The visit of HRH Princess Anne of England to Gibraltar comes with an anecdote and also with some criticism. The plane that was transporting the representative of the British monarchy to the Rock was unable to land at the colony’s airfield at 2:45 p.m., as planned, due to the dense fog that covers the Rock. That is why the flight has been diverted to Malaga and from there it has been escorted to La Línea de la Concepción. The princess, whose visit will not last even 24 hours, plans to take part, as godmother, in the Literary Festival that, every year, is held on flat ground.
The mayor of Algeciras and senator of the PP, José Ignacio Landaluce, has valued both the visit and the collaboration provided. First of all, he hopes that, as is usual in these cases, there will be a formal protest from Spanish diplomacy to British diplomacy. At the moment, Foreign Affairs, as has happened on similar occasions, has not commented. “We do not want this complaint because of the arrival of the person, but because of what it represents as an image of the maintenance of British sovereignty over the rock.” Regarding what happened with the flight, he understands that “it is logical that Spain collaborates otherwise it can land on the Rock.”
Likewise, the Algeciras councilor hopes that once the new Executive chaired by Sánchez is formed, whoever occupies the Foreign Affairs portfolio will set as one of its “absolute priorities” the solution “to a problem in which above everything and everyone must the well-being of the people, especially that of the more than ten thousand workers who cross the border every day to earn a living in Gibraltar.
“And in these claims the claim of Spanish sovereignty over both the Rock and the waters that surround it remains immovable. We are not going to give up in that effort because we consider that territory ours, just as we continue to demand that the control of the borders in the Rock corresponds to Frontex, and that it be done through the Spanish police and customs services, or that the long-awaited area of shared prosperity be launched once and for all.”
Landaluce also trusts that “the good relations that exist and are publicly demonstrated between the colony’s chief minister, Fabian Picardo, and Pedro Sánchez, will facilitate reaching an agreement that benefits everyone equally, without there being imbalances between the two territories.”
A Picardo who has already congratulated the socialist on his investiture and believes that the time has come to work to close, once and for all, the agreement on Brexit and the relationship he will maintain with Spain. In fact, in the letter that he has sent her, he leaves her a message to hold a meeting as soon as possible.
At the moment, and with delay, he is already with Princess Ana after her arrival at Malaga airport.