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
