LONDON — Spain warned us this would happen.
As it became clear early Friday morning that the UK public had
voted to leave the European Union, Spain wasted no time in calling
for “joint sovereignty” over Gibraltar, which is a tiny territory of
Britain that Spain continues to claim sovereignty over.
“The Spanish flag on the Rock is much closer than before,” Spain’s
acting foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said in a
radio interview.
Britain’s Europe minister David Lidington (who surely must be
having the craziest day ever), rejected the idea, as did Gibraltar’s
chief minister Fabian Picardo.
But surely they must have expected this as Garcia-Margallo has
already made it pretty clear that Spain was coming for Gibraltar if
the vote went a certain way — and even stuck precisely to his
timeline for doing so.
In the event of a vote for Brexit, “We would be talking about
Gibraltar the very next day,” he told Spanish radio earlier this year.
Friday afternoon Picardo dismissed what the Spanish minister said
as “irrelevant noises” and a “waste of breath,” after starting the
day with a calm and rational tweet:
Follow
Fabian Picardo @FabianPicardo
We have surpassed greater challenges. It is time for unity, for calm &
for rational thinking. Together & united we will continue to prosper.
5:33 AM – 24 Jun 2016
Gibraltar was the first to report its results in the referendum on EU
membership. The territory of about 32,000 people voted to Remain
by an overwhelming 96%. (It’s represented onMashable UK‘s Lego
Brexit map by the little pirate on the bottom left corner.
Gibraltar has been a sticking point in British-Spanish relations for,
well, hundreds of years. It was captured in 1704 and British
sovereignty was established in 1713.
The “joint sovereignty” idea was mooted in 2002 but was wholly
rejected in a referendum there. Nowadays thousands of people
cross the border between Spain and Gibraltar every day for work,
and the Brexit referendum result brings that freedom of movement
into question.
Source :http://www.barbaric.com.ng/spain-wants-grab-gibraltar-
brexit-uk-saying-not-fast/
As it became clear early Friday morning that the UK public had
voted to leave the European Union, Spain wasted no time in calling
for “joint sovereignty” over Gibraltar, which is a tiny territory of
Britain that Spain continues to claim sovereignty over.
“The Spanish flag on the Rock is much closer than before,” Spain’s
acting foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said in a
radio interview.
Britain’s Europe minister David Lidington (who surely must be
having the craziest day ever), rejected the idea, as did Gibraltar’s
chief minister Fabian Picardo.
But surely they must have expected this as Garcia-Margallo has
already made it pretty clear that Spain was coming for Gibraltar if
the vote went a certain way — and even stuck precisely to his
timeline for doing so.
In the event of a vote for Brexit, “We would be talking about
Gibraltar the very next day,” he told Spanish radio earlier this year.
Friday afternoon Picardo dismissed what the Spanish minister said
as “irrelevant noises” and a “waste of breath,” after starting the
day with a calm and rational tweet:
Follow
Fabian Picardo @FabianPicardo
We have surpassed greater challenges. It is time for unity, for calm &
for rational thinking. Together & united we will continue to prosper.
5:33 AM – 24 Jun 2016
Gibraltar was the first to report its results in the referendum on EU
membership. The territory of about 32,000 people voted to Remain
by an overwhelming 96%. (It’s represented onMashable UK‘s Lego
Brexit map by the little pirate on the bottom left corner.
Gibraltar has been a sticking point in British-Spanish relations for,
well, hundreds of years. It was captured in 1704 and British
sovereignty was established in 1713.
The “joint sovereignty” idea was mooted in 2002 but was wholly
rejected in a referendum there. Nowadays thousands of people
cross the border between Spain and Gibraltar every day for work,
and the Brexit referendum result brings that freedom of movement
into question.
Source :http://www.barbaric.com.ng/spain-wants-grab-gibraltar-
brexit-uk-saying-not-fast/
