ANDALUCIA CALLS ON MADRID TO IMPROVE RELATIONS WITH GIBRALTAR

On Friday I begged the question in Panorama should Gibraltar seek to make common cause with PSOE to pressure the PP Government in Madrid to honour its commitments under the Cordoba Agreement and the Tripartite Forum.

It appears that as I was writing the article the Commission of the Presidency and Equality of the Andalucía Government was talking about the Foro de Diálogo too. The ruling coalition of PSOE and the IU passed a motion calling on the Spanish Government to normalise relations with our Government and to reactivate the Forum of Dialogue for the mutual benefit of Madrid and Gibraltar. It will come as no great surprise to learn that the Partido Popular representatives on the Commission voted against the first part of the motion but not all of it.

The motion was presented by PSOE. The socialists received the backing of the far left Izquierda Unida but some of the motion was passed unanimously with the support of the PP.

It was like back to the good old days of socialist rule in Spain when they promised to make the border a pleasurable and easy place to pass through. Not only did those pigs never fly they didn’t even make it on to the runway. Still we should be happy that the Commission wants to see improvements to benefit both Gibraltarians and those in the Campo, to study the situation of the Spanish workers in Gibraltar, and to increase the coverage given to Gibraltar, the Campo and Ceuta affairs on the Andalucía broadcaster RTPA.

The socialists didn’t hold their punches. Speaking for the motion Rocío Arrabal who represents Algeciras for PSOE stated: “since the arrival of the PP in the Moncloa the relations of coexistence with Gibraltar have deteriorated significantly. The Government of the nation has forgotten permanently that more than 5,000 (Spanish) workers ply their trade in Gibraltar”.

The PSOE MP from across the bay went on to criticise the Spanish Government for announcing earlier this year “the end of the tripartite forum for dialogue on Gibraltar.” Arrabal pointed out that many advances had taken place since its inception for the people of Gibraltar and the Campo de Gibraltar including “the revaluation of pensions for workers in Gibraltar, the joint use of the airport or the opening of the Instituto Cervantes in Gibraltar”.

Another voice from across the bay then spoke up in the form of PP MP Jacinto Muñoz. Well I am sure I don’t have to tell you what Jacinto said but just for the record it included the fact that the arrival of the PP Government has meant that relations will be “bilateral” between Spain and the United Kingdom because Gibraltar “is not a sovereign State with voice and vote”. He went on to argue the Tripartite Forum had produced “damaging” consequences for Spain and added that under the PP government there would be no “submission” to Gibraltar as there had been from Socialist governments.

The IU view expressed by Alba Doblas was that every time there is a PP government in Spain relations with Gibraltar take a step back. Don’t we know it. Doblas called for collaboration and not confrontation.

So there we have it. It seems both the socialists and the IU are holding the PP government to account for Rajoy’s confrontational politics with Gibraltar. PSOE also seems intent on defending the Cordoba Agreement and the Tripartite Process. Which brings me back to my question of Friday – should we do likewise?

I leave the final word today to José Carracao who up to the last election was a PSOE Senator with a special role in Gibraltar affairs. A former mayor of Jimena and president of the Campo de Gibraltar town halls he still holds major influence in PSOE. He told me: “Demuestra que en España no todos pensamos igual, que hay una parte muy importante que pensamos que tener unas buenas relaciones, amistosas, con nuestros vecinos gibraltareños, son beneficiosas para ambos lados. La propuesta del PSOE, en la que he trabajado, aportando mis conocimientos de la cuestión, apoyada por IU, exige al Gobierno de España el restablecimiento del Diálogo, que ha dado importantes frutos en otros tiempos y que debe seguir dándolos, puesto, que hay cuestiones importantes: accidentes marítimos, tráfico de drogas, terrorismo internacional, por poner sólo unos ejemplos, que nos afecta a ambas comunidades y a los que debemos dar respuesta conjunta.

“Creo que desde el máximo respeto a las posiciones de cada cual, el diálogo es algo por lo que vengo luchando desde siempre y por lo que seguiré luchando. Hago grandes esfuerzos personales por intentar convencer al Gobierno de España, que el camino que ha elegido, de la confrontación no es el adecuado. Vivimos en una zona con una renta de situación magnífica que merece ser explota adecuadamente para que la gente que aquí vivimos podamos progresar de manera adecuada, en paz y en libertad y que se reduzca la alta tasa de desempleo que azota a miles de familias y los hace infelices.

"Espero que el Gobierno de España, tome buena nota de esto que el Parlamento de Andalucía a propuesta del PSOE y apoyada por IU le demanda, en representación de los ciudadanos andaluces."

THE CENTRE LEFT REVIVAL: IT STARTED HERE

Social Europe: is it worth fighting for? That was the theme of the Fabian Society conference held in London in February. In her keynote speech Labour’s Shadow Europe Minister Emma Reynolds stated: “The presidential election in France in May presents a great opportunity for Francois Hollande to spark a revival of the centre left in Europe. Only then will social democrats have the chance to start shaping the debate about Social Europe and return Europe back to growth and prosperity.”

Well the two rounds of the French Presidential election have come and gone and indeed Hollande has emerged triumphant. It is understandable that because of the stature of the French Presidency this victory is seen as the great beacon of revival those on the progressive left have been seeking. However in truth the revival started here in Gibraltar in December and has since taken in Andalucía and now France.

In December the voters of Gibraltar returned a GSLP led coalition with the Liberals, the sort of progressive alliance many in the British Labour Party have only dreamed of. Ousted was a centre right administration that had ruled Gibraltar for nearly 16 years. I use the term ruled deliberately because the GSD didn’t govern for the people but ruled for its elite.

In came Fabian Picardo as Chief Minister, a then 39-year-old winning at the first time of asking: a feat never achieved before in Gibraltar politics. It would be a mistake to believe that the victory of the GSLP only reverberated around the streets of the Rock. It also raised cheers amongst the embattled Labour family in the UK.

When I met with Labour Party officials at the then HQ in Victoria Street close to Parliament in January and February they delighted in telling me of the response generated when they took the news of the GSLP victory to National Executive and other top committee meetings. It was not just greeted with murmurings of approval but cheers and clapping. The GSLP is a sister party of Labour but is also ‘de la familia’: it brought fresh hope to Miliband and his team.

After the drubbing PSOE received in Spain last May at the local and regional elections and then again in November at the general election when a triumphant Rajoy and his arrogant PP cohorts took power, who, yes who would have thought the socialists would have held on to Andalucía in March’s election against all the odds.

The left alliance of PSOE and the Izquierda Unida won 59 seats against the PP’s 50 as the centre right party’s lead in the polls collapse after the briefest honeymoon in political history. So what started in Gibraltar in December crossed into Andalucía in March and in May has moved on to France. The centre left, which I have been arguing all along in the Morning Star and London Progressive Journal never went away, is back and on the march.

In France on Sunday Francois Hollande was elected the next president of France with just under 52 per cent of the vote. He is the first socialist president since Francois Mitterrand was elected in 1995. Nicolas Sarkozy was the first incumbent president not to establish a lead after the first round of voting and also the first since 1981 not to secure a second term.

In his victory speech Hollande said he was “proud to have been capable of giving people hope again” and will honour his pledge to refocus EU efforts away from austerity and on to growth. “Europe is watching us, austerity can no longer be the only option.” Those will be the headlines in the coming days – but don’t forget this much talked about socialist revival started here in Gibraltar.

PP SET TO RULE ANDALUCÍA

It was British premier Harold Wilson who coined the phrase a week is a long time in politics so it is a dangerous game trying to foretell what will be the situation in a year or 15 months time.

First we have a general election to face in Gibraltar. By this time next year Peter Caruana could have been elected for his fifth term, there may be a new GSD name at the helm, Fabian Picardo may have stormed home for the GSLP Liberal coalition or will it be another candidate yet to come forward?

Whoever is chief minister at the close of next year he (or she) will have just a few months in office before there are two major elections across the border in Spain. In March 2012 there will be a Spanish general election and another in Andalucía. Whilst Gibraltar has face the Partido Popular in government in Madrid the regional government in Sevilla has always been PSOE. Indeed Andalucía has always been considered to be a socialist fiefdom.

Yet that could be about to change. An opinion poll by IESA puts the Partido Popular under Javier Arenas on 46.8 per cent with PSOE trailing on 37.7. The far left IULV-CA takes 8.2 per cent, the Partido Andalucista 2.9 and the UPyD on 1.7 per cent.

Now if a week is a long time in politics then 15 months is an eternity but a 9.1 per cent lead takes some making up and the omens are not good as PSOE has lost 11.2 per cent of its support since the last Andalucía elections. Indeed if these figures held then the PP would rule the region with an absolute majority.

Despite the assurance of the chief minister Peter Caruana that he can deal with the PP the omens are not good. The PP nationally has been breathing fire on both Gibraltar and Morocco but it is arguable that the future Rajoy administration in Madrid will have many issues on its hands other than the Rock.

However the PP in Sevilla control the region up to the Gibraltar border and despite Caruana’s assurances he can work with the centre right party the evidence from La Línea’s mayor Alejandro Sánchez and the candidate for mayor in Algeciras, José Ignacio Landaluce – who is also a PP MP is not good. Indeed there is no evidence of the chief minister bonding or having a working relationship with either.

Of course in the past Gibraltar has faced down Franco so there is little that the PP can throw at the Rock that it cannot handle. However with the “friendly” socialists in power in Madrid and Sevilla since 2004 the going has been rough and it could be a whole lot rougher if the PP takes PSOE’s place.