Treaty text to be published this week

The legal text of the UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar’s post-Brexit relations with the bloc will be published by the European Commission this week, Spain’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albares, said on Monday.

Speaking to reporters as he arrived in Brussels for a meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council, Mr Albares said the Commission had informed Spain that the text would be published on its website during the course of the week.

While he gave no exact date, the Chronicle understands it will likely be toward the end of the week.

Faced with criticism in Spain about a lack of transparency about the treaty, Mr Albares insisted he had set out all the elements of the agreement in the Spanish Parliament and had briefed Campo mayors and the regional government in Andalucia on its contents.

“Transparency, ongoing communication, and making information available to representatives — both political and socio-economic — of those 300,000 Andalusians in the Campo de Gibraltar and, in particular, those 15,000 workers who every day cross from the Campo de Gibraltar into Gibraltar, and vice versa, have been one of the guiding principles..,” he told reporters.

“And this week, the legal text will be uploaded to the Commission’s website and will be available to anyone who wants to download it.”

After Spanish minister’s comments in Brussels, the Gibraltar Government confirmed that it too expected the agreement to be published later this week.

“I am looking forward to publication, at last, of the text of the UK/EU treaty,” said Chief Minister Fabian Picardo.

“Although we have confidentially briefed a number of entities and provided a full copy to the Leader of the Opposition, publication will enable all our community to see the text that the Government has agreed and which we will be asking the Gibraltar Parliament to confirm that we call on the UK to ratify.”

BUSINESS CONCERNS

News of the imminent publication of the treaty comes against the backdrop of concern in the business community about its impact on many sectors, and on what they perceive as a lack of granular operational detail despite Government briefings over the past weeks.

In an open letter to Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and Business Minister Gemma Arias Vasquez, the business community “reaffirmed its strong support for the treaty and its clear preference for a negotiated outcome”, the GFSB and the Chamber of Commerce said in a joint statement.

“The businesses welcomed the certainty the treaty offers after a decade of uncertainty regarding Gibraltar’s future relationship with Europe,” the joint statement said.

“However, the letter warns that the compressed timetable, short three-month transition period and late confirmation of the implementation date have significantly increased the risks facing businesses, particularly in retail, wholesale, logistics, services and goods-based sectors.”

“Businesses face an overnight increase in import duty due to the transaction tax, rising to 15% from previous rates as low as 0%, alongside higher excise taxes.”

“Many will experience supply chain disruption, unsellable stock, cashflow pressure and losses on existing contracts.”

“The business community also expressed growing frustration at the lack of detailed guidance, noting that promised FAQs and clear guidelines for business have not been issued and that the treaty text has still not been published.”

In the letter, businesses pointed to a “narrow but critical window” in which “practical business realities” can be addressed.

They called for targeted financial support for those most severely affected; clear, practical guidance supported by a well-resourced “taskforce” to provide authoritative interpretation swiftly; robust regulatory enforcement to ensure a level playing field; a strategic plan to maximise treaty benefits; and protection of Gibraltar’s British commercial identity.

“While stressing confidence in the Government’s negotiating efforts and reaffirming their willingness to work constructively to make the treaty a success, business leaders cautioned that without these commitments, the treaty risks causing serious harm to businesses, employees and the wider economy,” the GFSB and Chamber said in the statement.

“The signatory organisations have called for a prompt response and stand ready to engage collaboratively and energetically with the Government to ensure the treaty delivers the best possible outcome for Gibraltar.”

APRIL 10

The treaty is expected to come into effect provisionally as from April 10.

The Government acknowledged that businesses faced a short implementation period between now and then – “much less than the Government wished to provide” – but that this was out of its control.

“This short implementation period arises, not by choice, but from the need to have provisional application from 10th April to avoid the application of the new European Entry/Exit System,” it said in a statement, referring to the EU’s new automated border control system which, without a treaty in place, would likely lead to serious disruption to border fluidity.

“I am very happy to note the very positive engagement from the business community, already represented in the very supportive Cross Frontier Group,” Mr Picardo added.

“I agree wholeheartedly with the statement of those who have written to me confirming that ‘the coming into force of the treaty will create a climate of certainty regarding Gibraltar’s future position in Europe and, for the first time in ten years, provides clarity as to the path Gibraltar will follow. The business community strongly prefers a negotiated treaty outcome to a non-negotiated alternative’.”

“That is a key, underlying reality that has motivated negotiators on all sides of the table in securing this agreement.”

“It will now be time to have a sensible debate but understanding that this is a complex issue and that we need to consider the issues carefully and dispassionately as a community and as a nation.”

“This treaty is the result of the Brexit we did not choose, but it can become a real and positive game-changer for Gibraltar.”

“I look forward to publication of the text by laying it in Parliament later this week.”

PROCESS

Last week the Commission said it had adopted the treaty text for “signature and provisional application, as well as conclusion”, and had delivered it to the European Council in the first step toward ratification.

The Council’s Working Party on EU-UK Relations, made up of diplomats and civil servants from the 27 EU Member States, the European Commission and the General Secretariat of the Council, held its first round of discussions on the text earlier this month.

It is due to consider the text again at a meeting on Tuesday.

In the first stage of the EU’s ratification process, the Council must give the green light and officially “authorise” the Commission to sign the agreement, after which the treaty can be implemented provisionally.

Once the signature takes place, the file will pass to the European Parliament for its consent.

News that the Commission is poised to publish the treaty text suggests too that the UK Government, as the other signatory to the agreement, will do likewise at the same time, though there has been no formal confirmation from London at this stage.

Alongside the UK’s ratification process, the Gibraltar Parliament, which meets this week, must also debate a motion on the treaty asking the UK Government to enter into the agreement on Gibraltar’s behalf.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the UK Minister for EU Relations, told an audience at a breakfast briefing in Madrid last week that the treaty was a “pragmatic outcome” that will guarantee “hugely important” border fluidity for the benefit communities on either side of frontier.

He was echoing the words of Maros Sefcovic, the EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency, who just a day earlier in Brussels had underscored the importance of the agreement.

“Our goal has been clear and strategic: to secure long-term prosperity for the region, while fully safeguarding Schengen, the EU Single Market and our Customs Union,” Mr Sefcovic said.

“With 15,000 people crossing daily between Gibraltar and Spain, this is about legal certainty, confidence for businesses and people as well as a cooperative future that reinforces our mutual relationship.”

‘MAGNIFICENT NEWS’

The Gibraltar treaty was raised too by Spain’s Finance Minister, Irene Montero, during a visit on Monday to Grazalema, where she was surveying damage caused by recent storms that forced the evacuation of the entire town.

Ms Montero welcomed the “magnificent news” that the agreement would be published imminently.

“We have been working for years…to finally remove the [border] fence, something that will happen very soon,” she said.

“And the decisive step is the one taking place this week with the publication of the agreement between the European Commission and the United Kingdom and Gibraltar, to set out and sign off on every aspect of this agreement.”

“We have been working very strictly at the Ministry of Finance on ensuring there is no kind of unfair competition between shops or places where people can shop inside Gibraltar, or outside it, or in La Línea.”

“We have worked very well with the Government of Gibraltar, especially in recent months. We are in a position to address all the issues, so it is good news.”

Ms Montero said there would “shortly” be an event in the Campo to mark what she said was a historic moment.

“It is history that we are able to finally bring down the [border] fence, so that everyone can cross without any kind of problems, a long-held aspiration in the Campo de Gibraltar that with the Government of Pedro Sánchez will become reality.”