The government of Spain has called on the UK at the United Nations headquarters in New York to address the decolonisation of Gibraltar with full respect for the principle of territorial integrity and to comply with the resolutions of the Special Committee on Decolonisation, also known as the Special Committee of 24 (C-24). Spain’s permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Héctor Gómez Hernández, emphasised that the recent announcement of the treaty concerning Gibraltar respects both the legal positions of the UK and Spain regarding the sovereignty of the Rock.
Consequently, he urged the UK to continue discussions on the issue of Gibraltar’s colonial status to reach a “negotiated solution in the spirit of the Brussels Declaration of 1984”. In June last year at the UN, Mr Gómez Hernández reiterated Spain’s stance on Gibraltar’s sovereignty situation and urged the UK to resume bilateral negotiations for decolonising the isthmus, which he stated are distinct and separate from current negotiations between the UK, Spain and the European Union within the Brexit framework. He expressed confidence that the agreement reached within the European Union framework would help establish a new model of coexistence between Gibraltar’s inhabitants and those in Campo de Gibraltar.
This agreement would also allow for correcting imbalances caused by the colonial situation and advancing towards shared prosperity across the region, EuropaSur reports.
“However, none of these solutions to mitigate such imbalances will replace the only real negotiation we must undertake in compliance with this organisation’s mandates: ending the colonial situation affecting Spain, which involves fully restoring our sovereign integrity,” defended Spain’s representative on Tuesday (June 17).
Meanwhile, the Foreign Affairs Minister, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has stated in a Senate session that the political agreement reached with the UK “in no way undermines Spain’s claim to sovereignty over Gibraltar”.
Vox senator Ángel Pelayo Gordillo had asked Minister Albares about the political agreement that was finalised last week in Brussels after over four years of negotiations following Brexit and argued that Gibraltar “is a territory illegally colonised by the United Kingdom”.
For his party, the Vox senator continued, “any agreement that does not include the full reintegration of this territory under Spanish sovereignty is illegal, illegitimate, and unjust”.
He urged the minister to explain how the agreement would benefit Spain’s interests and whether it would promote the decolonisation of the Rock.
Albares defended that the political agreement reached “in no way undermines Spain’s claim to sovereignty over Gibraltar,” La Razon reports. He emphasised: “We do not renounce it and we will never renounce it,” but argued that “this agreement, which is historic, establishes a new framework of coexistence and a new framework of shared prosperity and future for the 300,000 Andalusians in the Campo de Gibraltar.”