Jul 13 – CM And DCM Meet Nicola Sturgeon In London
The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia this morning received the First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon MSP at Gibraltar House in London.
The First Minister was accompanied by a technical delegation and the Gibraltar team also included the Attorney General Michael Llamas and UK representative Dominique Searle.
The two Governments were able to exchange views on the developing political situation following the referendum of 23 June, where the UK as a whole voted to leave the EU but where both Scotland and Gibraltar voted to remain.
It was agreed that technical teams would continue their work to explore further the potential commonality of interests between Scotland and Gibraltar and that “all the options would need to be explored in that process.”
The important point was made that even today different British territories have varying degrees of relationship with the European Union.
The meeting with the First Minister of Scotland this morning followed a hectic day of meetings in Brussels yesterday. The Gibraltar delegation left London by train early in the morning and returned at night.
The programme included nine meetings with the European Commission, the European Parliament and members of the Council.
This included a meeting with the Commissioner responsible for customs and taxation Pierre Moscovici.
In addition to this, the Chief Minister was able to put across the position of Gibraltar to the leaders of the two largest political groups in the European Parliament.
Some of these meetings were pre-planned from before the referendum and were a continuation of Government business. A number of other meetings were arranged to take advantage of Mr Picardo's and Dr Garcia's time in Brussels.
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