Picardo says guarantees achieved by Spain "have no legal value"
The Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, has ensured tonight that the written guarantees that Spain has obtained with respect to its demands on Gibraltar in the Agreement for the departure of the United Kingdom and the EU are "pieces of paper that have no value legal".
In an appearance before the GBC, the prime minister has accused the Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, of "confusing" various issues when he announced today that he will support tomorrow in Brussels the "Brexit" agreement by having secured written guarantees for Spain to be decision in future relations between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom on Gibraltar.
The Spanish chief executive has assured that he has achieved a "triple historical shield" on Gibraltar and has indicated that in future negotiations, once the transition period of the "brexit" that is being addressed is over, "we will have to talk about cosoberanía (from Gibraltar) and many other things. "
Picardo has stressed that "if someone has a triple guarantee" are the Gibraltarians, who have a "triple lock" on their sovereignty, including the one offered by the United Kingdom that "will never even begin a process of discussion on sovereignty with which we do not agree ".
The Chief Minister has stressed that there is no need to wait for future negotiations because he can already affirm that "the sovereignty of Gibraltar is and will remain entirely British."
Picardo has affirmed that Pedro Sánchez "in pursuing sovereignty over Gibraltar in the way he has done today, the only thing he is doing is giving continuity" to the policy of the dictator Francisco Franco.
"Abandoning Franco's policies regarding the sovereignty of Gibraltar would be a much more effective way to turn the page, much better than simply moving the bones of a deceased from one point of Madrid to another," he said.
The Chief Minister of Gibraltar, who has appeared after speaking on the phone with the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, has indicated that the only thing that has been agreed today is the interpretation of article 184 of the "Brexit" agreement, which Spain has demanded It will be clarified to ensure that in the future, after the transition period that is now regulated, decisions on Gibraltar will have to have the Spanish agreement.
According to Picardo, the text "has not been changed, which is what the Spanish government has repeatedly sought, but it has not succeeded."
He has emphasized that "nothing that has happened today changes the fact that the Exit Agreement and its Transition Period will apply to Gibraltar."
"The United Kingdom has not abandoned us, Theresa May has been firm", has defended Picardo, who has insisted that Spain has had to accept "a clarification that has no weight of legal value", nor, as he says, the declarations of the 27 EU members.
Those statements and the written guarantees "will not condition the way to negotiate agreements of the entire British community, including Gibraltar." "The United Kingdom has been clear, negotiates for the whole British family."