December 31, 2020
ibraltar is set to join Europe’s borderless Schengen Area as part of an eleventh-hour deal with Spain over the future of the small British territory. Courtesy photo
MADRID Gibraltar is set to join Europe’s borderless Schengen Area as part of an eleventh-hour deal with Spain over the future of the small British territory.
Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya said negotiators had reached an “agreement in principle” with the United Kingdom that would see “EU policies and programs” remain in force in the territory, on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula.
It comes hours before Gibraltar was set to leave the EU s single market at midnight on Friday, in keeping with the United Kingdom, as the post-Brexit transition period ended.
Europe’s borderless Schengen Area will be extended to cover Gibraltar after an eleventh-hour deal was reached with Spain over the future of the small British territory.
Under the preliminary agreement reached on Thursday, immigration checks at the border between Gibraltar and Spain will end.
Passports of passengers arriving and departing Gibraltar s harbour and airport will also be checked by the EU border agency Frontex, in addition to local officials.
In separate press conferences, Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya and Gibraltar s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said they had reached an agreement in principle and that a full treaty would be negotiated in early 2021.
ERG says agreement is cross-border ‘win-win’
David Parody 31st December 2020
The Equality Rights Group welcomed the announcement of a Brexit agreement for Gibraltar, describing the Schengen negotiations as a “win-win for both Spaniards and Gibraltarians”.
In a statement issued shortly after the Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, gave a live press conference from No.6 Convent Place on Thursday, the ERG said: Tacit as the early agreement on Gibraltar’s admission into the Schengen acquis may be, it is nonetheless already progress for all sides.”
“Win-Win for both Spaniards and Gibraltarians is historically reachable and possible.”
“ Not least, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo has to be recognised for the important and complex work of statesmanship and diplomacy which this move has already required, and which continuing negotiations over the coming six months will necessitate.”
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Talks on a deal to preserve freedom of movement across the border between Spain and Gibraltar were entering their final hours on Thursday as the midnight Brexit deadline loomed.
Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya was due to give a press conference in Madrid during that afternoon, about the situation of the negotiations , according to a government statement.
Negotiators representing the governments in Madrid, London and Gibraltar have been working around the clock to ensure free movement at the border once the Brexit transition period ends at 2300 GMT.
Although Britain reached a last-minute exit deal with the European Union on Christmas Eve, it does not cover Gibraltar, a tiny British territory on Spain s southern tip which is historically claimed by Madrid.