Britain has raised the stakes in the Gibraltar border dispute as the Frigate HMS Westminster sailed in to its port Monday. This followed events on Sunday (Aug. 18) when forty Spanish fishing boats tried to illegally enter Gibraltar’s waters and were repelled by British military and police boats.
The latest dispute between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar’s sovereignty concerns a concrete reef built by Gibraltar to protect their fishing stocks. The Spanish claim its hurts their fisherman and have responded by forcing long lines at the Gibraltar – Spain border with unnecessary immigration checks, which the British claim violates EU law; and by threatening a border tax of £40 for each crossing.
Just 2.6 square miles, Gibraltar is a British Overseas territory located on the southern tip of Spain with access to the Mediterranean. It has been British for over 300 years. In addition to its strategic Naval value, Gibraltar has an economy based largely on tourism, online gaming, financial services, and shipping. It is a key employer of Spanish nationals across the border in Andalusia.
The dispute is largely manufactured by the Spanish government who are suffering politically due to a corruption scandal compounded by the pains of necessary austerity measures. The concrete reef issue is really just an excuse for Spain to stand up in their pram and shake their rattle a bit. Telling off the British generally plays well for Spanish political leaders and forms a welcome distraction from the public’s dissatisfaction with their performance.
For the most part, the presence of British warships in the harbor is a pre-scheduled military exercise in the Mediterranean. Britain though has decided to make a show of strength anyway, backing up the words of the Gibraltar First Minster Fabian Picardo to the Spanish Foreign Minister that Spain “is sabre-rattling a la North Korea (and that) the politics of bullying Gibraltar into a submission as the Spaniards believe to think or the Spanish government believe to think is possible is something that has its genesis in the dictatorship of General Franco.”
The EU has decided to send a fact-finding mission to the border to investigate the legitimacy of British claims that border delays are being intentionally caused. It’s hard to see how this toothless wonder will determine anything. Spain switches the delays on and off randomly and can no doubt cease when the commission shows up a la Saddam Hussein with weapons inspectors.
Picardo meanwhile has been receiving death threats online via Twitter stating that comments directed against him and his family have been constant but its "one of the things that goes with the job these days if you're a politician". Political forces in Spain have also been orchestrating an online campaign to raise the call for Gibraltar to lose its British sovereign status and become part of Spain.
David Cameron called the Spanish tactics "politically motivated and disproportionate" which will scare nobody. However British flag waving residents greeting the Royal Navy, coupled with Picardo’s consistently tough rhetoric, should let the Spanish know that Gibraltar’s sovereignty is not up for grabs.
And while Cameron sounds excessively diplomatic, Tom Watson, Labour MP for West Bromwich East, condemned Spain’s "bullying tactics" as "intolerable"; adding "Their government should respect the views of the people of Gibraltar."
Spain though will look to take advantage of the greater situation to try and exact some price out of the British. They still want their people to have jobs in Gibraltar and they don’t want to mess it up with all the British tourists who come to the Costa Del Sol. The Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy wants to be seen as having secured something for his own political gain. What remains to be seen is how far he’ll go to get it and what if anything are the British willing to cede.
Change in sovereignty is defiantly out of the question from the British perspective. What remains to be seen from Westminster is how far they are willing to go if Spain continues to up the ante. Does Cameron have the stomach to play hardball? Time will tell because the Spanish have probably gone too far to simply just fold.
