Cleverly and Albares meet in Madrid against backdrop of Gib treaty talks

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will meet his Spanish counterpart, Jose Manuel Albares, in Madrid today against the backdrop of the ongoing negotiation for a UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar’s future relations with the bloc.

Negotiators are continuing with talks this week as they work toward an agreement that will guarantee frontier fluidity after Brexit while respecting longstanding red lines on sovereignty, jurisdiction and control.

The meeting was announced by Spain’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs on Wednesday morning and comes too on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the reopening of the border on December 15, 1982.

Despite a lack of public detail about the content of the Gibraltar negotiation, all sides have repeatedly expressed a willingness and desire to reach a deal that will lay the foundations for what has been described as “an area of shared prosperity” between Gibraltar and the Campo.

But there was confirmation too in recent weeks that despite having brought positions closer, there were still complex areas of difference between the two sides even after 11 formal rounds of negotiation and constant work in between.

Negotiators had hoped to seal an agreement before December 31 this year, but there is no formal deadline for the talks to conclude one way or the other.

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo will give a press conference at No.6 Conevt Place at 7pm after the meeting in Madrid, which will be joined by Gibraltar representatives when it covers Gibraltar issues.