CM will make treaty statement in Parliament when text is published

By Gabriella Ramagge and Brian Reyes

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo will make a statement to Parliament when he tables the text of the UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar later this week, he told Parliament on Tuesday.

Mr Picardo was not specific on what day or time he would make the statement but said the timing had been agreed with the UK and the EU, the two signatories to the treaty.

The Commission has already said it will publish the document this week and the expectation is that the UK too will lay it in the UK Parliament at the same time, though this has not been officially confirmed.

The Chief Minister said he would also give notice this week of a motion on the treaty, through which the Gibraltar Parliament will give notification to the UK Government asking it to ratify the agreement.

In the UK system, the treaty will follow the Constitutional Reform Act [CRAG] procedure, which involves the treaty being laid in the Houses of Parliament for 21 sitting days.

If there are no objections during this time, it is ratified automatically, though there will be opportunity for debate.

On Tuesday, against the backdrop of controversy over the UK Government’s Chagos deal, Conservative MPs voiced concern that they had not yet had sight of the Gibraltar deal or had a chance to scrutinise it in detail, or assess its implications.

“The [Gibraltar] Government intends to table in this House the text of the treaty - the agreement between United Kingdom, the European Union in relation to Gibraltar - during the course of this week,” Mr Picardo told Parliament.

“That publication, of course, will enable all individuals in our community who wish to see the text, to see it, because it will also be published on the government website.”

Mr Picardo said he had indicated privately to the Leader of the Opposition, Keith Azopardi, when he expected publication to take place but would not set a date and time of publication publicly in case of changes “for reasons extraneous to Gibraltar”.

“I do anticipate that that will be during the course of this week,” Mr Picardo said.

“When I lay that seminally important document I intend to make a statement in this House about the Government’s position in relation to it.”

He added that the Opposition will be able to ask questions if they wish to do so and seek clarification.

“That’s really a moment where I think the Government is telling the Parliament its view about the text that is laid,” he said.

The next expected phase of the process in Gibraltar is the substantive motion asking the UK Government to begin the process of ratification of the treaty.

Mr Picardo said the aim was to debate the motion next week.

“The [Gibraltar] Government anticipates that we would be in a position to lay that motion this week, and for me to be able to set out the terms of that motion during the course of my statement to this house, and to debate it during the course of next week,” he said.

“[And] in that way, kick off what we might call the British side’s process of ratification.”

The process in Gibraltar is unfolding in parallel to developments in the EU.

On Tuesday, the European 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 another meeting to discuss the agreement.

The working party’s discussions are internal and thus confidential, and there was no detail as to their content or any decisions made.

However, an EU source told the Chronicle that different EU member states had raised numerous technical questions and concerns, adding the process would likely take some time.

Several member states had already sought a legal opinion from the Council Legal Service on the European Commission’s recommendation that the treaty be handled as an EU-only agreement, meaning it would be ratified only by the European Council and the European Parliament, rather than by the national parliaments of the 27 member states too.

Under the EU process for EU-only agreements, the Council must first give the green light and officially authorise the Commission to sign the agreement.

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

The last step would be the conclusion of the agreement will be by the Council after European Parliament provides its consent.

The provisions of the treaty can be implemented provisionally however once the agreement is signed, even if the European Parliament has not yet concluded its deliberations.

The hope is that the treaty can be signed ready for provisional implementation from April 10, the date that the EU’s automated border control system, known as the Entry/Exit System [EES], comes into full force.

The treaty exempts Gibraltar residents from EES controls and without it the fear is border fluidity could be seriously and negatively impacted.

LA LINEA BORDER LAND

In a separate development, La Linea mayor Juan Franco confirmed on Tuesday that some 1800 square metres of municipal land had been transferred to the centra Spanish government to allow for road infrastructure related to the border changes arising from the treaty and plans for expanded use of the airport.

He described the transfer as “very important” in terms of what it represents for the reorganisation of the area.

It will also clear the way for a project that La Linea has proposed to develop a technology centre near the border on land used until now to accommodate La Linea’s annual fair.