An article from EL Pais talking about the negotiations between Spain (EU) and Gibraltar (UK)
"The European Union is, in broad strokes, a handful of rules, a community of values - lately on the decline - a short currency and, above all, a single market of some 500 million people that goes from the Finnish forests to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, from Finisterre to the Cypriot coast, and which is the true jewel in the crown of Europe along with the Schengen zone, which allows the free movement of people.
Regarding that diamond in the form of Schengen and the single market, Gibraltar is a kind of toothache: a formidable hole. “Brexit means Brexit,” Brussels has told the British since they consummated their departure from the Union, but in the last four years that motto – equivalent to a you-asked for it – has not been valid for Gibraltar, which has continued to operate as if nothing else: without the obligations that a pact would entail and practically without any control since January 2021. Gibraltar lives in the best of all worlds, with the advantages of the single market and free movement and without any of the associated duties.
Brexit was a huge loss for the EU : with the referendum that an irresponsible person called David Cameron pulled out of his sleeve — life gives you surprises: now he is essential for the pact in Gibraltar, as head of British Foreign Affairs — almost 70 millions of people, a military power, one of the oldest democracies on the planet and, in short, a way of looking at the world. The negotiations for the exit were a headache. And they left two poisoned gifts: Northern Ireland, a real mess, and Gibraltar . The Irish dispute has entered the process of resolution, but it remains not completely resolved. Neither does Gibraltar. Because when issues related to borders and identity politics mix, trouble is guaranteed: the Executive of the very forgettable Theresa May did not hesitate to activate a rhetorical and nostalgic war in 2021 in which British conservatives came to compare Gibraltar with the Falklands. “35 years after the Falkland Islands [English name for the archipelago], we are going to defend the freedom of a small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country,” conservative leader Michael Howard said then, with that ulcer-plague tone typical of nationalisms.
And yet, almost three years of negotiations are coming to an end, if the obstacles of airport management , the mobility of people associated with the Schengen area and the imbroglio of the customs agreement can be overcome in an enclave that has made a fortune with tobacco smuggling, drug trafficking and all kinds of financial and fiscal tricks. Spanish* *Treasury is rightly suspicious, hence why this meeting at the highest level has been called to give political impetus to the last mile of the negotiation. There is too much political capital on the table to think that these talks will not come to fruition. But Spain - or Brussels - should set a deadline, because otherwise the Gibraltarian hole in the European single market and the Schengen area will tend to last forever.
After Brexit was consummated, the surge was huge. The wound has not yet healed, although relations between London and Brussels have visibly improved. This improvement may benefit the Gibraltar negotiation, which in recent times has been an exhausting uphill climb: we will have to see if the British and Spanish manage to bell the cat "in the coming weeks", as Spain ventures. The Gibraltarians were selling last night that the agreement is “a kiss away”. But we should remember that the lips that need to be kissed are those of Cameron, the protagonist of one of the greatest political absurdities of recent times.
Cameron called the referendum to leave the EU to establish himself at the head of his party. He lost it miserably. He was forced to leave office. And that day, after announcing his resignation before a swarm of journalists, he turned whistling towards 10 Downing Street: look for those images because they are the living image of an irresponsible person. If the agreement is really within the distance of a kiss, we will have to be careful so that no one leaves whistling. The hole would run the risk of remaining there sine die."
https://elpais.com/espana/2024-04-13/gibraltar-un-agujero-y-un-tipo-que-se-larga-silbando.html