Treaty text shared with Opposition in confidential five-hour meeting 

The Gibraltar Government briefed the Opposition on the detail of the UK/EU treaty for Gibraltar on Tuesday, during a meeting at No.6 Convent Place that started at 3pm and stretched to past 8pm. 

The meeting was attended by Keith Azopardi, the Leader of the Opposition, and GSD MPs Damon Bossino and Roy Clinton. 

The briefing was delivered by Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia and Attorney General Michael Llamas. 

The briefing was on confidential terms and Mr Azopardi, who received a copy of the text, said ahead of the meeting that he would treat the discussion and the document as confidential until it was published by the Government “or anyone else”, sharing it only with his team. 

As part of the ratification process for the UK, the Gibraltar Parliament will debate a motion asking the UK Government to enter the treaty for Gibraltar’s post-Brexit relations with the bloc. 

“It was a very cordial and lengthy meeting during which we were able to talk our parliamentary colleagues through the settled text and discuss the parliamentary process we envisage for the debate on the treaty text,” Mr Picardo told the Chronicle last night. 

Ahead of the meeting, Mr Azopardi told the Chief Minister in a letter accepting the briefing that the GSD was disadvantaged because the party had “so far, not seen a single page of the Treaty text”. 

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Azopardi said the final stages of a process that has dragged out nearly 10 years since the Brexit referendum was unfolding in a “highly charged political atmosphere” in Gibraltar because of controversies over issues such as the Openshaw Report. 

But he said the GSD would adopt a “principled, not partisan” position on the treaty and whether it was safe and beneficial for Gibraltar, assessed against the impact of no deal. 

Mr Azopardi would not be drawn even on his overall first impression of the treaty after the briefing, let alone its detail. 

In any event, he said it would be “premature” to offer a view now because the party would first need to take time ahead of the debate in Parliament to consider the text in detail. 

“We now have it, we will look at it and we’ll form a view,” he told the Chronicle. 

Ahead of the meeting, the Government reiterated its view that, “at this stage of the process, Gibraltar’s elected representatives should be fully informed of the treaty’s provisions so that Gibraltar may approach the forthcoming ratification process with clarity, responsibility and an understanding of the strategic rationale underpinning the agreement.”