Treaty Bill published in Gib as Spanish cabinet approves emergency spending on border infrastructure

The Gibraltar Government has published draft legislation to give effect to the UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar’s post-Brexit relations with the bloc.

The Treaty on Gibraltar and the European Union Bill 2026 was published in the Gazette late on Tuesday and will be debated in the Gibraltar Parliament next week.

The Bill, once passed, will ensure that Gibraltar is ready to move swiftly to implement the necessary legislation by April 10, the date on which the EU’s new automated border system comes into full force and the target date for provisional implementation of the treaty’s provisions.

“This Bill is the draft of the law that will apply in the territory and jurisdiction of Gibraltar the international legal obligations the UK is acquiring for us under the treaty,” said Chief Minister Fabian Picardo.

“It is a genuinely seminal piece of legislation which will form the cornerstone of the architecture of all treaty-related rules, regulations and laws going forward for, hopefully, decades to come.”

“This is a law that will affect generations of Gibraltarians and Gibraltar residents.”

“It is the law that will tear down the frontier. It is the law that will kick open thousands of opportunities for our people.”

Publication of the Bill came on the same day that Spain’s Council of Ministers formally acknowledged “emergency” spending of just over 2m euros for necessary provisional infrastructure on the Spanish side of the border to allow for Schengen checks by Spanish immigration officials in line with the treaty’s provisions.

The spending was first approved late February by Spain’s Directorate-General for State Assets under Spanish procurement laws and work is already well under way on the Spanish side of the frontier fence to ensure the “minimum requirements” are in place in time.

That includes creating a temporary structure to house the Spanish immigration officials while the permanent joint facility, commonly known as the ‘Schengen shack’, is built.

It also includes connecting data cables to enable those officers to carry out checks against the Schengen information database.

Also envisaged is the demolition of existing structures and canopies at the land border, which will be removed under the treaty arrangements with Schengen checks to be conducted at the airport.

In justifying the emergency procurement, the Spanish Government noted the April 10 start date for the EU’s Entry/Exit System and the shared desire that the treaty be in provisional implementation by then to avoid disruption to frontier fluidity.

“Taking into account the situation described in the background above, it is considered that an exceptional, unforeseen, and sudden situation has arisen and that immediate action is essential for reasons of national defence, as a result of the removal of the fence and the impossibility of controlling goods and persons through the airport if operability is not ensured by the dates indicated,” the Spanish Government said in a summary of the cabinet decision.

“In addition, it is considered that there would be a serious security risk if the proposed Schengen arrangement were put into operation without carrying out the corresponding works and spatial adaptations.”

In parallel, work is also ongoing on the Gibraltar side of the border on internal alterations within the air terminal and other infrastructure needed to ensure the treaty can be provisionally implemented from April 10.

Parts of the air terminal are sealed off to allow for construction work that will change passenger flows for those arriving and departing to London and, in future, potentially to EU destinations.

Even so, while no effort is being spared on either side of the border to meet the April 10 deadline, there is a chance that the start date for provisional implementation of the treaty could slip.

The UK is ready to sign the agreement but the European Council is still working through its internal procedures before it can give the green light for the European Commission to sign the treaty.

‘SEMINAL LEGISLATION’

Even once passed by Parliament in Gibraltar, the legislation published this week will only be commenced once those internal procedures are completed and the agreement is signed by the UK and the EU, and on a date appointed by the Chief Minister to be published in the Gazette.

The Bill was drafted by Daniel Greenberg, a UK lawyer specialising in legislation and the legislative process who currently also serves as Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards in the UK Parliament, together with Nadia Sisarello and Attorney General, Michael Llamas.

“I am very grateful for the quick turnaround in the drafting of this Bill that Daniel, Nadia and the AG have delivered,” Mr Picardo said.

"The Bill will be certified as urgent so it can be dealt with in Parliament in good time for the earliest date that the treaty can be given provisional application, that is to say the 10th of April.”

“Gibraltar needs to have everything ready by that date, even if implementation then slips and the new rules and the transaction tax come in at a later date.”

The model of the Bill is in keeping with the old European Communities Act that applied while Gibraltar was in the EU and the new UK Act to implement the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020.

The Bill is over 110 pages long and gives the Government the legal right to make regulations and other subsidiary legislation to give effect to the relevant obligations under the treaty.

This includes a power to amend Acts of Parliament through regulations, which is a power that was contained in the earlier European Communities Act and the UK Act to implement the TCA.

The Bill contains 148 sections over 10 parts and two schedules.