Borrell says Spain’s Brexit focus is on Campo economies, not sovereignty

Spain’s priority in respect of Brexit and Gibraltar is to limit the impact of withdrawal on communities in the Campo de Gibraltar, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell told the Congress in Madrid yesterday, as he insisted sovereignty was not on the agenda.

Mr Borrell made the comment during a three-hour intervention before the Foreign Affairs Commission in the Spanish parliament, his first since being appointed into the ministerial post.

He said Spain was still hopeful of an agreement between the UK and the EU allowing an “orderly exit”, but acknowledged too that “time is moving fast” and there were still “important issues” to resolve including the Northern Ireland border and Gibraltar’s post-Brexit relationship with the bloc.

“We’re very close to the final stages of negotiations…and the possibility of a no deal, which once appeared remote, now seems less so,” he said.

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Pic by REUTERS/Alberto Lowe (PANAMA)