When Spain and the United Kingdom seemed to have found the tone of the negotiations to solve the Gibraltar problem after Brexit, a new incident jeopardizes the signing of an early agreement. Gibraltar has described as “a serious violation of British sovereignty” that a Customs Surveillance vessel with a broken engine was forced by the current to the coast of the Rock, where the two agents on board were stoned by tobacco smugglers.
From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs they have “condemned” the attack suffered by the Audanera Surveillance agents who, as they have explained, were participating in an operation to combat smuggling in territory and waters near the Rock and who have been seriously injured.
Likewise, the Government has shown itself to be very harsh with the joint statement released this afternoon, the Governor, David Steel, and the Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo. They have assured that they “categorically reject the terms of the declaration, as well as the claims of an alleged British sovereignty over the territory and waters of Gibraltar.”
Just as Picardo has stated that Gibraltar is coordinating “its response to this incident with senior officials from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London and with the British Ambassador to Spain”, the Sánchez government has demanded “effective anti-smuggling measures”.
The British Government has aligned itself with the discourse of its colony. Thus, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry has declared that the agents carried out “some actions in Gibraltarian waters that constituted an incursion and violation of the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.”
The incident occurred at 5:00 a.m. yesterday Thursday when the auxiliary boat of a Customs Surveillance Service patrol boat, during the pursuit of a tobacco smugglers inflatable boat in the waters of the La Concepción Line (Cádiz ), suffered an engine failure, which stopped.
The state of the sea and the inertia caused the boat to be stranded on the nearby Levante del Peñón beach, according to sources from the Spanish Customs Surveillance Service. At that moment, the two Customs Surveillance officials who were occupying the auxiliary boat began to receive the impact of stones thrown at them from the beach by a group of people, tobacco smugglers in a violent attitude who also insulted them.
In a video that has been broadcast on the networks, it is seen how the two agents, already injured, and while they receive stones and insults, they fight to push their boat into the sea and even ask the smugglers for help, who respond with more insults.
Customs Surveillance sources have indicated that the agents, to defend themselves, fired a shot into the water, and that they asked the Gibraltar customs forces for help. The two agents managed to raise the boat by their own means and rowed to her patrol boat.
But in his statement, Gibraltar’s chief minister says “the evidence surrounding this incident reveals a serious breach of British sovereignty and potentially the most serious and dangerous incident for many years.” They add that “if it is confirmed that the Spanish officials fired their weapons in Gibraltar” it would be a “very serious breach of the law”, in addition to a “reckless and dangerous” action given “the proximity of a residential development”.
“Before reacting we must, of course, be sure of the facts, but events indicate that the actions of Spanish officials are intolerable,” he adds. However, he claims Gibraltar Customs officials “immediately offered their Spanish law enforcement colleagues assistance and medical attention.”
“The SVA officers refused the medical attention offered. They told Gibraltar Customs officers that despite the fact that their vessel appeared to have engine failure, they wanted to return immediately to their parent vessel, which they were allowed to do.” according to information contained in the Gibraltar press release.
The main minister also points out that yesterday he contacted his Spanish counterparts to inquire about the state of the Spanish agents, one of whom has resulted in a broken nasal septum and the other is waiting to be intervened to attend to the fractures on the cheekbone and nasal septum caused by the stones. The Chief Minister and the Governor also find the “illegal activity of a gang of individuals apparently involved in unlawful acts in Gibraltar” “unacceptable”.
Since the United Kingdom left the European Union, Spain has not yet reached an agreement regarding the management of the borders with Gibraltar. This same morning, Minister Albares insisted in Al Rojo Vivo that Spain has already put an agreement on the table and that now the ball was in the British court.
It should be remembered that there have been twelve rounds of negotiation since the New Year’s Eve Agreement was signed on December 31, 2021. Since then, both parties have been working to reach an agreement. Although Albares initially wanted to close that pact before the end of 2022, negotiations continue and now Spain hopes to finalize this agreement before holding the presidency of the European Union, in the second half of the year. However, in Gibraltar they are not in a hurry, because they want to achieve the most advantageous agreement.
Leaving aside the discussion about the sovereignty of the Rock, in which none of the parties is going to give up their position, it remains pending who controls the border traffic and the disappearance of the Gate. Regarding the first, what was signed in the New Year’s Eve pact is that they were Spanish agents under the protection of Frontex for the first four years. No agreement has yet been reached on the latter.
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