Sep 02 - Hassan Nahon: "Integration Would be a Backward Step That Does Not Guarantee Delisting"
Independent MP Marlene Hassan Nahon has questioned the reasoning behind Daniel Feetham’s statements in a Gibraltar Chronicle interview in which he calls for the “consideration” of integration with the United Kingdom.
Ms Hassan Nahon says that the Leader of the Opposition’s idea of a referendum on integration in the event of Spain blocking Gibraltar from a deal on access to the single market is a “backwards step for our inalienable right to self determination, and our right to our land, which we and our forefathers have fought so hard to carve for so many decades.”
A statement issued yesterday evening continued: “If we believe, as Mr. Feetham himself has said on many occasions, that the 2006 Constitution provides the maximum level of self-governance, short of independence, then why would he even suggest an alternative, which pushes us in the opposite direction?
“The very concept of integration is something that was dismissed in the 1960s. Since that time, Gibraltar has come so far and achieved so much under different political parties under successive Gibraltarian leaders. Why would we want to turn the clock back 50 years on our progression as a people? Devolved integration, a creature of the limited autonomy of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, is no better in terms of limiting the Constitutional autonomy which Gibraltar already enjoys.
“The other point put forward was that integration would delist us from the UN list of non-self - governing territories. But at what price? And even then, delisting is not a foregone conclusion. The Committee of 24 may refuse to delist Gibraltar after integration, as it has refused to delist us under the 2006 Constitution.”
Ms. Hassan Nahon added that she once again welcomes the creation of the Brexit Select Committee, where an even spread of concepts and ideas will be debated for securing a better post Brexit Gibraltar. She stressed that an option for a return to “flunked ideas of yesteryear, taking Gibraltar back in time instead of forward at such a crucial juncture in our history” should not be presented as an option.
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