltar is not a matter for discussion or negotiation with Spain," said the winning candidate ahead of the elections, suggesting that the PP's plan to leave the Rock as a bystander in British-Spanish talks is set to fail before getting started.
Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht
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