In Spain, mounting concern about Brexit

The central Spanish Government and regional authorities in Andalucia are taking an increasingly-close interest on the impact that a UK withdrawal from the EU could have on communities in the Campo de Gibraltar and the region as a whole.

Spain’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs is to coordinate an inter-ministerial meeting in Madrid in the coming days to analyse the effect of a Brexit on the Campo, it was reported yesterday.

The issue was also the focus of a visit to Algeciras and La Linea yesterday by the president of the Junta de Andalucia, the PSOE’s Susana Díaz, who highlighted the need for a coordinated response to avoid the “negative effects” of a Brexit not just on employment in the area but on the wider region too, including in sectors such as tourism and agri-food exports.

And in a parallel development, senior representatives of leading unions UGT and CCOO in Andalusia called on Chief Minister Fabian Picardo in Gibraltar yesterday to exchange views on the issue.

Central to all the separate initiatives is the growing awareness in Spain that a Brexit could have a negative impact on thousands of Spanish workers who come daily to Gibraltar to work and on Spanish businesses who rely on Gibraltar for all or part of their income.

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