Written statement to Parliament
UK action regarding situation in Gibraltar
William Hague has updated Parliament on UK action regarding
unacceptable Spanish/Gibraltar border delays and illegal incursions into
BGTW.
Since 26 July, attempts by the Spanish government to exert pressure on Gibraltar and its people have increased significantly. Disproportionate and time-consuming checks have been introduced at the Gibraltar-Spain border, leading to delays of up to seven hours. At those same borders we have seen ambulances being searched and prohibitions placed on the transport of essential building materials. The Government of Spain has in addition publicly made a series of threats of further action. In parallel, beginning in April 2012, Spanish state vessels have continued to make multiple illegal incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW).
These actions and threats are wholly unacceptable. The impact of the border delays has been felt most severely by local citizens, both Gibraltarians and the thousands of Spanish commuters who benefit from employment in Gibraltar. As well as having to endure long delays in hot weather, people crossing the border have reported aggressive behaviour by the teams of Guardia Civil officers brought from other parts of Spain to conduct the enhanced checks. There have been disturbing reports of Gibraltar licensed cars being burnt or vandalised in Spain. The ban on importing certain materials is already impacting on infrastructure projects and the reduction in the number of people able to cross the border has reduced retail sales. The heightened rhetoric from the Spanish Foreign Minister is also concerning.
These measures are disproportionate and obviously politically motivated, having been introduced immediately after the lawful creation by the Government of Gibraltar of an artificial reef in BGTW. They are also unlawful under EU law. By contrast the creation of the reef was legal and is part of the Government of Gibraltar’s long term marine environmental management plan designed to improve fish stocks and regenerate habitat. The use of inert concrete blocks to create artificial reefs is consistent with international best practice and with the Government of Spain’s own approach to artificial reefs.
The Government has responded to these developments robustly and in close concert with the Government of Gibraltar. Our aim is to ensure that Gibraltarians can go about their business unhampered and free from intimidation, and to uphold the rights and interests of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom.
We summoned the Spanish Ambassador on 2 August. The Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have protested in the strongest terms to our counterparts, emphasising that Britain will not stand by in the face of continued hostility and stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Gibraltar. We have also spoken to our other European counterparts to make sure that they are aware of the details of Spain’s unjustifiable behaviour.
We have asked that the European Commission urgently sends a monitoring mission to the border to investigate the delays, and following the Prime Minister’s intervention, we welcome President Barroso’s confirmation that a mission will soon be deployed. In partnership with the Government of Gibraltar, we are continuing to collect evidence of the disproportionate unlawful border measures, and will share this with the European Commission before their monitoring mission arrives. We are also keeping under review the option of taking direct legal action against the Spanish Government.
We challenge and protest against every unlawful incursion. Following the recent Guardia Civil underwater incursion, our response has focussed on three key lines of operation: surveillance - to ensure the area was properly monitored; deterrence - increasing patrol activity and general presence in the vicinity of the reef; and prevention - with the Royal Navy, Royal Gibraltar Police and the Gibraltar Defence Police ready to deploy to counter incursions or other surface.
On 7 August the Foreign Secretary again confirmed to the Spanish Government our commitment to a diplomatic solution, repeating the offer made in April 2012 for ad hoc talks involving all relevant parties while remaining strongly committed to the Trilateral Forum of Dialogue between the UK, Gibraltar and Spain.
We will continue to press the Spanish Government to de-escalate the situation and to remove the additional checks at the border, as well as preparing prudently for increasing that pressure if that does not happen. We will continue to work very closely with the Government of Gibraltar. On 28-30 August, Chief Minister Picardo visited London for meetings with the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary.
We will continue to respect the wishes of the people of Gibraltar, and will take whatever action is necessary to safeguard Gibraltar, its people and its economy.
***********************************************************************************************
Now what we need is for Spain to stop escalating the issue by giving out lies and bad propaganda about Gibraltar.
The Spanish Government have gone a full steam ahead to bring down Gibraltar's economy and Tourism not just by targeting the bunkering or causing lengthy and inhumane queues.
We need more people around the world to stand up with us against the bully that SPAIN is.
***************************************************************************************************
Spain continues to refuse to take part in the tripatrite talks even though this was part of the Cordoba Agreement.
Rajoy afirma que no aceptará un acuerdo tripartito sobre Gibraltar
| www.europasur.es |
Rajoy afirma que no aceptará un acuerdo tripartito sobre Gibraltar. . El presidente del Ejecutivo es...
***************************************************************************************************
I will echo a good friend on facebook call:K. Jouyce
Important notice: Spain has started a hate campaign against Gibraltar by twisting things in the media to show a negative side of Gibraltar and her people. The reason behind this is because they want to turn every Spanish citizen against Gibraltar so that they see right all the wrongs that their government is doing it is of paramount importance that we do not give them any coal for them to continue fueling their steam engines!!! I.e we MUST at all times restrict ourselves from any sort of violent behavior or comments especially where Spanish media could be present!!
We MUST also act in a responsible manner whilst at the presence of any Spanish nationals maybe even practice some kindness (who knows you might make a friend in the process).
The mind works in mysterious ways and only a small percentage of communications involves actual words, 7% to be exact. In fact 55% is visual and 38% is vocal, so if we manage to show Spanish media that we are not violent and that those claims about harassment bullying etc by our police force towards the fishermen/gc are false they will either have nothing to post in their media or they will end up having to post images that unmasks all the lies being told by certain individuals!!
Guys lets not make it easy for the Spanish government to turn every Spanish national against us!!
Anne-Marie Struggles
No comments:
Post a Comment
If you are a member of the Fascist GE (Facebook group) you are just wasting your time thinking you can comment on here and use this blog as a platform - see ya!