If in December 2011 Gibraltar had returned again a GSD
government would we be going through the current crisis with Spain? The answer
is of course we simply do not know but we can make some educated guesses.
The first observation to make is that the
problems with Spain are not new. They have been going on for over three hundred
years, for a period we saw the border closed and usually when the Partido
Popular are in power there’s a more forceful chanting of the Gibraltar Español
mantra. So the fact that we have endured a long hot summer is nothing unique.
What we can probably say with certainty is that if we
now had a GSD government the accord with the local fishermen, which has seen
them break Gibraltarian law with impunity. would not have been rescinded. It
therefore follows that the reef would not have been placed in our territorial
waters because Gibraltar would not have had a proactive environmental policy.
So if you believe the summer campaign by Spain was
caused by the reef and generated by the scrapping of the illegal fishing accord
shortly after the GSLP Liberals came in to government you might argue all would
be peace and harmony.
However the fact is the fishing accord and reef were
only the excuses that Madrid needed and not the root cause. The Partido Popular
spent two terms in opposition plotting how to both dismantle PSOE’s
international treaties with Gibraltar and also how to instil Gibraltar Español
as a central plank of its “foreign” policy. On being elected around the same
time as our own Government it made its intentions crystal clear so the crisis
should be no surprise to anyone.
Having first defended the eight hour border queues as
punishment for the reef laying Madrid quickly changed tack and declared it was
to prevent smuggling. This pasodoble was because the Spanish Government
realised it could not defend the abusive queues by pointing at a reef at the
end of the runway buried metres under British Gibraltarian waters. So it became
official: the border chaos has nothing to do with the fishing dispute or the reef
- it’s all about tobacco.
One of the measures that Margallo has threatened
Gibraltar with is the toll. This, of course, is nothing new for it first made
its appearance when we had a GSD government. Indeed the then maverick PP mayor
of La Línea, Alejandro Sánchez, who is now said to be guiding the Spanish
Government’s “dirty tricks on Gibraltar department” in Madrid, went much
further than mere suggestions. Indeed I suspect the concrete lane markings he
laid out as you enter La Línea can still be seen to this day. Sánchez is foe to
both GSD and GSLP chief ministers alike. ¡Gibraltar Español! is emblazoned on
his t-shirt.
So what are the other issues that Rajoy and Margallo
take with Gibraltar? Well chief amongst them is the Córdoba Accord which was
the shining policy of the GSD. There’s tobacco, bunkering, all matters
financial, phone lines, the sovereignty of our waters and air space, land
reclamation, Uncle Tom Cobley and all. None of these are new and all existed
under the GSD and would exist now. They are a target for Madrid whoever is in
power here.
Even when the fishing accord was in place the Guardia
Civil still made incursions in to our waters. Indeed during the GSD era they
even landed, shopped in Main Street, bought monkey t-shirts for the kids,
purchased cartons of cigarettes in black plastic bags and stashed a bottle of
whisky not DYC down their trousers before heading home. OK I made the very last bit
up but you get my gist.
The fact is the current crisis with Spain is nothing
to do about fishing, nothing to do about the reef, little to do with Bárcenas
or the PP’s other corruption scandals, little to do either with that country’s
economic crisis but everything to do with Gibraltar Español. The crisis would
have come whoever was in power only its timing may have been different.
There are several good things to come out of the
summer heat. The vicious campaign, especially in the Spanish media, against our
Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, shows how little the Spaniards understand
Gibraltarians or the British. The aim was to make us turn against our leader
and for Westminster to disown him. The opposite has happened. Gibraltarians
have rallied to his side and the British Government has never been a stronger
ally. British Gibraltar rules ok!
The crisis also means that much of what we have
suffered in silence over the years is now out in the open. Brussels is involved
on a number of fronts as well too could be the international courts and even
the UN before the year is out. The fascist Gibraltar Español policy of the PP
will be shown up for what it is and if we play our cards right Gibraltar can
emerge stronger not weaker.
One Gibraltar, one Rock, one people.
