Anti-Gibraltar bias must stop, say Liberal MEPs

Date: 22/11/01

By Martin Banks

EUROPEAN Liberal Democrats have called for an end to the "daily discrimination" facing EU citizens living in Gibraltar.

The demand comes after the UK and Spain agreed to reach a final deal on the future of the Rock by next summer.

Following talks in Barcelona on Tuesday (20 November), UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and his Spanish counterpart Josep Piqué issued a joint statement saying they would work towards a comprehensive agreement.

Straw stressed there would be no change to the status of Gibraltar - currently a British dependent territory - without the agreement of its people in a referendum.

But Piqué reiterated that Spain would not renounce its claim of sovereignty - whatever the referendum result.

Gibraltar's Chief Minister, Peter Caruana, boycotted the meeting claiming that Gibraltar residents were being sold out by the UK. The Liberal Democrats said the latest talks highlighted the urgent need to boost the rights of EU citizens in Gibraltar.

Daniel Tanahatoe, president of the youth wing of the European Liberal Democrats, cited the European Parliamentary elections as one example of how the islanders are "discriminated against on a daily basis".

"Gibraltarians are the only EU citizens who cannot vote in elections to the European Parliament, despite taking the UK to the European Court of Human Rights in 1999 and winning the case," he said.

Spain granted the sovereignty over the island under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.

European Liberal Democrats have called for an end to the 'daily discrimination' facing EU citizens living in Gibraltar. The demand comes after the UK and Spain agreed to reach a final deal on the future of the Rock by summer 2002.