Mixed reactions on Main Street as news of agreement breaks

Just before 5pm, news broke that Gibraltar had a “historic agreement” and, as the news filtered through, the Chronicle took to Main Street to find out what locals thought.

Overall the news was welcomed, but cautiously so. The common refrain was a call for more details.

Bhisham Nihchalani said it was “amazing” news, but that he needed to see the details.

“Whatever's happened, we need to study it, but we now have a road map, we can now start preparing, because I'm sure there will be 12 to 18 months of implementation period,” he said.

“It’s not going to happen tomorrow, so we have time to prepare.”

“And I'm sure we can prepare and go for it. I think there's always an opportunity, right? And we have to find that.”

“You have to work for it. And, and I've always thought Gibraltar has always punched above its weight in everything that we do, and we do it again, I am sure. And I'm sure the Chief Minister has done a good job.”

Albert Desoiza shared his thoughts and said: “it's great news. we needed something there was a lot of insecurity and instability in the area, and we've been waiting for years.”

“So now that we know, I think it's great news, whether one way or the other, but I think it's a positive thing and it's going to be a positive outcome.”

Jade Roper had just left work and was unaware of the fact a deal had been struck. Her initially reaction was that it was “exciting.”

“But I'm aware that there are a lot of people who are feeling quite scared around what that's going to be and what that practically means for Gibraltar and for security, and for how life is here.”

“I think we have to wait and find out what's going on, don't we?”

“And see what that means for us.”

“But wow, what a breakthrough. How long has that been?”

“What an incredible day but, yeah, let's wait and see what's going to come next.”

John Lima said told the Chronicle that he thinks the Rock and its residents are just like everybody else and that we want our bread buttered on both sides.

“We want to make everything easy on the frontier, both for the benefit of our neighbours and our benefit.”

“The rest. Madrid. London. Well, that's another difference. We have to live this.”

“And we should live without any repercussions.”

“Make it easy for the people that have to cross the frontier, and many of them every day.”

“Hopefully it's a benefit for us and for the neighbours.”

Gino Sanguinetti found the news to be “very positive, very positive, very positive.”

“Finally, and maybe it's the wrong word, but we were starting to become civilised again.”

“I'm very glad, very glad.”

“Just wait for the flowering of the whole situation and getting back to some sort of normality.”

“And not this, because there was an underlying fear in people's minds, you know, not only for the economic situation where we are and all that, in relation to other things going on in the eastern Mediterranean and all that, but I think this is a breath of fresh air.”

“We needed this, like, for many, many years. and we can get back to more or less where we were. And by the same time, I think we've learned a lot about ourselves and about Europe and what Europe means to us.”

“How important the European body is, which is something that I've always said, and how crucial it is for the civilised world, we take it for granted. But Europe is that.”

Richard Vaughan was clear and concise about his feelings and simply said: “I have no issues with it at all.”

However, not everyone shared his sentiment.

A group of four mothers told the Chronicle they needed to wait for the details to come out before they formulated an opinion. However, they were most concerned about safeguarding their children.

Another person waiting to find out more details, and who did not want to be named, said she was “concerned” and “God help us.”

“Are we giving too much that you give them a hand and they take the arm?” she asked.

“Will they abuse the system?”

“Because, you know, there they have no rules, they hit and then they ask questions.”

“Concern having the frontier open, concern about the Spanish working here. Concern about going over.”