GIBRALTAR will attend a top-level treaty meeting in Brussels this Friday as negotiations to secure the future of the tiny overseas territory continue.
An article published in The Times of London earlier this week claimed that the UK and Spain were inching closer to agreeing a post-Brexit deal over the future of the Rock.
The highly contentious talks, which have worn on since 2020, had previously broken down after Spanish officials insisted that the UK surrender control of Gibraltar Airport, which includes an RAF base.
The future of the Overseas Territory, located on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula in a strategically critical area overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar which separates Europe and the African coast, has been enveloped in controversy ever since the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016.
However, sources from the EU were quoted this week as being ‘optimistic’ that a resolution would soon be found.
Now, UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton, alongside his Spanish counterpart, foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares, will be joined on Friday by Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and Maros Sefcovic, the EU Commissioner responsible for relations with the UK, as discussions continue.
Picardo, leader of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party, will be accompanied for the meeting by the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia, the Attorney General Michael Llamas and the Chief Secretary Glendon Martinez.
The meeting will be the highest level multilateral negotiation ever attended by a Gibraltar Chief Minister.
Picardo said: “I look forward to engaging on treaty issues with the different parties later this week. Gibraltar remains fully committed to secure a safe treaty which will govern our future relationship with the EU”.
“I am optimistic that the meeting on Friday will very positively advance matters and move us firmly into the territory for delivery of this treaty. I know this will be very good news for people in Gibraltar and the whole region around, as well as for the wider UK family, Spain and even the EU”.
The announcement comes with Picardo embroiled in a heated corruption inquiry centred on the 2020 retirement of the former Police Commissioner Ian McGrail.
The McGrail Inquiry, which is currently into its fourth day, is investigating allegations that the ex-police head for the Rock was forced into an early retirement after issuing a search warrant for Hassans, a Gibraltar law firm, at which Picardo was previously a partner.
Lawyers acting on behalf of McGrail have accused the Gibraltar government of ‘corruption at the highest levels’.
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