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Treaty for a future of cooperation ‘hinges on this moment’, Picardo says

Photos by Johnny Bugeja

The negotiation for a UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar offers a historic opportunity to recast the Rock’s relationship with Spain and unlock economic opportunities to turn “generations of conflict” into a future of cooperation, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said on Monday, adding: “All this hinges on this moment.”

Mr Picardo was speaking at the annual political reception hosted by the Gibraltar Government as part of Gibraltar Day in London.

Addressing an audience of politicians, diplomats and businesspeople at the top of the glass-domed Gherkin building in St Mary Axe, Mr Picardo underlined the strength of the relationship between Gibraltar and the UK.

But the focus of his address was on the treaty, and his message was clear.

“The ball is now firmly in Spain’s court,” the Chief Minister said.

“Our proposals to resolve the final issues in dispute are fair, balanced and respectful of the Schengen and Single Market acquis.”

“I hope they will not delay in accepting them or proposing acceptable derivates.”

Mr Picardo said Brexit had presented an opportunity to reset Gibraltar’s relationship with its neighbour.

Despite the complexity of the negotiation and occasional moments of tension, he acknowledged the goodwill shown by all parties in a process that has dragged on for three years.

The negotiation, he said, offered an opportunity that should not be missed.

“I say to our Spanish negotiating counterparts: Let us go the extra mile and cast the die of the future in the shape our children deserve and not as it was so unfairly cast for our parents and grandparents on both sides of Franco’s cruel frontier,” Mr Picardo told guests.

“Let us be the generation of politicians that break the mould of confrontation and deliver the future that inspires the rest of the fractured world in which we live.”

“To Jose Manuel Albares and Pedro Sanchez, progressive politicians who I admire as fellow socialists, I offer Gibraltar’s hand of friendship, cooperation and mutual socio-economic success for our people.”

“I offer solutions that will enable us to progress and improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.”

“I offer solutions that will banish discord and despair and replace them with harmony and hope for a future filled with opportunities in Gibraltar and the Campo that can be – that will be - the envy of world.”

“So that, together, we make Gibraltar and the region of the Campo the pre-eminent digital hub of the southern flank of Europe.”

“So that young people in the area will never again think of any illicit trade as the only route to success.”

“And so that the little part of Britain that I represent can stand proudly as a geostrategic lynchpin that unites and does not divide.”

“Generations of conflict can give way to generations of cooperation.”

“But all this hinges on this moment. History has conspired to present us with a fork on the road. A choice we will have no choice but to make.”

“One route points to the continued confrontation we know so well and we will navigate so successfully if we have to.”

“The other, however, points towards a new cooperation, a new understanding and a new level of success of which our ancestors and our successors can be equally and justly proud.”

Mr Picardo’s address to the reception comes as negotiators continue technical discussions to resolve the remaining areas of disagreement in the talks, which include the practical arrangements of how Spain will exercise oversight over any Schengen controls inside Gibraltar.

Mr Picardo said he had spoken at length to Foreign Secretary David Lammy before his meeting on Monday with his Spanish counterpart, Jose Manuel Albares, on the sidelines of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg.

“We have designed proposals that guarantee the safety and security of the Schengen Area and the integrity of the single market,” he said.

“And all the while, not requiring us or any of our negotiating partners to cede on any of our historic fundamentals.”

Mr Picardo said the negotiation “has not been easy” and that it would have been far simpler to walk away.

“Because the easy thing would have been to succumb to the despair that Brexit engenders in so many in Gibraltar and the Campo, to blame others,” he said.

“To blame Cameron, Johnson, Farage and even Juncker and Merkel if we wanted to.”

“In Gibraltar, we can just as easily also make it all Rajoy’s fault, Margallo’s fault, Sanchez’s fault or even Albares’ fault.”

“But this is a time for serious people, for serious thinking and for the serious grown-ups to take the serious decisions we have to take in order to prevent conflict and not stoke it.”

“Of course, we may yet fail. But we must not fail for a lack of trying, for lack of imagination or for lack of determination.”

Mr Picardo said that, in parallel, Gibraltar must also be ready in case a deal cannot be agreed, but always while pushing to secure a treaty that works for all sides.

He said the negotiation had turned “from a marathon into a double iron man apparently aiming for the peak of Mount Everest” but that none of the negotiating parties would stop “until we get it right”.

He reflected too on the incident at the border last Friday and said Gibraltar had taken reciprocal steps to tighten border controls “more in sorrow than in anger”.

The incident, he added, was “a distasteful aperitif of what ‘no deal’ would look like”.

“My duty, my obligation and my commitment to my people is to ensure that we achieve an agreement if one is possible,” he said.

“And not just an agreement that works for one of us around the table. It must work for all of us around the table.”

“And, more importantly, the agreement that emerges must also enjoy democratic consent amongst the people of Gibraltar.”

Mr Picardo said that the right agreement could harness Gibraltar and the region’s potential and “grow it exponentially” within “modern, viable” arrangements with the EU and Spain.

“We will have built a new and better tomorrow,” he said.

“We will have been architects of a future to be proud of, better even than the hopes of our forefathers and the dreams of the most ambitious of our children.”

“Because moments of apparent crisis also create chances to seize opportunities that might never come again.”

“And if we are equal to the task, then we will have made a success of the Brexit that so many naysayers hoped would be the end of us.”

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