Gibraltar's Brexit talks stalled by Spain's focus on Rock's airport

Local Spain

30-01-2025

Gibraltar's never-ending negotiations for a post-Brexit treaty may have hit another road bump, with the airport reportedly proving to be a major problem.
As The Local has reported, the Gibraltarian government has for months claimed that a deal is imminent. Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, stated in his New Year address that treaty negotiations were 'very, very close to a deal' and that finally finishing them was one of his objectives for 2025.
When the Labour government was elected in the UK last summer, there were positive words from new Foreign Secretary David Lammy about resetting relations with Europe and getting on with Gibraltar's treaty negotiations, but with little impact so far.
However, Picardo has also admitted that some aspects of the negotiations are of such 'great technical complexity' that 'there can be derivatives of sovereignty in some details.'
IN DEPTH: Should Gibraltar be British or Spanish?
The Independent might tell us why. Journalist Sarah Sands suggests that negotiations, and with them, perhaps any realistic prospect of a deal, are being hampered by disputes over the airport and sovereignty of the thin strip of land where it sits.
"An EU source tells me that Spain is focused on the airport, which it claims is not in Gibraltar territory as established in the Treaty of Utrecht," the report states.
This could explain Picardo's allusion to "derivatives of sovereignty in some details.'
When he announced last April that Gibraltar, the UK, Spain and the EU had agreed on all the "general policy lines" of an agreement, the Chief Minister referred to the "airport, goods and mobility" and made no mention of any tension on the airport.
The airport, whether it be whose border force is on the ground, or even contesting sovereignty of the land where it's located, has long been an issue and is sure to be a major sticking point in any treaty.
If Spain has now decided that the airport's sovereignty is at stake, it could also partially explain Gibraltar's Deputy First Minister Joseph García's recent comment that "one of the parties is taking a step back on something to which it had previously agreed."
Gibraltar's airport is located on the isthmus (a thin strip of land that connects two territories) between Gibraltar and Spain. Spain has long claimed that this section of land is occupied, and that, although the Treaty of Utrecht ceded Gibraltar to the British in 1713, the UK has since expanded beyond the territory outlined in the treaty.
According to a statement from the Spanish Foreign Ministry: 'Spain has always stressed that the occupation of the isthmus is illegal and contrary to international law and, therefore, has always demanded its unconditional return. Spain does not recognise the occupation of the isthmus or the fence as a border.'
Crucially, this isthmus contains Gibraltar airport. If the airport is located on a piece of land where sovereignty is contested, finding a resolution to the issue seems very difficult, if not near impossible. It also presents practical problems in any treaty, especially on the issue of policing the Schengen border.
The hypothetical transfer of the airport into Spanish hands, in whatever form that could take, would be unthinkable for both Gibraltar and the UK, while Spanish 'boots on the ground' has been a red line for both throughout the negotiations.
Ceding control of the airport, or even the isthmus, would be rejected outright on the Rock, and also likely politically unpalatable in London, regardless of whether Labour or the Conservatives are in government.
That the Starmer government has received significant political backlash for the recent Chagos Islands deal, characterised as a surrender of British sovereignty by the right-leaning press, makes this more unlikely still.
Five years into formal negotiations, it seems the Brexit buzzword of sovereignty is still delaying Gibraltar's treaty.
This follows recent reports in the Spanish press that Málaga airport is becoming an 'irregular gateway" to enter the Schengen area for passengers travelling from Gibraltar. This was reported by Europa Sur, citing complaints by senior police sources at the border with the Rock.
The issue stems from several passengers on flights scheduled to depart from Gibraltar who, due to adverse weather conditions, were rerouted by airlines to Málaga in order to lower costs, but then disappeared, breaking Schengen entry rules.