Oct 14 - Government Note Opposition's Reaction To UN Speech
According to the Government, the latest statement by the Opposition which links aspects of the Chief Minister's UN speech with the question of talks with Spain is a “very weak political analysis” of what is happening because it “completely ignores the reality” of the present situation.
A spokesperson said: “The reality is not Gibraltar that does not want to talk to Spain. Instead it is Spain that does not want to talk to Gibraltar. This is reflected in the decision of the Partido Popular Government in Madrid to withdraw from the Trilateral Forum for Dialogue as soon as they were elected in 2011.
“The United Kingdom Government and the Gibraltar Government have both made it clear that they are committed to the Forum in the long term. However, in April 2012 the Foreign Secretary William Hague, with the backing of the Gibraltar Government, proposed a formula for ad hoc talks, initially on a one-off basis and involving the parties that were relevant to the issues being discussed.
“It is no secret that while the arrangements for ad hoc talks are being progressed, the Spanish Government has continued its campaign of harassment against Gibraltar at the same time. This has not only taken the form of creating deliberate and lengthy delays at the frontier which undermines the right to free movement of EU nationals.
“The incursions by Spanish state vessels into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters, which intensified in 2009 after the EU designation of our waters as if they were Spanish, have continued ever since. There are sectors of the Spanish media which have whipped up the sentiments of the their Government into a frenzy of anti-Gibraltarian hatred.
“The Government have not said that the members of the Spanish Government have personally perpetrated the recorded acts of violence against Gibraltarians and their property, what we have said is that the statements made by Partido Popular Ministers and officials have generated a climate which has served as a spur to that hostility. This is point of origin of the existing incitement campaign.
“While all this has gone on, both the Spanish Foreign Minister Mr Margallo and his Deputy Mr De Benito, have done their utmost to wreck the prospect of dialogue through their statements to the media and by their actions on the ground. It is regrettable that the Opposition in Gibraltar did not see it fit to explicitly condemn this at the time as a potential threat to the resumption of talks.
“It is against this background that the Chief Minister addressed the Fourth Committee of the United Nations in order to report on the events of the last twelve months which includes the harassment from Spain. This is what Chief Ministers have done since the days of Sir Joshua Hassan fifty years ago.
“Everything that the Chief Minister told the UN, from the border delays, to the incursions, to the shots fired at the jet-ski have been the subject of public statements by the Government in the past and most have also been the subject of diplomatic protests from London to Madrid. The issue of incitement to hatred has been raised by the Government before in press releases. Therefore the Spanish Government overreaction to all this was not based on the content of the speech, because everything has been said before, but rather at the fact that their bullying-tactics were exposed in front of the whole world as represented by the Fourth Committee of the United Nations. It appears that the only person to have fallen for this Spanish tactic has been Mr Feetham who has fallen into the trap of being the first Leader of the Opposition to have openly criticised a Chief Minister's speech to the UN!
“It is highly regrettable that in their eagerness to score political points locally, the Opposition has chosen not to see this glaring fact. They are free to say whatever they like in a democratic society but then they have to live with the consequences of their statements and the conclusions that the public will draw from them. In this case, the unfortunate reality is that Mr Feetham has once again chosen to side with Mr Margallo, Mr Landaluce and the rest of those attacking Mr Picardo instead of with the Chief Minister's sterling defence of Gibraltar. Already this has been picked up by Spanish publications and others outside of Gibraltar.
Indeed, Mr Feetham should note that the United Kingdom itself, in its statement to the 4th Committee on its Overseas Territories, has said that "in light of the recent significant increase in pressure from the Spanish government on Gibraltar as set out by the chief minister in his address, it is important to emphasise that the United Kingdom will continue to respect the wishes of the people of Gibraltar, including in relation to ad hoc talks involving the United Kingdom, Spain and Gibraltar." The positive reference by the UK to the Chief Minister's address leaves Mr Feetham as the odd man out.”
