Albares to discuss Gib treaty negotiation with Lammy - report

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares will meet his UK counterpart, David Lammy, in London in the coming days as negotiators for a UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar try to get the deal over the line, El Pais reported on Monday.

El Pais suggested the meeting would be focused on Gibraltar but the Chronicle understands the agenda is much wider and centred on key foreign policy issues, although the treaty is likely to be raised.
Mr Lammy is also expected to meet with Chief Minister Fabian Picardo ahead of the discussion with Mr Albares.
Negotiators have avoided setting a deadline for the talks, which commenced in 2021 but remain stuck on issues including how Schengen immigration controls will be run inside Gibraltar in the event of agreement.
Forthcoming changes to automate Schengen controls as from November have focused minds amid concerns of delays and restrictions at the border unless a deal is agreed first. Gibraltar has vowed to reciprocate any new controls implemented on the Spanish side.
If the discussions in the coming days are fruitful, they could potentially clear the way for another top-level summit in Brussels.
There were two high-level summits in Brussels before the summer that brought together the then UK Foreign Secretary, Lord Cameron, Mr Albares, the EU’s chief negotiator Maros Sefcovic, and Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, but both meetings failed to seal the agreement.
While the public messaging has remained positive to date – just last week, Mr Albares said he remained optimistic that a deal was close – sources told El Pais that negotiators had “hit bone” on thorny aspects including Spain’s demand that armed Spanish police officers be present for immigration controls inside Gibraltar and free to move between the airport and the port.
Both the UK and Gibraltar have rejected that proposition, pointing instead to the New Year’s Eve framework agreement of 2020 which envisaged a joint facility spanning both sides of the border, alongside the assistance of Frontex officers at least during the first four years of any agreement.
Spain would be the Schengen state responsible for ensuring the integrity of the controls from the shared facility, but Frontex would carry out the practical work inside Gibraltar.
El Pais reported progress in other difficult areas though, including the airport. Spain has argued for “joint use”, a phrase rejected by Gibraltar and the UK who nonetheless have said they are open to formulas that allow for “enhanced use” and flights to and from EU destinations.
After the first high-level meeting in Brussels in April, the UK, Gibraltar, Spain and the European Commission said they had agreed “general political lines” on the airport, goods and mobility, although the fine detail had yet to be finalised.
El Pais hinted too at progress on taxation on goods.
Spain had wanted an equivalent transaction tax in Gibraltar to VAT in Spain, but this has been ruled out by the British side, which says Gibraltar needs a differential in order to act as a catalyst for the shared prosperity that all sides believe a treaty could deliver.
“Gibraltar will never have the same rates of tax [on goods] as Spain,” Mr Picardo told this newspaper in an interview last June, a position that has not changed.
“The argument that we're having at the moment is: where does the EU accept that you have a rate for transaction tax which is not going to in any way endanger the single market?”
According to El Pais, negotiators had also found a formula to address concerns about the difference in income for pensioners resident in Gibraltar and those who live in Spain, with a “fund financed jointly by the UK and Spain” to be set up to pay the shortfall.
The Chronicle understands, however, that this is a Spanish proposal rather than something that has been agreed.
Against the backdrop of ongoing talks – meetings and discussions have continued at a technical level since the last four-way summit in Brussels in May – there is no official confirmation from any party on the substance of the negotiation or the remaining sticking points.
Mr Picardo has on numerous occasions urged “patience and stoic calm” in the final stages of the process, and caution about any speculative media reporting of the talks.