MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Gibraltar cannot be the whipping boy of Brexit Garcia tells EU
The Deputy Chief Minister stressed the importance of continued cross-border fluidity once Gibraltar was outside the European Union. 
The Deputy Chief Minister stressed the importance of continued cross-border fluidity once Gibraltar was outside the European Union. In an address to a Brussels think tank, the (Germany's Liberal Party) Friedrich Naumann Foundation, the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia has declared that it would be manifestly unfair to use Gibraltar as a whipping boy who was made to suffer the consequences of Europe‘s wider disagreements with the United Kingdom.
Nobody has anything to gain by excluding Gibraltar from the transition or the future relationship agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom, Dr Garcia has further claimed.
The subject of the speech was “Gibraltar: The other Brexit land frontier”.
Dr Garcia explained that there were three land borders with the EU that the UK would continue to be ultimately responsible for. These were the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the borders between the Republic of Cyprus and the UK Sovereign Bases, and the border between Gibraltar and Spain.
The Deputy Chief Minister stressed the importance of continued cross-border fluidity once Gibraltar was outside the European Union. This was important to the people who lived on either side of the border, to residents, to tourists and also to frontier workers. He explained that there were over 13,000 people who lived in Spain and who worked in Gibraltar. This figure included nationals of all the Member States of the European Union.
He said that Gibraltar is a success story of what the EU is all about and a microcosm of what Europe should be, adding that it would be a tragedy if this were lost going forward.
He reminded the audience, which included many journalists and officials, that 96% of Gibraltar had voted to remain in the European Union in June 2016 but added that many now felt disenchanted following the publication last year of the Council’s negotiating guidelines.
The way forward could not be about negative vetoes and obstruction, it had to be about positive cooperation and safeguarding the reality that exists, which is the foundation for even greater shared prosperity in the future.
The Deputy Chief Minister’s address was followed by a lively question and answer session with those present and then by concluding remarks from Sir Graham Watson.
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Read all commentsGibraltar is not Spain, it is Gibraltar.
Jan 31st, 2018 - 10:47 pm +5People, don't give Patrick the time of day, he isn't even Argentine. He is an American that was living in Hawaii and is pretending to be Argentine. He recently tried to move to Argentina but was deported having failed to get a work permit. He has numerous convictions for drug use and related crimes and this has clearly addled his mind, that is why he rambles on like a madman
The only reason he is on here is because he was banned from Facebook for making homophobic comments.
How do I know this? He used to be an active member on some Falkland pages until he was banned for being homophobic, this is all public knowledge.
Please ignore him. He's just a bitter Brit hating loner with no country or identity, desperatly wanting attention
PE
Feb 01st, 2018 - 10:19 am +4In overdrive rant mode today I see pretending to be the moral conscience of the world while peddling your own drivel as facts.
“The US! hasn't got the disgusting attitude towards the world Britain has! Difference is that Britain's very astute, seeding problems and confrontations, then lets America look like the bully.”
Feb 01st, 2018 - 12:14 pm +3How convenient, finding a nice scapegoat so you don't have to admit that YOUR country has done bad things. You're totally in denial, Patrick, inventing your own facts because you can't handle the truth. Everyone knows it's the US who is the Empire now, interfering in other countries' affairs and spreading their own political philosophy.
By the way, Blair's government did try to make a deal with Spain in the 90's, but they abandoned it because the Gibraltarians objected so strongly.
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