The electoral advance has left many things halfway. One of them, the negotiation on the situation of Gibraltar after Brexit. The conditions regarding the Peñón border were left out of the famous New Year's Eve agreement with which the European Union and Great Britain closed a mobility pact for the entry and exit of citizens to Gibraltar. It was then agreed that the European Commission and the United Kingdom would negotiate relations with the EU separately, especially with Campo de Gibraltar, the main affected by the country's departure from the common framework.

Two and a half years have passed since the talks began and there have been 13 formal rounds of negotiations since October 2021, all without agreement.. And now it seems that the process is slowing down again. As confirmed to EL MUNDO by sources from the Gibraltar government, out of respect for the Spanish democratic process, the United Kingdom and the EU have decided not to call more formal meetings until a new government is formed, “although informal talks always continue,” they point out.. So, if Pedro Sánchez were to continue in power, there would be no solution for Gibraltar until at least the end of this year.

The problem would come if the government is changed and those who occupy Moncloa have to resume negotiations with their conditions, which could be a drag in the talks.. Because everything is quite advanced. There is only one point on which the parties differ and it has to do with the interpretation of the concept of sovereignty. Although Spain is not going to stop claiming sovereignty over the territory, in the negotiations it assumed the 6.8 square kilometers of Gibraltar as British territory in exchange for the fall of the fence and border control by Spanish agents under the supervision of Frontex.

Conditions on the table

That is where the English differ, since they consider that the work of Spaniards on Gibraltarian soil is a violation of their sovereignty. “The United Kingdom remains firm in our support for Gibraltar and will not accept anything that compromises sovereignty,” sources from the British Embassy in Madrid insist to this newspaper.. As The Telegraph published, the ambassador, Hugh Elliot, accepted this point in the negotiations, but his approval earned him the replacement in the negotiating commission.

Although the talks are at the EU-UK level, no decision will be made without the approval of Spain. For this reason, the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, has spent a good part of these years unblocking this obstacle. “The ball is in his court,” he has stated on numerous occasions. According to him, Spain had already put some conditions on the table in which it was not going to give in. There were no deadlines to reach an agreement, although Spain initially wanted to close it before the end of 2022.

In December, Albares met with his British counterpart, James Cleverly, and both noted “progress” in the talks.. Already in 2023, there was talk of an imminent agreement. Some sources set the Eurovision Song Contest as the deadline -May 14- and the national Executive established the start of the EU presidency -July 1-, as the maximum date to resolve it and that this problem would not occupy part of the agenda. The call for elections makes it impossible to reach an agreement now.