Spain warns London of return of strict Gibraltar border controls if there is no agreement in a month's time

Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albare has pointed out that Spain "has already been generous" and that it is the UK that "has to move" before the arrival of the new Schengen area system

Miguel Ángel Alfonso

Madrid

Thursday, 10 October 2024, 21:35

If Spain and the United Kingdom do not reach an agreement on the status of Gibraltar after Brexit on 10 November, tighter border controls will return, as the new Schengen area control system comes into force on that day.

This was announced on Wednesday by the Spanish minister of foreign affairs, José Manuel Albares, after meeting with mayors and other political representatives of the area and the Junta de Andalucía, during which he urged London to "move". "We have been negotiating the agreement for many years (...) it is time for the United Kingdom to say yes to an agreement that is balanced and generous and that we put on the table a long time ago," he said.

Albares, who has held numerous meetings with his various British counterparts in recent years - the last one took place on 16 September with the Labour Party's David Lammy - wanted to make it clear that this is something that "has nothing to do with the Gibraltar agreement", nor was it imposed by Spain, but is a new system for the entire Schengen area and will therefore be applied at all borders of access to it.

Aware of the consequences this would have for the inhabitants of the Rock and the thousands of workers who cross the border every day, its chief minister, Fabian Picardo, argued in a statement that the British proposals "are reasonable and balanced" and that, on the contrary, it is up to Spain to decide "whether to insist on positions that they know we cannot accept".

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