GIBRALTAR, July 15 — The land border fence between Gibraltar and Spain was removed on Wednesday as an agreement between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) provisionally came into force.
Under the agreement, routine passport and identity checks for people and vehicles crossing the border have been lifted. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who attended a ceremony marking the dismantling of the fence between Gibraltar and the Spanish municipality of La Linea de la Concepcion, said the move marked the fall of “the last wall in continental Europe” and the beginning of “a new era of shared prosperity, full of opportunities” for the area.
Under the agreement, Spain will exercise Schengen responsibilities at Gibraltar’s port and airport, safeguarding the EU’s external border and visa controls, and a customs union will also be established between the EU and Gibraltar, Sanchez said.
The agreement will also open Gibraltar airport to civilian traffic under a shared management model, and strengthen protections for cross-border workers, including unemployment benefits and pensions. Sanchez said any EU citizen legally residing in Spain will be able to take up employment in Gibraltar without discrimination and on equal terms.
The agreement will also establish a social fund to promote cohesion and solidarity between Gibraltar and the surrounding area on the Spanish side, with measures in areas including training and employment. Gibraltar, which covers around six square kilometers at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, has been under British control since 1713.
However, Spain has long maintained a claim to sovereignty over the territory. Following Britain’s departure from the EU, Gibraltar was not included in the scope of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, meaning separate arrangements had to be negotiated.
The EU, UK, Spain and Gibraltar subsequently held years of talks on the movement of people and goods, border management, taxation and the airport. The EU and Britain formally signed the agreement on Gibraltar in Brussels on July 14 and Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said in Brussels that the agreement completed “the last missing piece of the Brexit puzzle.”
The provisional agreement will be submitted to the European Parliament for consent this winter. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
