Brexit threatens to revive a three-century border dispute between the UK and Spain that could disrupt the daily lives of thousands of Gibraltarians.
The small British territory at the entrance to the Mediterranean risks starting the New Year with new restrictions on the border with the European Union, unless the United Kingdom and Spain reach a last-minute agreement on the border in dispute.
The border crossing to Spain from Gibraltar, on 3 December.
Photographer: Marcelo del Pozo / Bloomberg
Intense negotiations continue and an agreement for future relations with Spain and the EU is getting closer, according to the minister in charge of the enclave, Fabian Picardo. he told the Gibraltar Chronicle.
The Brexit trade agreement sealed on 24 December did not include an agreement for the British overseas territory and its 32,000 inhabitants. Without one, thousands of Gibraltarians and Spanish citizens who cross the border every day for work or leisure could suffer long delays in imposing passport controls.
Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya told RNE radio this week that failing to reach an agreement would cause Gibraltarians to wake up on 1 January to find “the toughest border in the UK”. The British government has said it is continuing negotiations with Spain.
A typical day before the pandemic, the territory’s border posts could make up to 30,000 steps. They would include more than 15,000 workers, including many Spaniards, entering Winston Churchill Avenue in Gibraltar from the Spanish city of La Linea.
Supply trucks carrying British goods by land from the UK would also face new obstacles to reaching the Rock if full customs controls were imposed. The goods would have to be cleaned in the EU and then re-left through a Spanish customs post across Algeciras Bay before entering the territory.
Read more: Gibraltar thrown into disarray by Brexi Threat to supply lines
Gibraltar has been no stranger to tension since the British took control of the Rock in 1713. Many inhabitants of the strategic outcrop vividly remember a 13-year blockade forced by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco that only ended in 1982.
Common membership in the EU helped ease periodic tensions over territory between the UK and Spain, allowing it to thrive in tourism, financial services and online gaming.
Spain has already taken some measures to offset the impact of Brexit by allowing Gibraltarians to work in professions that require EU nationality or to hold public sector jobs.
Gibraltar already trades goods with the EU as a third country, which means that, unlike the UK, its small economy is not facing a barrage of new rules from 31 December.
(Updates on the status of negotiations in the third paragraph.)