Concordat will set out Gibraltar exit safeguards alongside UK/EU treaty

The UK government will guarantee the Gibraltar Government’s ability to exit the UK/EU treaty should it wish to, or stop a future UK government from doing so against Gibraltar’s wishes, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said on Monday.

Speaking to the Chronicle, Mr Picardo said the commitments would be set out in a parallel formal agreement between the UK and Gibraltar known as a concordat, which would be laid alongside the treaty in the UK and Gibraltar parliaments.

“We’ve got assurances in respect of those matters, the detail of which is being drafted and negotiated between the two governments at the moment,” Mr Picardo said.

The issue is likely to emerge during a debate in the Gibraltar Parliament today on a motion calling on the UK government to commence the process of ratifying the treaty under the UK’s Constitutional Reform Act.

The treaty text published last week includes a termination clause that can be triggered by either signatory – meaning the UK and the EU – and, in some circumstances, by Spain.

The treaty makes no reference to Gibraltar being able to terminate the treaty but Mr Picardo said this was because, unlike Spain and the EU, the UK and Gibraltar were in effect one party.

“The concordat between the UK and Gibraltar is a hugely important part of the jigsaw puzzle here,” Mr Picardo said.

“Gibraltar needs to have assurances as to participation in [oversight] committees and the ability to end the treaty, as well as that the UK should not be able to end the treaty if it's working for us but because another ideologically-driven UK government might think it just doesn't fit in with their view of what Brexit should mean.”

Mr Picardo was speaking after the Chronicle published an opinion piece by former Chief Minister Sir Peter Caruana in which he highlighted the need for these assurances from the UK Government.

In the piece, Sir Peter highlighted several areas of the treaty that were unpalatable for Gibraltar, including provisions relating to the role of Spanish law enforcement in implementing the treaty’s provisions and the airport arrangements, among others.

He concluded there was no loss or concession of British sovereignty of Gibraltar and no unacceptable loss of Gibraltar’s own jurisdiction and control, albeit he had some concerns about the airport provisions.

But while the price was worth paying for a prize important to the Rock’s future, Sir Peter said Gibraltar must have the opportunity to exit the treaty should it need to.

“The UK can give us this confidence, safety and security by agreeing with Gibraltar that it will exercise its right under the treaty to terminate it… if Gibraltar requests it,” Sir Peter wrote in the article.

“That will give us an exit route if we feel we need it.”

“Otherwise, the treaty could become a trap for us because it is not humanly possible to now foresee what may happen or how it will work in the future.”

“The EU have given Spain that right to exit.”

Mr Picardo agreed with the analysis but went further.

“We need to protect ourselves from an ideological government in the United Kingdom that might decide to stop this treaty, which would be working for us, because they don't like it from a Brexit perspective,” he said.

“We have to protect ourselves from the EU or Spain overreaching what the treaty provides for and doing things that are not on the basis of what we envisaged and what we agreed, and therefore we have to stop the treaty.”

“And third, we also have to protect ourselves from ourselves… from a government in Gibraltar that may decide that it wants to just undo the treaty for ideological reasons…”

“And therefore, there has to be an element of protection from that as well, requiring a parliamentary process in order to be able to ensure that this is more than just ideologically done, whether it’s in London, Brussels and Madrid, or Gibraltar.”

In the opinion piece, Sir Peter had urged the Gibraltar Parliament not to approve the motion calling on the UK to commence ratification of the treaty until those assurances were in place.

Mr Picardo said he saw no reason not to approve the motion, though he said Parliament would need to ensure the concordat was in place before the ratification process was completed in the UK.

He rejected the suggestion that approving a motion in Parliament would be Gibraltar’s last opportunity to change course, saying a further motion could still be brought to halt ratification before the UK process was complete.

The hope had been to have the concordat agreed before today’s debate in Parliament but events in the Middle East over the weekend derailed that timeline, even if “a lot of work has been done on it already”.

“It hasn’t been able to be finalised and agreed in time for this debate, because, as you can imagine, for reasons that are obvious to your readers, world events have intervened in a way that was entirely unexpected, and UK ministers’ attention has been drawn away from aspects relating to the detail of our ratification process,” Mr Picardo said, adding he remained confident the details would be finalised “in good time” ahead of ratification.

Reflecting on the public discussions since the treaty was published last week, the Chief Minister said that despite concerns about different aspects of the treaty, he sensed too a degree of relief that no “fundamental red lines” had been crossed.

“This treaty is not perfect,” he said.

“Treaties are about one thing and one thing only, that is to say, compromise.”

“There have been compromises which we have had to do and, as I said some months if not some years ago, we've done those compromises without falling into the trap of making concessions.”

“And therefore, although there are parts of this which make very uncomfortable reading, they are uncomfortable but not unpalatable, and ratifying is not unconscionable for any Gibraltarian.”