Gibraltar deal revived after Brexit, Spanish foreign minister says should be signed before November hard border deadline

Spain’s foreign minister has declared that a “fair and balanced” deal for Gibraltar after Brexit has been largely completed ahead of an upcoming November deadline.

“We have reached out, this deal has been on hold for a long time,” Jose Manuel Albarez told Spanish radio.

Negotiations between the EU, Spain and the UK have been faltering since an apparent breakthrough in April on the “overall political lines” of a deal.

The current “wave-like” mobile border policy in place since 2021 is only a temporary solution for what should be a strict Schengen border for the 15,000 workers who cross it every day.

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But the EU announced that a new Entry and Exit System (EES) would come into force at all Schengen borders from November 10, setting a tight deadline for negotiations to avoid a hard border.

“We spoke on the phone and we had bilateral talks at the NATO summit,” Albarez told Cadena SER.

“The technical team is working on it and I hope we can reach an agreement soon. It’s a good agreement and a balanced one, which is exactly what Campo de Gibraltar needs.

“Both Spain and the Commission want a fair and balanced agreement.”

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However, it has long been known that the problems that remain to be solved are the most difficult, starting with airport control.

Located on the disputed isthmus between Gibraltar and the mainland, it is claimed by Spain as sovereign Spanish territory.

But Chief Minister Fabian Picardo has long drawn a red line for Spanish armed and uniformed officers operating on Gibraltar territory.

The outcome means that who controls what will become Schengen airports and borders for movement within the EU has been a thorny issue with neither side willing to budge.

The military junta, meanwhile, has been expressing dissatisfaction with Madrid’s failure to engage in the negotiations and the lack of transparency and consultation.

However, as Gibraltar is a major employer and investor in the Campo de Gibraltar region, it is in everyone’s interest to reach an agreement before European economic integration creates border chaos.

Negotiations are continuing because a land reclamation project east of Caiman Rocks has angered Spanish nationalists, who claim sovereignty over all the waters surrounding the peninsula.

Recent reports indicate that a total of 61,711 blocks of stone and rubble from “illegal quarries” in Spain passed through Concepción Line customs and were shipped to Gibraltar for use in the €340 million project.

They will be used to build the ambitious East End project, a major marina, business park and housing development that will change the character of The Rocks.