LANDALUCE GETS A VOICE IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The mayor of Algeciras, José Ignacio Landaluce, has been named the vice president of the commission for oreign affairs in Spain’s lower house of parliament, Congress. For apart from being a mayor Landaluce is also a Cádiz MP for the Partido Popular.

The PP group in Congress met on Tuesday to approve the appointments for spokespersons and presidents of commissions. It was a top level affair presided over by the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, plus his sidekick Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría and the secretary general of the party, María Dolores de Cospedal.

The presidency of the foreign affairs commission rests with the CiU’s spokesperson, Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, whilst the spokesperson of the commission is the PP’s José María Beneyto, who is the MP for Cuenca.

Landaluce has been in parliament since 2000 and during that time has been a member of both the foreign affairs and defence commissions. There are two differences this time round: he moves up to being the vice president and the PP are in power.

Naturally the mayor from across the bay is relishing his new role as he observes: “This role is important for the Campo de Gibraltar because it makes political decisions.” He added the ministry will have much to say on the Strait of Gibraltar, on relations with Morocco and of course, Gibraltar.

The role of foreign minister is held by José Manuel García-Margallo but Landaluce is in no doubt that he will listen to the members of the commission. With regards to Gibraltar Landaluce repeats the PP mantra of “two flags, three voices” in discussions over the future sovereignty of the Rock.

Such hard line verbiage is all well and good however the PP and Landaluce should realise that in the sovereignty dance it takes three to tango and if Gibraltar wanders off to powder its nose then there’s no dancing!

After his appointment Landaluce observed: “It is a good vantage point to be vice president of this committee on foreign affairs because its decisions affect the Campo de Gibraltar and gives us a privileged position.” He also stressed the importance of the province of Cádiz as it is the home of the port of Algeciras – the most important in Spain – the American base at Rota and another military base in Gibraltar. The PP already insists that Gibraltar has no airspace or waters – now Landaluce seems to be arguing the Rock is just another part of the Spanish province for which he sits in parliament.

With the change of government the Campo de Gibraltar sees its influence in foreign affairs in Madrid switch from José Carracao to Landaluce. Carracao was a senator who stood down at the last election after five terms in office. He held key posts in the commissions for foreign affairs, co-operation, the EU and others. The Campo de Gibraltar now has no voice in the Senate but instead has Landaluce.

The difference between Carracao and Landaluce is profound. Carracao was the mayor of Jimena, then the president of the association of town halls in the Campo de Gibraltar before going to the senate and assuming special responsibilities for cross border affairs. He viewed himself as a friend of Gibraltar’s, albeit from a Spanish perspective. However Landaluce is a sworn enemy of the Rock as is his party. Expect stormy times ahead.

BLAIR’S LEGACY TO GIBRALTAR: UNCERTAINTY

When Gibraltarians reflect on recent British premiers it is usually Mrs Thatcher who invokes their ire. The Iron Lady and her Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe were responsible for the Brussels Process which many identify as being at the heart of Gibraltar’s problems with Spain.

The Brussels Process certainly was not helpful but like the Cordoba Accord may well disappear in time. The British PM who has cast his shadow over the lives of Gibraltarians for evermore is Tony Blair and his sin is he blinked.

Ever since 1703 Spain has been constant in its belief – Gibraltar is Spanish and every government for over 300 years, regardless of political persuasion, has followed that dogma.

Gibraltar is British has also been the mantra of successive UK government’s including Mrs Thatcher’s. Remember it was she who snubbed Madrid by sending Prince Charles and the hapless Diana off from Gibraltar on their honeymoon thus invoking the fury of Spain. The Royals had nothing to do with it, they would have been happy to go to Bognor.

What has changed for Gibraltar is that Tony Blair, who wishing to engage with José María Aznar’s government, blinked and for the first time in history Madrid saw that its ambitions for Gibraltar could become a reality.

Blair, his Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and the Minister for Europe Peter Hain, actively tried to drag Gibraltar in to a joint sovereignty agreement, which without doubt, would have one day have been a sole sovereignty deal. The UK government did not bow to Spanish pressure; Blair actively promoted the policy and was furious when the pesky Gibraltarians and their chief minister Peter Caruana put paid to it by holding a referendum which thoroughly rejected any such sell out. Madrid decried the validity of the referendum but its stance paled in to insignificance compared with the fury voiced by London.

What brought this to mind were my fellow jimenato José Carracao’s recent comments when the PSOE Senator stated that Gibraltar’s military role was the key reason why the Rock is not being returned to Spain. In a sense he is right and one can understand why a Spanish politician would hold such a view.

Gibraltar has always been a British military base and it is only in comparatively recent years that any thought or voice has been given to the Gibraltarian people. Whilst the November 7 2002 referendum was decisive in one sense what probably stopped Blair in his tracks was the total opposition of the Ministry of Defence to any joint sovereignty deal as it would compromise the military installations.

So seen from Madrid, whilst Blair’s government was very happy to promote and proceed with a joint sovereignty deal, in the end it floundered on the MoD’s opposition. That is what is remembered by Carracao and other Spanish politicians and in that memory they are not wrong.

The opposition of Gibraltarians and the referendum are secondary for Spain. Madrid views the subject of Gibraltar’s sovereignty to be a matter between it and London so the wishes of the people of the Rock do not enter in to the equation.

The problem for Gibraltarians is that whilst Spain has stayed steadfast over its claim Britain has not. Indeed Blair’s government enthusiastically tried to bounce the Rock in to a joint sovereignty deal. Hence Madrid believes if it happened once, it can happen again with London the weak link in the sovereignty chain. What’s more the stumbling block is not the Gibraltarians but the military base. That is Blair’s legacy for Gibraltar.

TRINI IS NOT FROM MARS

Whatever Gibraltarians may think of the Spanish Foreign Minister, Trinidad Jiménez – or Trini to her friends – she isn’t from Mars. Indeed she is a Malagueño from Vélez-Málaga. So we can be pretty sure she knows where Gibraltar is and all about the Campo de Gibraltar too.

Equally it would appear that José Ignacio Landaluce is from another planet to us. Although he is the MP for Cádiz and wannabee mayor of Algeciras for the Partido Popular in May he is not a local lad. He was born in Logroño and before you rush off to find your atlas I can tell you, if you don’t know, it is in La Rioja in the northern part of Spain.

Why am I telling you all this? Well Landaluce has been giving some advice to the Spanish Foreign Minister before she heads off for today’s meeting with her British counterpart, William Hague.

Cheekily he has advised Trini to take a photograph of Gibraltar with her so that she can see – and no doubt tell Hague – that the Rock also has a surrounding area – the Campo de Gibraltar.

Landaluce went on to say that it is a pity the minister did not visit the Campo de Gibraltar before jetting off to London. Had she done so the boy from Logroño tells the Vélez-Málaga lass she could have seen at first hand the reality of the region and the relations that exist between both territories.

Expansionist Gibraltar – expansionist Caruana

Just in case Jiménez was unsure of how to conduct herself in London the Cádiz MP tells the minister she should have “the firm intention and the conviction that she is representing Spain and the interests of the Spaniards in the face of the expansionist pretentions of Gibraltar.

Whilst Landaluce says the Partido Popular is all for talking with Britain on themes that can benefit both sides of the border she is not to give way on the issue of Gibraltar’s waters – which are Spanish!

Finally, the would-be mayor assured us that there is a priority in relations between Spain and United Kingdom concerning Gibraltar “is not other than understanding, but not at any price and much less if the decisions that can be taken only favour the British colony and the expansionist tendencies of its Chief Minister, Peter Caruana”.

So I asked Senator José Carracao, who has special responsibility in PSOE for relations with Gibraltar, what he thought about Landaluce’s words. He told me: “Landaluce once again displays himself as a demagogue with resulting insults. Of course the minister knows perfectly well the Campo de Gibraltar and its parliamentary representatives.”

I suspect the good senator would have vented his spleen further on Landaluce but he cut off as he was on an aircraft about to take off. To where? Is he to be a fly on the wall at the Foreign Office when Jiménez and Hague meet?

Of course Hague needs no introduction to Gibraltar as he visited the Rock in 2009. Wonder when the last time Landaluce was there?