Treaty negotiators are ‘very close, as ever’, further rounds likely on ‘final, crucial’ details - CM

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said negotiators for a UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar’s post-Brexit relations with the bloc were “very close, as ever” but that he expected talks to continue in the coming weeks to deal with “final, crucial” details.

Mr Picardo was responding in Parliament to questions from the Leader of the Opposition, Keith Azopardi, as negotiators were still in talks in Brussels during the final session of a three-day meeting between the UK – with Gibraltar – and the EU, the 15^th formal round since the process began.

“Nobody should doubt my desire to give chapter and verse to the people of Gibraltar of every step in that negotiation,” Mr Picardo said.

“I do hope that we will be able to finalise the negotiation very soon.”

“We are very close, as ever.”

“In any negotiation, final details are always the crucial details.”

The latest round was attended for Gibraltar by Attorney General Michael Llamas and Daniel D’Amato, the head of Gibraltar House in Brussels. Both Mr Picardo and Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia were in close contact throughout.

As has been the case from the outset of the process, the Chief Minister would not be drawn on the detail of the talks or the substance of any remaining areas of disagreement.

But he offered a hint and sought to reassure Gibraltarians that the Rock’s interests were properly safeguarded.

“The final details are not too dissimilar to the issues that one has been dealing with for many years,” he said.

“Other things tend to fall into place quite easily.”

“And when the public see, either immediately upon a treaty or a ‘no treaty’, what it is that has enabled us to do a deal or not do a deal, I think every Gibraltarian that I know, who looks at things logically and reasonably, would have defended the interests of Gibraltar in the way that the Deputy Chief Minister, the Attorney General, all of the Cabinet and I have sought to do at every step.”

“And if they don't see it immediately, when they see all the [preparatory work] and all of the details, when relevant papers are published after the relevant period - which Honourable members know in Gibraltar is fixed initially at 10 years - they will be very proud indeed of how each of the officials involved for Gibraltar and the Deputy Chief Minister have acted, and the public will decide whether or not I deserve the same level of recognition or not.”

“But it won't be a judgment made by politicians in the heat of the moment.”

“But when all is said and done and the dust is settled, Gibraltar is very safe in the hands that are representing it in Brussels today.”

Mr Picardo was pressed by Mr Azopardi as to what he expected the next steps to be and what were the possible outcomes.

“We expect those rounds to continue, but it may be that the parties take the view that we shouldn't continue because we are not getting closer,” Mr Picardo said.

“That is possible, but I think the conclusion will be that we will continue.”

Mr Picardo said Gibraltar had put “a huge amount of its resources” into the negotiation, not just in terms of the negotiating team but across all government departments.

“You name it, every department of the government of Gibraltar has been involved in providing expertise in the negotiations,” he said, adding that all ministers had also had input into relevant parts of the negotiation.

And he underscored too that both the UK Government and the European Union had also made resources and expertise available for the negotiation.

Mr Picardo, noting that the latest round was still ongoing as MPs were speaking in the Gibraltar Parliament, said the Gibraltar Government had not yet assessed how the discussions this week had gone.

Given he was being asked about possibilities, he said there may be new rounds or “…we may all decide that we've reached the end and we cannot continue, although that is unlikely…”

“I have to tell him that those possibilities are both open, although I believe the probability is that we will continue, and our interest that we should continue,” he said.