8 hours ago
Spain given power over Gibraltar visas in Brexit deal
Spain was granted new powers over visas and residency permits in Gibraltar in secret UK-EU talks over the Rock's new Brexit deal.
UK and Gibraltarian ministers claimed there was no threat to British sovereignty after announcing the agreement to keep the border on the isthmus open last week.
But Spanish authorities will be able to carry out checks on people moving to the British Overseas Territory and play a joint role with Gibraltar on immigration and asylum cases.
That means a UK subject hoping to move to Gibraltar will be vetted by Spanish authorities working on behalf of the EU.
Gibraltar's government told Bloomberg, which first reported the concession, that it retained the final decision on asylum and whether or not to grant residency permits.
A spokesman said the deal 'does not compromise sovereignty in any respect, and provides huge opportunities for traders in Gibraltar'.
He added that the deal protected the 'fluidity of people necessary for the continued success and expansion of our services industries, especially the online gaming, insurance and financial services sectors'.
Gibraltar would be allowed to issue a limited number of visas on humanitarian grounds, which would only be valid on the Rock, an EU official said.
There would be strong cooperation between police in Spain and Gibraltar, which Madrid still views as a colony that should be Spanish.
The deal ensures that Gibraltar's border with Spain remains open after Brexit, and means the 15,000 Spanish workers who cross into the disputed territory every day will not have to have their passports stamped.
Failure to do the deal would have meant those workers using up their quota of visa-free travel to Gibraltar, and risked long delays at the border, which would be damaging to the economies on both sides of the frontier.
Border checks will be moved to Gibraltar's nearby airport after the Rock effectively becomes an entry point to the EU's Schengen zone of passport-free movement.
The EU demanded the new visa powers in the long-running behind-closed doors talks to protect the Schengen Area, which includes Spain.
Once inside Schengen, it is possible to cross borders within the free movement zone without showing your passport.
The deal also removes physical checks on goods at the frontier with Spain.
After The Telegraph revealed details of how Spanish guards would police Gibraltar's airport last week, Fabian Picardo, the chief minister, said: 'We have not ceded any control of Gibraltar to any authority.'
A day later, David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, was forced to admit that Spanish border guards would be able to stop Britons entering the Rock through its airport because of the deal.
Spain's government announced last week after the deal was agreed that Spanish national police 'will carry out full Schengen controls' in Gibraltar's port as well as the airport.
Mr Picardo, however, claimed Madrid had agreed that its police officers could only operate within the dual-use security space in the airport, which he calls the 'Schengen shack', straddling the border between the British territory and Spain.
During an interview on Gibraltar's GBC television station, he denied he had compromised on his promise to not allow Spanish 'boots on the ground' with Spanish officers being able to visit the port.
He said people arriving in Gibraltar from the sea would be driven from the port to the Schengen shack in the airport, but admitted that Spanish officers could accompany Gibraltarian police in these trips to and from the marina.
'They will not be in uniform and unarmed, merely observing that we are bringing an individual to the place where the immigration checks will take place and the only place where Spain can act, which is in the Schengen shack,' said Mr Picardo.
The chief minister said he was satisfied that he had 'managed to stave off Spain having a presence in Gibraltar' without the need for the EU's Frontex border security force being deployed for a four-year period, as was envisaged in the in-principle agreement that kicked off the four-year negotiations.
Negotiations over a post-Brexit deal for Gibraltar dragged on for more than five years after the end of the transition period until last week's breakthrough.
Talks were mired over sovereignty concerns in Gibraltar, which has been British since 1713, but were helped by warmer UK-EU relations under the Labour government.
In May, Sir Keir Starmer agreed a Brexit reset deal that included a defence pact and gave the EU 12 years' access to British fishing waters.
It also included a commitment to align with EU plant and animal health rules to boost trade, which critics warned was an acceptable compromise on sovereignty that would make Britain a 'ruletaker' from Brussels.
