The Gibraltar First Minister, Peter Caruana, has been in Madrid where he stated the Gibraltar would never be Spanish, neither ‘in reality nor in dreams’, without the full, free and voluntary consent of the people living on the rock.
He added that any attempt by Spain to recover sovereignty without such consent would not be acceptable, neither to the EU nor to the UK. The Gibraltarians themselves wouldn’t be too happy either.
The First Minister, however, has tended to be more of a builder than a destroyer, preferring to improve relations between the Rock and Spain rather than engage in non-productive or destructive dialectics. He is hoping to discuss and promote new areas of cooperation, such as the environment, naval traffic safety, the police, customs matters and tax issues.
The Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, is due in Gibraltar shortly for the inauguration ceremony of the new Cervantes Institute, the first diplomatic visit to the colony by a Spanish Minister.