UK ‘committed’ to Gibraltar treaty, more talks in coming weeks

The UK Government remains committed to concluding a UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar “as soon as possible”, with further negotiations “in the coming weeks”, the House of Lords was told this week.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Minister of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, was asked about the current status of the Gibraltar negotiations in a written question by Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee.

The question followed the 14th formal UK/EU round of talks in London in December, as well as technical meetings around that session.

Gibraltar and Spain had both signalled progress, even while tempering expectation as to when a breakthrough might be announced.

“The UK Government, working side-by-side with the Government of Gibraltar, is committed to concluding a UK-EU treaty in respect of Gibraltar as soon as possible,” Lord Ahmad said this week

“The latest round of UK-EU negotiations took place on 13 and 14 December, further discussions are planned in the coming weeks.”

“The UK is steadfast in our support for Gibraltar and will not agree to anything that compromises sovereignty.”

Answering questions from Keith Azopardi, the Leader of the Opposition, in Parliament in the run-up to Christmas, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said negotiators were “very optimistic we can get there” after the last formal round of talks and further technical meetings in Madrid.

But he declined to be drawn on details or a timeline, saying this would not be beneficial for Gibraltar and could weaken his negotiating position.

Mr Picardo said he would not “set up a clock that will tick against us” in the negotiation.

“So I'm not going to say, if it's not done by x, it can't be done, because that is a rope that will start to cut at our throat and therefore I'm not going to be drawn on timescales,” he added.

“When the substance is right, that’s when we’ll do the agreement.”

Spain’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albares, told reporters at about the same time that negotiations were progressing well but also declined to be drawn on a timeline.

“The negotiations are continuing at a very good pace,” he said.

“The proposal for a balanced, generous agreement that is good for creating an area of shared prosperity is on the table.”

“We continue to talk and negotiate with great intensity.”