Legal opinions confirm ‘no sovereignty concessions’ in UK/EU treaty, Govt says

The Gibraltar Government said it had obtained three legal opinions on the sovereignty aspects of the UK/EU treaty in relation to Gibraltar, which it said confirmed the treaty made no concessions of legal sovereignty to Spain or any other entity.

In a statement, the Government said the opinions were provided by Lord David Pannick, KC, Sir Peter Caruana, KC, and Jamie Trinidad, KC.

Lord Pannick, a Cross Bench member of the House of Lords, of Blackstone Chambers, was described by No.6 Convent Place as “one of the UK’s most highly regarded advocates”.

He has advised UK Prime Ministers and Home Secretaries and acted in a large number of the leading public law cases of the last 30 years, appearing in 100 cases in the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords before it was replaced by the UK Supreme Court, more than 25 cases in the Supreme Court since its creation in 2009, more than 25 cases in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg and over 30 cases in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Sir Peter Caruana is a former Chief Minister of Gibraltar and former leader of the GSD.

Mr Trinidad is a fellow of Wolfson College Cambridge and a fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge, and has been the Gibraltar Government’s principal adviser on international law for more than a decade.

The Gibraltar Government said the three opinions confirmed its own analysis, as well as that of the Attorney General for Gibraltar and the UK Government, as the Chief Minister had previously explained.

“All three opinions confirm that the Treaty makes no concessions of legal sovereignty to Spain, or any other entity, over Gibraltar,” No.6 said in a statement.

It added the Chief Minister would refer to the opinions during a debate in Parliament on the ratification of the treaty.