Aug 13 - Government “Would Welcome Reference To International Legal Tribunals”
The Government notes that the weekend press and television in Spain has been full of misleading allegations against Gibraltar. Each of these will be challenged by the Government in correspondence as well as in public statements designed to reverse the negative impression that such allegations may have given.
Separately, the Government welcomes that the Spanish Foreign Minister, Mr Margallo appears to be considering referring the issues in dispute between Gibraltar, the United Kingdom and Spain to relevant international legal tribunals. The Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, challenged Spain to refer to the relevant international tribunals matters related to the limits of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters and the issue of the application of the inalienable right of Self-Determination to the people of Gibraltar. The Government welcomes that Mr Margallo appears to have now realised that this is the rational and civilised way of resolving disputes. That is to be preferred to the illegitimate and disproportionate measures taken at the border in the past weeks where thousands of innocent individuals have been the victims of unwarranted political pressure.
The Government is not surprised by reports that Spain will join with Argentina to co-ordinate its claims to Gibraltar with the latter's claims to the Falkland Islands. This has de facto been the case for some time, in particular in UN Decolonisation Seminars where Spain and Argentina are jointly trying to establish a new self-serving doctrine that Self-Determination does not apply to territories over which there is a sovereignty dispute. This explicit statement of renewed complicity with Argentina will nonetheless help to illustrate more publicly what was already happening covertly.
The Government warmly welcomes that the United Kingdom Government has restated its commitment to the right of Self-Determination of the people of Gibraltar. We also welcome the fact that the United Kingdom will be joining Gibraltar is taking action against Spain at a European level.
Separately, the Government appreciates the huge level of support for Gibraltar from UK, European and Spanish parliamentarians. The most high profile support has been from the Minister for Europe, David Lidington, writing in The Sun and from Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, writing in the Daily Telegraph. These are in addition to massive support in writing from citizens from around the world who have seen the very favourable treatment the world's press have given to the Gibraltar story in the past week. That does not include the Spanish media where although some newspapers have carried some articles which are based on facts, most of the newspapers have "bought-in" to the misleading versions propagated by the Spanish government.
Chief Minister, Hon Fabian Picardo MP, who is now back in Gibraltar, said: "The defiance from Spain that we have seen in the past week of Prime Minister Cameron's call for reasonableness is self-defeating. It is almost without precedent, except for the obvious parallels with the anti-Gibraltar actions of the 50s and 60s. The important thing is that the United Kingdom and Gibraltar are very clear in our measured and reasoned responses to the continuing provocations. It is right that we should respond to actions and not to idle threats and that the people of Gibraltar should remain calm in the face of the pressure being exerted. In particular, we should all continue to see those Spanish workers, tourists and other visitors to our land as welcome guests and fellow Europeans, despite the attempts by those from further afield to prevent this. With reason and truth on our side, and hard work, we will prevail in any fairly established international tribunal."
