Gibraltar remains “national priority” for Spain: foreign minister

Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo told Congress on Tuesday that the British colony of Gibraltar remains a “national priority” for Spain and slammed the decision by the previous government of Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to set up a tripartite forum with Gibraltar, Britain and Spain to discuss issues related to the territory and its relations with Spain.

García-Margallo requested to appear before lawmakers after a dispute emerged with Britain over the sinking of concrete blocks around the waters of Gibraltar, an act Spanish fishermen claimed was aimed at preventing them from working those areas. In response, Spain tightened border controls, leading to long delays for people looking to enter and leave Gibraltar. Spain claimed that such controls were necessary as Britain is not an adherent to the Schengen agreement. The minister described the squabble with London as “a major fire.”

“Gibraltar is, has been and will be a national priority,” García-Margallo told deputies. He described the decision to set up the tripartite forum as an “immense error.” “I am convinced that [former Foreign Minister] Miguel Ángel Moratinos did so in good faith but he was wrong.” He claimed the Socialists had treated Gibraltar as an “owner” when in fact it is a “tenant” and had failed to “win the affection of the Gibraltarians.

García-Margallo welcomed the Gibraltar government’s decision to change its environmental protection laws to allow Spanish fisherman to fish but rejected the colony’s claims it has jurisdiction over its nearby waters. He said the key issues of the environment and the colony’s economic model needed to be treated at a “bilateral level because the European Union says so.”

Noting that Gibraltar has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world and that its “booming” economy grew 7.8 percent last year, García-Margallo said: “It is surprising that that a peripheral country with no natural resources could achieve such levels of activity […] for unknown reasons.” He complained that many people resident in Gibraltar enjoy social services paid for by Spanish taxpayers.