Gibraltar ‘fully committed’ to treaty, Garcia tells Brussels meeting

The Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Joseph Garcia, told a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday that Gibraltar remains “fully committed” to a treaty on its post-Brexit relationship with the European Union.

Speaking to a meeting of the UK-EU Committee of the Regions Contact Group, Dr Garcia expressed the hope that an agreement would be arrived at soon.

The Deputy Chief Minister updated the conference as the latest UK-EU negotiating round took place just five minutes away from the Contact Group session.

The group, which was established in 2020, is described as a forum for continuing dialogue and political partnership between the EU and UK local and regional authorities after Brexit.

It discusses issues and shares experiences of the impact of the UK’s departure from the EU.

Dr Garcia stressed that the interests of Gibraltar required a different agreement to the one that the UK had negotiated for itself.

He said that the treaty under negotiation, in essence, focused on mobility to allow for the fluid movement of persons, with a number of “add-ons”, including in relation to the movement of goods.

He said Gibraltar was one of the areas of unfinished business of Brexit and that the Windsor Framework on Northern Ireland had created a positive mood in UK/EU relations.

However, Dr Garcia also outlined contingency plans for no treaty and highlighted the serious consequences of a no negotiated outcome on both sides of the border.

He said this was not in the interests of citizens or businesses and declared that Brexit could not be allowed to destroy an example of European cross-border cooperation.

“But there are some lines we cannot cross”, he added.

Dr Garcia took advantage of his time in Brussels to exchange views with diplomats and relevant Members of the European Parliament in order to provide an overview of the position of Gibraltar.

He also arranged to meet separately with the UK Ambassador to the EU and the Gibraltar component of the negotiating team before returning on Thursday.