Nov 26 - Spain UK Spat Over Diplomatic Bag Continues
The Foreign Office’s protest against the search of a Diplomat’s bag by Guardia Civil officers at the Gibraltar – Spain Frontier today has been picked up by the UK National media, with reports made in the BBC, The Independent, the Telegraph, the Guardia and the London evening Standard.
The Foreign Office dubbed the matter ‘a serious infringement’ of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Following a response from Spain questioning whether the bags were diplomatic and subject to the Vienna Convention, the Foreign Office has insisted that ‘as the Spanish authorities know, there are overriding international principles that provide for both State immunity and the freedom of official communication between a state and its representatives.
An FCO spokesperson added, ‘there is and should have been no doubt that these bags were the property of Her Majesty’s Government, that they were marked as such, and that tampering with the bags was a breach of these principles.’
This incident follows an announcement in Parliament last week by Overseas Territories Minister Mark Simmons that the UK is ready to do whatever is required to protect Gibraltar’s sovereignty, economy and security. He added that nothing had been taken off the table when it came to further incursions by Spanish vessels into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters last week.
