I have been catching up with my reading. I have come across an article on
remarks made by Carmen Crespo who is the delegate of the Andalucía government.
She was speaking after the first incursion of the Spanish warship, Vencedora,
on Tuesday of last week. The report was from Europa Press which in turn
featured an interview she had given to Canal Sur Radio where she spoke of our
government’s persistent “reluctance” to accept the waters around the Rock are
Spanish.
Although Crespo spoke of the Vencedora she was also taking the Andalucía
angle of expressing her concern about the banning of Spanish fishermen to
operate in our waters. Here she spoke of our “reticencias” to accept the right
of the fishermen of the “Bahía de Algeciras” to “pesca totalmente legal y sin
ningún tipo de cortapisa” in our waters because “no asumen que son aguas
jurisdiccionales españolas”.
Crespo was saying nothing new but what she did was enunciate very clearly
the true state of the stand-off between all the parties on these issues. On the
British – Gibraltarian side we have the belief, backed by international treaty,
that Gibraltar has three miles of British Gibraltarian Territorial Waters
surrounding the Rock. From Spain’s perspective the waters around Gibraltar are
Spanish and the basis for that is the fact the Treaty of Utrecht did not grant
any rights over the waters. Hence Spain, be it the Armada or a fishing boat
from La Línea, believes that when its vessels enters our waters it is in fact
in Spanish waters. Nothing new there but at least the dispute is clear.
Of course this situation is not new and existed in 1999 when the local
Spanish fishermen held the former Supreme Leader over a fish barrel and
persuaded him to break the law of Gibraltar by allowing them to fish illegally
in our waters in contravention of the 1991 Nature Protection Act. Not only did
the Supreme Leader break that law and continued to do so till he was ousted
from office last December but his former Minister of Justice, who is desperate
for his job as leader of the opposition, endorses to this day this illegal act.
Nothing new there either.
What may be new is the reaction of the Convent being the Foreign &
Commonwealth Office in disguise. In the past incursions, be they from the
Guardia Civil, other Spanish agencies or the Armada, have evoked angry
statements from No.6 but a hushed response from the neighbours across the
street. Not this time: indeed I think the Convent’s statement spitting diplomatic
fire arrived in my inbox well before our government’s own response.
It could be that the Guardia Civil, the coast guard or environmental
patrols have not been of a sufficient high profile to waken the Governor or the
F&CO from its let sleeping dogs lie stance. However an armed warship is
another kettle of fish especially twice in a week. Such incursions cannot be
tolerated by London because if Nelson’s blind eye is turned here it would send
the wrong signals to Argentina. I have written here before on the linkage
between the UK’s tough words on sovereignty and the right to self determination
for both Gibraltar and the Falklands. So just imagine the furore in Whitehall
if an Argentine warship appeared in the waters of the Falkland’s on two
consecutive Tuesdays.
Crespo has crisply set out the dispute: now it is for London to take the
issue to Madrid and if need be the wider international forums such as the UN or
courts of law. Gibraltar’s right to its own international waters are set out in
the Geneva Convention. That right has to be upheld or the Falkland’s right goes
down the drain too.
