Sir Joe says treaty is safe and ‘remarkable achievement’ after Brexit 

Sir Joe Bossano told Parliament the UK/EU treaty for Gibraltar was a necessary and “remarkable achievement” after Brexit, rejecting claims that the agreement handed Spain levers of control in Gibraltar. 

The Minister for Inward Investment said Gibraltar had secured arrangements that the UK could not have obtained for Gibraltar in the wider Brexit negotiations, describing the current position as the result of Spain having pushed Gibraltar out of the UK’s transition arrangements in 2020. 

Sir Joe said Gibraltar was “unique” and could not expect “standard” solutions, warning against judging the treaty against ideal outcomes rather than what was achievable. 

He dismissed concerns about “boots on the ground”, highlighting provisions that allow Spanish officials to operate a shared facility as part of a reciprocal arrangement. 

He said the arrangement meant Spain was recognising it could not operate in the area without Gibraltar’s agreement and a matching right for Gibraltar officials on the Spanish side. 

Sir Joe also addressed the wider question of sovereignty, telling MPs there was nothing in the treaty that advanced Spanish claims. 

“It is not intended to put us on a road which finishes with us being Spanish or Gibraltar becoming part of Spain,” he said. 

If the treaty did that, he would not support it, he said, adding: “If it was there, I would rather leave politics… than say yes to this.”  

Sir Joe said Gibraltar could not assume the new arrangements would last indefinitely, noting that a future change of government in Spain could bring pressure to revisit or end the deal. 

Against that uncertainty, he argued Gibraltar had to remain cautious about over-dependence and prepare for further disruption, including changes in technology. 

He said Gibraltar needed to keep “reinventing ourselves” and could not assume that any model that worked now would work forever.  

Sir Joe warned that rejecting pragmatic compromises in the negotiations risked a ‘no deal’ outcome that would result in the border “effectively closing” and would put key sectors such as gaming at risk.  

In that scenario, he argued, Gibraltar face the return of a hard border and the loss of “thousands of jobs”, a “worst-case scenario” that would inevitably undermine the stability and certainty needed for economic prosperity. 

Sir Joe again criticised the Leader of the Opposition, Keith Azopardi, over the GSD’s position of backing the motion while attacking the treaty’s content. 

He said supporting ratification while claiming it breached Gibraltar’s red lines sent “a bad message” and he expressed regret that the Opposition framed its support in terms of profound reservations about protections he insisted were in place. 

“If they genuinely believe what they say then it's incomprehensible, because it defies logic,” Sir Joe said. 

He later added: “My vote would be the worst-case scenario rather than giving concessions to Spain.” 

Mr Azopardi had earlier countered that the Government was “dancing on a pinhead” because its objection from the outset had always been about the “sheer presence” of Spanish officials conducting Schengen checks in Gibraltar. 

“It wasn’t about where they were or whether they were wearing a uniform.” 

“It was about the principle that they were Spaniards doing the check in Gibraltar.”