‘No technical obstacle’ to continued free movement at Gib border – EU report

Free movement across the border between Gibraltar and Spain could be retained after Brexit without wider implications for UK itself, but only with Spain’s agreement, according to a report prepared for an influential committee of the European Parliament.
The study for the Committee on Constitutional Affairs [AFCO Committee] found that “there is no technical obstacle” to Gibraltar operating its own policy on access for both EU and UK workers.
“The dominating concern in Gibraltar is the border,” the report noted.
“There is universal support for free movement of workers, although this is usually phrased as ‘flexibility’ to avoid terms that might provoke British Brexit supporters.”
And it added that free movement across the border “…might be retained without having implications for the nations and regions of the UK itself.”
“It would, however, require agreement with Spain,” the report said.
The observation was made in a 28-page document prepared for the AFCO Committee by the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the European Parliament’s Directorate-General for Internal Policies.
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