On the 3rd November the Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister was interviews on the Spanish TV station 'Campo de Gibraltar'
The event caused quite a stir as most of the answers which Sr. Moratinos gave did not coincide with what our Government
had informed in relation to the Cordoba Agreement.
The following are Sr. Moratinos answers to the some of the questions put to him during the interview.
Following the interview of the Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister, our Chief Minister, Peter Caruana who had apparently
not seen the interview on TV and having only read the report of the interview on the Spanish newspaper 'Area',
when interviewed by The Gibraltar Broadcasting
Corporation on the 6th November, had this to say.
The following are Mr. Caruana's answers to the some of the questions put to him during the interview on GBC.
Following Sr. Moratinos comments the following press release has been issued:
Joint press release by the Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y Co-Operacion of Spain, the Foreign & Commonwealth
Office of the United Kingdom and the Government of Gibraltar.
Forum of Dialogue on Gibraltar & Cordoba Statements.
The participants in the Forum of Dialogue on Gibraltar agree that it is important that public opinion in both Spain and
Gibraltar have the same clear sense of what has been agreed at Cordoba on 18th September 2006. By this communiqué the
participants wish to clarify the following points in relation to recent statements.
1. The Cordoba Airport Statement has no implication for
sovereignty, jurisdiction or control of Gibraltar Airport. No
participant has made a sovereignty advance, and no
participant has made a sovereignty concession.
2. The Forum of Dialogue on Gibraltar and the Cordoba
Statements have no implications whatsoever in relation to
the
position of any of the participants on the question of the
validity of the Treaty of Utrecht.
3. The Airport Statement provides as follows: -
“All passenger and flight services including all facilities and
functions relating to airside and aircraft services,
passengers'
check-in, baggage handling and passenger and
baggage security will be provided in and by the terminal.
Subject to EU
directives the Government of Gibraltar will
grant a contractual concession to operate the terminal and
provide these services
on a commercial basis to a joint
venture company owned by Gibraltar and Spanish
commercial interests.”
Accordingly, while a company co-owned by Gibraltar and
Spanish commercial interests will have a contractual
commercial
concession to operate the terminal and provide
the aforesaid services, no Spanish authority will participate
in the management of the terminal.
4. Under the terms of the Cordoba Statement Spanish Officials
(located north of the fence/frontier in a manner facilitated
by
the design of the terminal) will clear passengers flying
between Gibraltar and a Spanish Airport in respect of entry
to and exit
from Spain. Spanish officials will thus not control
entry to and exit from Gibraltar, which remains the
exclusive responsibility
of the Gibraltar Authorities. We
accordingly confirm the position in this respect as stated by
the Chief Minister on Monday.
5. The Cordoba Statement does not provide for Spanish
officials to control entry into or exit from any other
Schengen
destination. It provides as follows:-
“Once the participants have been able to assess the
operation of these arrangements they will, but subject to
further
agreement in that regard, give consideration to ways
of obtaining the practical benefits of Schengen clearance for
flights to
and from Gibraltar Airport and Schengen
destinations other than Spanish airports in a way legally and
politically acceptable
to all the participants.”
6. In respect of Gibraltar Airport's inclusion in EU Single Skies
and other Aviation measures, the Cordoba Statement
provides as follows: -
(1) With effect from 18th September 2006 Spain will cease
to seek the suspension of Gibraltar Airport from
new EU
Aviation measures;
(2) With effect from 18th March 2007, Spain will join the
UK in procuring the formal lifting of Gibraltar
Airport's suspension
from the application of all EU
Aviation measures.
Click here to read the statements issued by the Integration With Britain Movement
Click here to read the statement by the GSLP/Liberal Opposition Alliance
