Šefčovič highlights ‘exemplary cooperation’ in Gib treaty talks, adding ‘we will be successful’

The senior European Commission official overseeing the Gibraltar negotiation has praised the “exemplary cooperation” shown by the UK and Spain in “very complex and difficult talks”, adding he believed a deal would be agreed.

Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, was addressing the European Parliament on Monday during a debate on preparation for a UK/EU summit on May 19 in London, the first since Brexit.

EU and UK leaders will meet for the first institutional bilateral gathering in Britain since the UK left the EU in 2020, with issues such as defence cooperation, opportunities for young people and trade issues high on the agenda.

Mr Šefčovič did not refer to the Gibraltar negotiation in his opening remarks but was asked for an update by Francisco José Millán Mon, a Spanish MEP with the Partido Popular.

As has become the norm for all parties involved in the negotiation, there was no detail on the content of the talks in Mr Šefčovič’s response.

But the Commissioner, who has largely refrained from public statements during the course of this protracted negotiation, was upbeat in his assessment of the current state of play and thanked Spain’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albares, and his UK counterpart David Lammy for their approach to the negotiation.

“I have to underline at this stage that we are progressing in a positive direction and I really would like to thank to both Foreign Minister Albares and Mr Lammy for exemplary cooperation, for understanding the position of all sides, because this helps us to advance on these very complex and difficult discussions,” Mr Šefčovič told MEPs.

“And we will be working on this top level. And I believe that we will be successful in that result as well.”

Mr Šefčovič said he had met Mr Lammy last week in London and that their discussion centred not just on geopolitics but also “our good and positive cooperation on the issues linked with Gibraltar”.

“And this is also reflecting the new wave of partnership and positive atmosphere between EU and UK,” he added.

Mr Šefčovič described the UK as “an essential European ally” on security and defence, adding that cooperation should be enhanced to mutual benefit.

Defence was “a core part” of the renewed UK/EU agenda and “we want to be ambitious”, he said.

He said too that facilitating “people-to-people contacts” was one of the EU’s “top priorities” in its relations with the UK, including on the issue of youth exchange programmes and Erasmus+.

“We want again to build bridges,” Mr Šefčovič said.

“We want to give our youth the experience of talking to their British peers, of having these exchange programmes.”

Mr Šefčovič said it was “…very important not to look at each other's citizens as mere statistics, but as future builders, as people who would remember that experience from their youth for the rest of their lives.”

He said the Commission wanted the May 19 summit to bring tangible benefits to people in both the EU and the UK, adding: “For us, clearly, the ambition in this area is an indispensable part of the renewed EU-UK agenda.”

The Commissioner’s words on Gibraltar came on the same day that Mr Albares, addressing the Spanish parliament, pointed to “substantive progress” in the negotiation for a UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar.