SPAIN’S foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares has ruled out closing a post-Brexit deal over Gibraltar until after the UK general election on July 4.
The minister made his position clear on Monday after being asked about the status of negotiations to achieve an accord between the UK, Spain, and the European Union.
Albares will meet on Tuesday with mayors from the Campo de Gibraltar area in Algeciras to update them on the talks.
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“As soon as the new government is at the helm of the United Kingdom, I will meet with my new colleague to give the final push and get that agreement,” he said at a news conference.
It was the first time that he said it was not feasible to close an agreement before July 4.
He met with the British foreign secretary Lord David Cameron last week for an informal chat at a NATO foreign ministers conference in Prague.
Albares did emphasise on Monday however, that ‘technical negotiations’ were continuing.
Nevertheless, it appears highly likely that he’ll be dealing with Labour’s David Lammy from July unless the UK opinion polls have misjudged the general election result.
Albares said the ‘political framework’ of a deal had been ‘more or less finalised’ after the last meeting held in Brussels on May 16 with David Cameron, European Commission vice-president, Maros Sefcovic, and Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo.
He repeated that just ‘technical work’ was required, which suggests that a change in UK government should not bring any major delays if that happens- as expected- in early July.
