Mar 08 - Deputy Chief Minister Gives Speech At Brexit And The Commonwealth Seminar
Deputy Chief Minister’s speech at yesterday’s Brexit and the Commonwealth seminar:
Thank you Your Excellency.
Good afternoon and welcome.
I too would like to extend a special welcome on behalf of the Government of Gibraltar to our distinguished guests.
To Lord Marland, Chairman of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council;
To the Hon Alexander Downer, former Foreign Minister of Australia and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom;
To Mr Akbar Khan, Secretary General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
Welcome also to Mr Jared Peralta, who very ably represented Gibraltar at the Commonwealth Youth Forum in 2018.
I am sure that you are all as eager as I am to hear their contributions.
Let me say that I am delighted that the Government and the Royal Commonwealth Society in Gibraltar have come together to organise this event.
And I want to acknowledge some of their members here, in particular the Chairman John Verrall and Secretary Professor Daniella Tilbury.
The theme today, as you know, is Brexit, the Commonwealth and opportunities for Gibraltar.
This year we mark 70 years of the foundation of the Commonwealth in 1949.
At the same time, we also mark 46 years of membership of what is now the European Union.
As you know, Gibraltar joined the European Economic Community alongside the UK in 1973.
We did so with very specific terms of membership.
Outside the Customs Union.
Outside the Common Fisheries Policy.
Outside the Common Agricultural Policy.
Outside the VAT zone.
Those terms of membership make the impact of Gibraltar’s departure from the EU very different to that of the United Kingdom.
We did not choose to leave.
96% of us voted to remain inside the EU.
But the overall choice was a decision to leave.
And we have to respect that.
But given that choice again, I can only wonder whether that vote would be as resounding.
The European Union have let Gibraltar down badly.
For many in Brussels our 96% endorsement of the European project has counted for precious little.
The obsessive attitude of Spain has often taken priority over the interests and concerns of tens of thousands of real people in this corner of Europe.
You will recall how the European Council’s negotiating guidelines of April 2017 made it clear that once the UK had left the European Union, the application of any agreement to Gibraltar would be subject to the consent of Spain.
As an avowed European that hurt.
Even though it was a statement of the obvious.
We have seen how the negotiating position of Ireland on Northern Ireland has become the EU position.
The negotiating position of Spain on Gibraltar has become the EU position as well.
The November European Council, saw Spain being provided with further political statements of support on Gibraltar with regard to the future negotiation still to come.
The truth is that since the start of this process in June 2016, Gibraltar has been singled out for, shall we say, special treatment.
We were told at the outset that once outside the EU, all options would be open to Spain, including closing the border completely.
That shared sovereignty was a precondition of a new relationship with the European Union.
That Gibraltar would be excluded from the Withdrawal Agreement.
That Gibraltar would not be allowed to be a part of the transitional phase.
That the future negotiation will not include Gibraltar without the consent of Spain.
And we have been excluded by the European Union from their contingency planning for a no deal Brexit.
What is all this in aid of? I ask.
What does it achieve?
Madrid has since ruled out the closure of the border.
The people of Gibraltar are crystal-clear on shared sovereignty.
If the choice is British and outside the EU, or shared sovereignty and inside it - then we are 100% British and outside.
But, in any case, I do not believe that is the choice.
Gibraltar was included in the Withdrawal Agreement.
The transitional phase, if there is one, will also cover Gibraltar.
The talks on the future are yet to open.
In private, some Member States, MEPs and others have become increasingly exasperated with Spain’s underhand manoeuvres.
In public, nobody stops them.
We have met all the Member States of the European Union.
We have also met with Spain.
This was a very positive engagement which contrasted sharply with the language of threats, of vetos and of exclusions which followed.
A negative approach that should be set aside as we move forward.
Hostility and confrontation does not serve anybody’s interests.
Because the reality is that Gibraltar brings huge economic benefits to Spain.
Spanish exports to Gibraltar increased from 1.2 billion euros in 2017 to 1.5 billion euros in 2018.
Also in 2018, Gibraltar became the largest export market for the province of Cadiz next door.
Exports from Cadiz to Gibraltar were 602.6 million euros in 2018.
This represents a growth of 41% on the previous year.
Official figures show that Cadiz now exports more to Gibraltar than to France or even to the United Kingdom itself.
There are now 14,740 frontier workers who live in Spain and work in Gibraltar.
Of this number 9158 are Spanish nationals.
There were 6425 frontier workers in 2012.
That increase is of some 30%.
A Report produced by the Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce concluded in 2013 that Gibraltar accounted for 25% of the GDP of the neighbouring region of Spain.
This was based on less frontier workers and on lower exports from Spain than we have today.
That figure will be considerably higher now.
All this shows the very high degree of shared prosperity that already exists between Gibraltar and Spain.
It shows the importance of protecting the existing levels of employment and trade for both sides of the border.
It therefore confirms how important it is to maintain the fluid crossing of persons and goods as we prepare to leave the European Union.
This is in everybody’s interests.
We all know that all this is playing out against the backdrop of continued political uncertainty in the United Kingdom.
A reality that is reflected in the variety of options that are being mooted for the future.
The revocation of Article 50.
The extension of Article 50.
A second referendum.
The Prime Minister’s Deal.
A no deal Brexit.
A different deal Brexit.
A general election.
There is no shortage of options to choose from.
The road map might be clearer next week.
It is obvious that, from our own narrow perspective, we prefer a revocation of Article 50.
It would mean we wake up from a nightmare to find that everything stays very much the same.
If for some reason there were to be another referendum, then Gibraltar would expect to be part of it.
However, this does not guarantee that the outcome would be any different.
Indeed, whatever the outcome, it may sow further the seeds of division in the United Kingdom.
We have also worked hard to provide a degree of certainty and reassurance to citizens and businesses in Gibraltar.
Only last week, Spain issued its own unilateral contingency measures for a no-deal scenario to protect the close economic relationship between Gibraltar and its Spanish hinterland.
Gibraltar is fully covered by the Withdrawal Agreement.
Importantly, Gibraltar is included in the transition period or the implementation phase until the end of 2020.
Of course, this is all dependent on whether or not the Withdrawal Agreement is ratified by the United Kingdom Parliament.
But what it shows is a small nation faced with a potentially disruptive situation, not of our choosing, punching well above our weight.
Gibraltar has always punched well above its weight.
Gibraltar is not afraid of the challenges that Brexit poses.
We will be ready for every eventuality and we look forward to opening new doors as the old ones creak to a close.
On Monday, two young Gibraltarians Mr Joey Pitaluga and Miss Sadie Lucas, will be present at a number of events in London to mark Commonwealth Day.
They will attend a multi-cultural, multi-faith service at Westminster in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen.
We believe, as a Government, in strengthening our bonds with the Commonwealth family as we prepare to leave the European Union.
Brexit has dominated the political agenda for all of us over the last few years.
It has dominated our lives.
Our very existence.
Indeed, it is likely that the consequences of the decision the UK took in June 2016 will continue to haunt us for months and years to come.
It is impossible to tell what the Future Relationship will bring.
Although against that fluid background, there is some certainty.
The Gibraltar of today, a modern, cosmopolitan city and vibrant trade hub, is deeply rooted in its rich history.
Our history has made us who we are today: a culturally, ethnically and religiously diverse People who are proud to call ourselves Gibraltarian.
Like many of our friends across the Commonwealth, Gibraltarians have a unique cultural identity.
We have lived on this Rock for more than three hundred years.
We are a British Overseas Territory, a modern nation in our own right.
We are one of many in this modern, forward-looking family of countries and territories brought together by shared experiences, by language, by culture, by traditions and by way of life.
And we boast a clear willingness to use this to our advantage as we carve out our own destiny.
Our own place in the World.
Because it is, indeed, our values that define us.
That is as true for individuals as it is for governments, institutions and the people that we have the privilege to represent.
And those values are, inevitably, shaped by our experiences of the past and our hopes for the future.
We Gibraltarians are well known
for our resilience
for our entrepreneurial ability
for our courage
for our determination
for our ability to turn any potentially bleak situation into a new opportunity for growth, development and trade.
That is what our history has shown.
As we begin to look outside of the Continent, we want to continue to do business with those who share our core values of fairness, openness and transparency.
Our main market is the United Kingdom.
That has been guaranteed post-Brexit.
And we will also logically look to our friends in Commonwealth family.
Gibraltar has long played an active part in the organisations and institutions of the Commonwealth.
My colleague the Minister for Housing and Equality Samantha Sacramento is on the regional Steering Committee of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians.
Steven Linares, the Minister for Culture, is an alternate on the Board of the Commonwealth Local Government Association.
The Minister for Economic Development Sir Joe Bossano is actively involved in the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation.
Indeed, the CEO of our Postal Services David Ledger is also the Chairman of the Conference of Commonwealth Postal Administrations.
We have participated in every Commonwealth Games since the first one in 1958.
We have bid to host the Commonwealth Youth Games here in 2021.
Gibraltar joined the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council last year.
You will hear from Lord Marland, its Chairman, in a few minutes.
The Royal Gibraltar Regiment has deployed soldiers to Kenya, Cyprus and Sierra Leone over the years.
They have served on a month long deployment to Canada as part of a large multi-national exercise.
Members of the Regiment are now at the end of a deployment to Gambia where they have provided training and mentoring for the Gambian forces’ UN deployment to the Darfur region of Sudan.
All of these are Commonwealth countries.
And Gibraltar was proud to have made a small effort to assist those Caribbean Commonwealth territories affected by the hurricane in 2017 with aid, with supplies and with vehicles.
These were specifically Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands and Dominica.
Again this demonstrates the importance of being part of the family.
We were delighted last year to send young people to the Commonwealth Youth Parliament for the first time.
Gibraltar was also represented at the Civic Forum, the Women’s Forum, the Business Forum and the Youth Forum around the Heads of Government meeting in London last year.
I would call for provision to be made for Gibraltar, and those Overseas Territories who wish it, to be represented at the actual Heads of Government meeting in the future.
This could be achieved through the creation of a new status of Participating Guest or through some new kind of Affiliate or Associate Membership.
It is true that different Commonwealth organisations have different structures.
In some, Gibraltar is a full member equal to everyone else.
In others, the statutes have been amended to accommodate British Overseas Territories.
Following proposals from Sir Joe Bossano, the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, created a new category of Affiliate Member recently.
When I met the Secretary General of the Commonwealth in London last year we discussed finding a place for the Overseas Territories in the Commonwealth structure.
That structure is very different to that of the EU.
The EU institutions enjoy defined competences bound together by a legal framework cemented in a Treaty.
The Commonwealth, in contrast, is composed of a collection of loosely connected organisations each with their own rules and procedures.
Nonetheless, Gibraltar is ready for a new global outlook, as we leave the European Union.
This does not mean we will turn our backs on Europe.
Together with the United Kingdom, we will work on developing a new future relationship with the European Union.
Indeed, Gibraltar may even end up closer to the EU than the United Kingdom itself.
Whilst these challenges may be new, our sense of a collective responsibility in turbulent times, and of collaboration to create mutual prosperity is nothing new to any of us.
In 1915, during World War One, Gibraltar provided a safe haven for servicemen from Australia and New Zealand who arrived here on hospital ships from Gallipoli.
In 1940, Jamaica hosted two thousand Gibraltarian civilians who were evacuated there after the outbreak of the Second World War.
In the 1960s, Australia passionately defended the right to self-determination of the people of Gibraltar at the United Nations in New York.
And when the United Nations refused to send observers to a referendum that was held here in 1967, it was the Commonwealth that agreed to do so in their place.
That team of Commonwealth observers were headed by New Zealand’s then Ambassador to France.
It included Kenya’s Ambassador to West Germany and Jamaica’s Assistant Attorney General.
Another example of what it means to be a part of the family.
The irony cannot be lost upon us that a few years later the UK stood accused of turning its back on the Commonwealth.
This came in 1973 when both the UK and Gibraltar joined the European Economic Community.
It was to be a dramatic turning point in the relationship with the old Empire.
The world has moved on since then.
The Commonwealth too.
Its member countries have since entered into strategic alliances or trade agreements of their own.
Yet the links with the Commonwealth, for better or worse, have survived.
The networks that we have managed to develop between us have not only endured.
They have thrived.
Some might refer to this as soft power networking.
I consider it to be something more.
A deeper relationship that embeds
centuries of shared experience,
decades of cultural understanding,
years of projecting the same values,
the development of a strong sporting tradition,
the sharing of expertise,
and the formation of economic partnerships.
The Commonwealth is, indeed, a consensus-based international organisation.
The lack of a rigid institutional structure, however, could be one of its greatest strengths.
The Commonwealth cannot, and should not, attempt to replicate the European Union.
The are some who are critical of the Commonwealth’s lack of a formal structure and question the absence of powers of enforcement.
I do the opposite.
I point to the Commonwealth’s history of enforcement.
This has sometimes given effect to agreed economic sanctions.
It has even led to the suspension of certain member states.
I point also to the excellent work of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, represented here today.
The positive discussions at Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings, and the intricate webs of networks that exist at ministerial and diplomatic level.
I point to the vibrancy of these relationships, and the dynamic nature of the work that we are able to do together.
And I do not suggest for a minute that all this is set in stone.
We can, and should, develop those networks further still.
For years, Gibraltar has supported our students in visits to the EU Institutions in Brussels.
Starting this year, we will instead offer support for them to visit the United Kingdom institutions in London and the organisations of the Commonwealth that are based there as well.
Young Gibraltarians will represent their country at this year’s Commonwealth Day celebrations in London in a few days’ time.
The Government of Gibraltar is immensely proud of our delegates to the Commonwealth Youth Parliament and the Commonwealth Youth Forum.
You will hear from one of them later this afternoon.
It is vital that our young people have a voice and a clear role in shaping the future of our relationships.
After all, 60% of Commonwealth citizens are under the age of 30.
There will be countless opportunities for them.
New opportunities in a new order.
New technologies that reduce distance and make time irrelevant.
Many, in the years and decades to come, will have jobs and contribute to our economies and societies in ways that we cannot even imagine today.
Brexit provides us with an opportunity to enhance our existing Commonwealth connections.
To develop, strengthen and mould them to our mutual advantage.
I want to conclude by making an announcement.
Tomorrow, we will remove the flag of the European Union from different flagpoles round Gibraltar.
It will be replaced with the flag of the Commonwealth.
We will do so in anticipation of Commonwealth Day on Monday.
This action will be repeated at the end of the month.
Then the EU flag could come down forever.
This vivid symbolic gesture strikes at the very heart of the theme of our discussion here this afternoon.
Distinguished guests, valued friends.
The opportunities that the future will bring are ours to shape.
Because that future is yet to be written.
Thank you.
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