Jan 03 - New Year Message From Liberal Party Leader And Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum. This was the first time that the people of Gibraltar were given a direct choice over the future status of their country. Indeed, it could be argued that the Referendum was the first act of acknowledgement that the Gibraltarians were the arbiters of their own destiny.
On 10 September 1967, 12,138 people voted to retain their links with the United Kingdom and only 44 voted for a transfer of sovereignty to Spain. The anniversary date of this event is now celebrated every year through Gibraltar National Day where we continue to assert our right to determine our own future.
Self-Determination
The concept of self-determination has evolved through the twentieth century into an inalienable legal right for the people on the United Nations list of Non Self Governing Territories. This must be the paramount consideration in the removal of such territories from the said list. The last such territory that was judged to have reached a full level of self-Government and so removed was East Timor. This reduced the number to 16 until the addition of French Polynesia a few years ago made it 17 once again.
The anniversary of the 1967 Referendum will be marked by a series of special events throughout the year, including a seminar in the autumn. National Day already promises to be extra-special.
The consequences of that Referendum fifty years ago are no less important to Gibraltar than the results of another Referendum which took place only six months ago and which determined that the United Kingdom would leave the European Union.
It seems incredible that the overall decision to leave was only taken just over six months ago because so much has happened since then.
European Union
The work related to the planned departure of the UK and Gibraltar from the EU is now taking up most of my time, as the Minister directly responsible. The close-knit team we have dealing with this matter includes the Chief Minister and the Attorney General. The detail is processed by my staff in the Office of the Deputy Chief Minister, as well as the AG's team, together with Gibraltar House in London and in Brussels.
We are all working together in order to safeguard Gibraltar's position.
We are greatly assisted in this by the strength of the relationship between the UK and Gibraltar Governments. This is a relationship in respect of which have we invested a considerable degree of time and effort since our first election in 2011.
It is why former Prime Minister David Cameron made history by visiting Gibraltar during the Referendum campaign. It is also why the Chief Minister and I were able to meet the new Prime Minister Theresa May on the very day that she was appointed by HM The Queen. There have since also been meetings with the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, the Brexit Secretary David Davis and with Ministers and officials in both their Departments. The formal Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) between the two Governments held its first working meeting last month.
Treaty of Lisbon
You can rest assured that your Government will leave no stone unturned in order to safeguard and protect the interests of Gibraltar in the coming negotiations. There will be an exit agreement which needs to be arrived at within two years of the UK formal notice of departure under Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon. The Prime Minister had said that this notice will be given in March 2017.
In addition to the exit treaty, the UK will also need to negotiate a new relationship with the European Union going forward, with possibly even a third agreement which outlines any transitional provisions. It is expected that all this will happen in parallel although the exact procedure is not yet clear because it is not spelt out in the Treaty itself. We are therefore sailing in unchartered waters because no Member State has ever left the European Union before.
We took the view, as your Government, that it was important to examine all the options open to Gibraltar after the Referendum result. This is what we have done. Countless meetings have taken place in London and in Brussels in order to explore different avenues and learn more from others about their own situation. The programme has been intensive and exhausting.
Northern Ireland border
I found it particularly useful to attend a meeting of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly in Cardiff a few weeks ago. This included members of Parliament from the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. Brexit poses a real challenge to all of them and I was able to address them on the issue from a Gibraltar perspective. It was obvious that we share a commonality of interests in certain areas.
Northern Ireland and Gibraltar, for example, are the two main UK land frontiers with the EU. A Gibraltar Government technical visit to Northern Ireland has already taken place with a particular emphasis on workings of the border between the North and the Republic.
Scotland and Wales
Scotland voted to remain, as did we. We have met the Government of Scotland, including the First Minister, several times in order to learn more about their concerns. A few weeks ago I also met the First Minister of Wales for the same reason. They receive 650 million euros a year in EU funding and are understatedly worried, even though the majority in Wales did vote to leave.
We expect these contacts to continue during 2017.
The Crown Dependencies and the other Overseas Territories all enjoy a special relationship with the EU at present, although unlike Gibraltar, they are largely outside it. This serves to emphasise the differential relationship that exists at present between the European Union and the many component parts of the British family of nations. That differential relationship may well be the key going forward.
It was particularly interesting over 2016 to also exchange views with Greenland, being the only part of a Member State to have left the EC in 1985.
No stone unturned
Your Government is leaving no stone unturned. It is clear to us from the comprehensive study that we conducted over the summer months exactly what the impact of Brexit will be and exactly what needs to be done. This is the process that we are currently engaged in hand in hand with the UK.
There is no point in having futile arguments about labels. Everyone in Gibraltar knows that Brexit comes down to fluid access through the border and to access to the Single Market and to the UK Market in particular. We have already taken great strides to secure the access to the UK that we have at present and are discussing the evolution of such access further still.
Spain
It is clear to us from our lobbying visits to Brussels that the crude and frontal approach adopted by the previous Spanish Foreign Minister on the question of Gibraltar did not go down very well in EU circles. Without doubt one of the positive highlights of 2016, from a wider Gibraltar perspective, was the departure of Mr Margallo from the Spanish Foreign Ministry. His obsessive, negative and destructive approach to anything remotely connected with Gibraltar was one which had not been seen in this form since the days of Franco and Castiella.
But, like them, Mr Margallo has failed. Those who follow him will fail also. He has thus joined the long list of Spanish Foreign Ministers who did not get their hands on Gibraltar.
It is possible that a new Foreign Minister and a new Government in Spain, one without a parliamentary majority, could lead to a new Spanish focus on the subject. In many ways it is still too early to tell.
However, what is abundantly clear to everyone is that a sensible, orderly and well-managed Brexit is in the best interests of all concerned. This means that Spain would do well to take into account the position of thousands of Spanish nationals whose daily livelihood depends on Gibraltar. There are twelve thousand frontier workers dependent on fluid border access, the bulk of whom are Spanish. There are millions of pounds spent by Gibraltar businesses in importing goods from their Spanish counterparts. There are more millions still spent by Gibraltar residents on leisure, goods and services in Spain.
In short, Gibraltar exerts a hugely positive economic impact on the neighbouring Spanish hinterland. This is already clear to many Spanish politicians, businessmen and trade unionists on the Spanish side. It may make for a smoother Brexit at a local level.
Brexit calendar
It is clear that Brexit will dominate the political agenda of the next twelve months and not only for Gibraltar. It will certainly dominate what we do as a Government. This could possibly mean that the time we have available to deal with other matters may be squeezed further as the demands on that time become more intense driven largely by the wider Brexit calendar. We ask you to bear with us as we direct these energies towards securing the best deal for Gibraltar.
The first term in office of the GSLP/Liberal Government (2011-2015) was dominated by the delivery of an ambitious and exciting manifesto. In this second term, the delivery of our new manifesto will continue to be pushed forward by our experienced and enthusiastic ministerial team, at the same time as we meet the Brexit challenge and we deal with it.
Time continues to move forward relentlessly. Fabian and I have now been in politics for twenty-five years and I have had the honour to have served you as a Member of Parliament for nearly eighteen years. Rest assured that your Government is well placed to handle whatever new challenges 2017 may throw at us.
And so, as we move forward into the New Year, you can rest assured that your Government will continue to work tirelessly for Gibraltar in every sphere of Governmental activity. We will continue to make use of the many international political contacts made over those twenty-five years in politics in order to progress the wider interests of Gibraltar as a whole. Some of you may recall that in the autumn I was able to address the plenary of the UK Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton during their main debate on Brexit.
This work too will continue throughout the New Year.
A very happy and prosperous 2017 to all.
{fcomment}
