Spanish Congress committee approves ‘childish and incomprehensible’ Vox motion rejecting treaty agreement 

The Joint Committee for the EU in the Spanish Congress has voted to approve a non-binding Vox motion rejecting the June 11 political agreement for a UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar and saying Spain had wasted an opportunity to advance its sovereignty aspirations. 

The Vox motion, described as “childish” and “incomprehensible” by the ruling Socialists, was passed on Tuesday with the support of the Partido Popular but has no practical effect beyond formally recording positions previously expressed by both opposition parties in multiple parliamentary debates. 

The same motion had previously been debated in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Congress, which rejected it by 19 against to 17 in favour. On Tuesday, it was approved by the EU committee with 20 votes in favour, 14 against and one abstention. 

In presenting the motion, Vox MP José María Sánchez said that “in essence” it opposed the June 11 agreement. 

“All of this, and Spain’s position on the matter of Gibraltar, demonstrates not the weakness of the Spanish Government in this controversial issue that has lasted for 300 years, but rather Spain’s renunciation, even if only implicitly, of exercising its rights in this regard, that is, concerning the recovery of sovereignty over the territory of Gibraltar,” he said. 

“And I do mean renunciation, even if only implicitly.” 

“There has been no explicit renunciation, but at the rate we are going, it seems to me that the series of actions taken by the Spanish Government could be regarded as such a renunciation, despite the constant inclusion of a caveat referring to Gibraltar, and so on.” 

For Vox, the Socialist-led Government had missed an opportunity provided by Brexit and the veto granted by the EU to Spain to further Spanish aspirations by demanding sovereignty concessions in exchange for any post-Brexit agreement related to Gibraltar. 

The PP MP Carlos Floriano said his party shared the views underpinning the Vox motion, if not its terminology. 

He complained, as he has done in the past, about the lack of detail of the treaty and questioned whether its core aim of shared prosperity would work in practice. 

“We can’t support something that we know nothing about,” he said. 

He said too that the June 11 agreement “squanders the best advantage Spain has had in this negotiation” without taking “a single step in terms of sovereignty”. 

“We could have taken advantage of this opportunity, but we did not,” Mr Floriano said. 

“I believe we have lost a great opportunity, and because we do not know the terms of the agreement and have missed this chance, the Partido Popular parliamentary group will support Vox’s proposal as set out in the non-binding motion regarding the Gibraltar agreement.” 

The opposing view came from the Cádiz PSOE MP María Isabel Moreno, who chastised the Vox MP for “a display of parliamentary laziness” in repeating the same proposal “like a mantra”. 

“It is about wanting to win a non-binding motion that you lose in other committees, instead of facing our people, the working class, and showing respect to the thousands of families who cross the border every day to earn a living,” she said. 

The PSOE MP said the agreement would improve and protect the rights of cross-border workers and achieve “real progress” for the Campo region. 

“Because that is what is happening thanks to the agreement with Gibraltar,” Ms Moreno said.  

“I invite you to abandon the politics of confrontation, because Cádiz and the Campo de Gibraltar deserve representatives who work, not who repeat themselves.” 

She urged Vox to reflect on its proposal, adding “…this childish game of the far right with our neighbours in Gibraltar seems incomprehensible, if it were not for the fact that many people depend on many jobs and on good relations with our neighbour Gibraltar, something that our Government under Pedro Sánchez is fostering.” 

“Perhaps what bothers you, Vox members, is precisely that there are agreements in place to benefit the people of the Campo de Gibraltar.” 

And she added: “Stop making a fool of yourselves, start working for Spanish men and women, and in this case, for Cádiz and for the people of the Campo de Gibraltar.” 

“What we in Cádiz take away from all this is that it seems to anger you that an agreement has been reached with Gibraltar, one that will improve the lives of many people who cross the border every day and whose rights have been strengthened through this major agreement.”