Gibraltar citizens unlikely to get Euro-vote in time

Date: 22/04/1999

By Gareth Harding

Campaigners from the British territory of Gibraltar are stepping up their fight for the right to vote in June's Euro-elections.

More than 100 protesters demonstrated outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg last week. They later took their cause to Brussels, where they lobbied the European Commission and Union governments for a change to the EU's electoral law.

Gibraltar's 30,000 inhabitants are the only Union citizens who cannot vote for an MEP to represent their interests in the Parliament. The UK has argued that the territory does not fit easily into its constituency-based electoral system and has been wary of antagonising Spain, which views the Rock as a colonial throw-back.

Relations between the two countries have long been soured by the existence of the UK enclave at the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula. Spanish Foreign Minister Abel Matutes said recently that Gibraltar was an "anachronism" which acted as a "parasite economy".

Earlier this year, Madrid tightened border controls with the British territory, sparking a furious reaction from local residents and the UK government.

The waters were further muddied by a European Court of Human Rights ruling in February that Gibraltar residents should be allowed to vote in UK elections.

British Minister for Europe Joyce Quin said London would take "all available steps to secure the extension of the European Parliament franchise to Gibraltar". But as changes to the EU electoral law require the unanimous agreement of all 15 member states, there is little chance of it happening quickly.

A bill to give Gibraltar's citizens the right to vote in June's poll was due to be debated in the UK House of Lords today (22 April), but is unlikely to make a difference this time around.