Aug 07 - ECAS Protests Against “Violations Of European Rights” At Border
The European Citizen Action Service has released the following statement:
The EU rights clinic has been flooded by over 80 detailed complaints from European citizens complaining about excessive delays at the Spanish-Gibraltar border ranging from 3-8 hours in each direction.
Those caught up in the controls often on each and every vehicle and person are residents from Gibraltar, some 7,000 Spanish frontier workers commuting daily and tourists from all over Europe.
Ever since ECAS launched its first hotline on border controls on the eve of the start to the internal market 20 years ago, Gibraltar has figured as the worst black spot anywhere in Europe. Complaints have been sent to the Commission, especially when border controls escalated as they do periodically above average waiting times of 20-30 minutes which are still excessive. The space and infrastructure available are such that this border can easily and without great cost conform to European standards. Evidence of delays at the border is documented on a daily basis. Peaks in the level of controls are the consequence of political disputes between the UK and Spain.
It is regrettable that this dispute which violates the fundamental status of European citizenship has degenerated into national stereo-typing. According to the latest Euro barometer poll, 62% of people in the European Union feel that they are European citizens (68% in Spain). On average 56% rate free movement of people, goods and services above peace and way ahead of other European policies as the most important achievement of the European Union. For many unemployed young people in Spain looking for jobs abroad in the EU, free movement is a tangible benefit of EU membership. It was on the initiative of the Spanish government that European citizenship was included in the Treaty of Maastricht. And that achievement is being celebrated 20 years on as the European year of citizens in 2013. This is an opportunity therefore to change this particular border over to European standards.
ECAS:
- objects strongly to ordinary people and their rights being taken hostage at the whim of government policy and over issues with which they have nothing to do. There is no case on risks to public health alone of creating delays in temperatures of over 30 degrees for children, elderly people or pregnant women. This situation has been denounced by the Citizens Advice Bureau in Gibraltar.
- does not contest the right of the authorities to carry out border checks, but regard current checks as violations of European law and guidance provided by the European Court of Justice.
- regards the threat of imposing a border toll on all travelers to Gibraltar as a return to the Middle ages and a measure which goes so far beyond any “normal” violations of internal market rules that it is scarcely imaginable.
On the basis of the complaints and evidence from the public, the EU rights clinic will be sending a complaint to the European Commission, requesting immediate action. As guardian of the EU Treaty, the Commission should order an immediate stop to excessive delays at the border and withdrawal of any scheme, however far-fetched, to impose a toll on travelers. It is high time the Commission, which for years has been on the receiving end of such complaints, should carry out an investigation on the spot to find a permanent European solution.
