LONDON (AP) — The British and Spanish leaders met Wednesday in London to sign a deal to ease cross-border trade and travel in Gibraltar, after years of post-Brexit wrangling over the contested territory at the tip of the Iberian peninsula.
Greeting his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez in his offices at 10. Downing Street, Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke of the close ties between the two countries.
Sanchez commended Starmer and his government for breaking the post-Brexit deadlock on Gibraltar.
Britain
left the European Union in 2020 with the relationship between Gibraltar and the bloc unresolved. Talks on a deal to ensure people and goods can keep flowing over the Gibraltar-Spain border previously had made only halting progress.
Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713, but Spain has maintained its sovereignty claim ever since. Relations concerning the Rock, as it is popularly referred to in English, have had their ups and downs over the centuries.
The agreement, which was announced in June and has to be ratified by the countries' legislatures, will remove all physical barriers, checks and controls on people and goods moving between Spain and Gibraltar.
In Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum, 96% of voters in Gibraltar supported remaining in the EU. The tiny territory on Spain’s southern tip depends greatly on access to the EU market for its 34,000 inhabitants.
Both leaders also spoke about the ongoing conflict in Gaza, with Starmer describing it as a “terrible situation." Sanchez, who was the first European leader to accuse Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, described Europe’s response to the conflict as a “failure” ahead of the meeting.
