Border Fluidity Discussed as Spanish Foreign Minister Meets Campo de Gibraltar Mayors

AS Britain, Gibraltar and Spain get ready for their first Joint Committee meeting in Algeciras, the eight mayors on the towns in the Campo de Gibraltar travelled to Madrid for a meeting with the Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya.

According to a Ministry spokesperson, the minister assured the visiting mayors that the defence of the interests of the Campo de Gibraltar would be a priority in future negotiations on relations with the UK post-Brexit, with the aim of creating a zone of shared prosperity.

Clearly those towns with high unemployment are desperate to ensure that Brexit will not cause any loss of jobs because of difficulties in crossing the border and asked the minister for an assurance that ease of cross border activity will be maintained.

Many Spanish workers do not currently hold passports and rely on ID cards to allow them to cross into Gibraltar and if the Spanish government refuses to recognise Gibraltar ID cards from 2021 as has been mooted, it is likely that Gibraltar will insist on entry by passport only.

According to the Spanish press, another matter discussed was the possible shared use of Gibraltar airport which was originally suggested by the Blair government but was never well-received in Gibraltar as it would appear to give Spain the right to have control over access to the airport from and to Spain.