Merkel ‘wants’ to limit Brexit fallout

‘No change on Gibraltar’

BERLIN, April 3, (RTRS): The European Union (EU) should try to limit the fallout from Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday, conceding that some damage was inevitable.

“This is an incision for the European Union, it’s an unfortunate event — Britain’s decision,” Merkel told a joint news conference with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico and Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka in Berlin.

“We want to limit the damage. But there will naturally be some negative impact,” Merkel said, adding that it was more important that the remaining 27 EU member states stick together and improve the competitiveness of the bloc.

Meanwhile, there will be no change to Gibraltar’s sovereignty without Britain’s consent, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Monday, while his Dutch counterpart called for calm after a British politician raised talk of defending the outpost.

“The sovereignty of Gibraltar is unchanged and is not going to change, and cannot conceivably change without the express support and consent of the people of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom, and that is not is going to change,” Johnson said on arrival at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

A former leader of May’s Conservative party said she would even be prepared to go to war to defend the territory, as then prime minister Margaret Thatcher did with Argentina over the Falkland Islands 35 years ago.

Asked by reporters if Gibraltar could become a military issue, Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders urged everyone to keep their cool in Britain’s exit negotiations from the EU.

Merkel

Harsh

“You can now see how difficult the divorce is,” Koenders said. “Let us be cool and carry on and not use too harsh language. Let us negotiate, I think that’s the most important.”

Britain will wait until the end of the month to find out what guidelines the other members of the European Union have agreed regarding issues such as Gibraltar, May’s spokesman said on Monday.

The future of Gibraltar has become the first dispute of the exit talks since May filed the formal divorce papers, with the EU draft joint position saying any agreement on the British outpost on Spain’s southern tip had be agreed between Spain and Britain.

“These are draft guidelines that were issued ... We will wait and see what is agreed by the 27 (EU countries), “the spokesman told reporters.

Britain’s Brexit minister David Davis held a “friendly and constructive” meeting with Spain’s Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis in Madrid on Monday as part of a pre-arranged visit, the spokesman added, during which he raised the issue of Gibraltar.

On Sunday a former leader of May’s Conservative party, Michael Howard, said she would be prepared to go to war to defend the territory, as then prime minister Margaret Thatcher did with Argentina over the Falkland Islands 35 years ago.

May’s spokesman said what Howard “was trying to establish was the resolve that we will have to protect the rights of Gibraltar and its sovereignty”.

Asked if that would include ultimately sending a naval taskforce to protect Gibraltar as Britain did to the Falklands, he said: “That isn’t going to happen.”

Gibraltar’s leader on Monday cast EU Council President Donald Tusk as a “cuckolded husband taking it out on the kids” for explicitly proposing that Spain be given a veto over the ties between the British enclave and the European Union after Brexit.

The future of Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory of just over 2-square miles (6.7 sq kms) of rock on Spain’s southern tip, has become the first big dispute of Brexit since May filed formal divorce papers on March 29.

In the EU’s draft position on the exit talks distributed by Tusk, Gibraltar was given explicit mention. Spain was specifically named as having a veto on the application of any future EU trade deal with Britain.

“Mr Tusk, who has been given to using the analogies of the divorce and divorce petition, is behaving like a cuckolded husband who is taking it out on the children,” Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, told Reuters in an interview. “This is clear Spanish bullying.” Picardo said the EU should remove the reference to Gibraltar, which voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU, from the draft guidelines.

While years of tortuous negotiations await on issues that could affect trillions of dollars in trade, the Brexit debate in Britain has for three days focused on the future of the “Rock” captured by Britain in 1704 but which Spain wants back.

Influence

The row over Gibraltar illustrates how swiftly the United Kingdom’s influence has declined since the June 23 Brexit vote — in this case in Spain’s favour — and how issues perceived by EU powers as marginal can become major complications.

After the explicit reference to Spain and Gibraltar became publicly known, May spoke to Picardo and issued a statement saying London was “steadfast” in its commitment to the territory which has positioned itself as a springboard for finance to the EU because of an attractive tax and regulatory regime.

A former leader of May’s Conservative party, Michael Howard, even said she would be prepared to go to war to defend the territory, as then prime minister Margaret Thatcher did with Argentina over the Falkland Islands 35 years ago.

“The Spanish government is a little surprised by the tone of comments coming out of Britain, a country known for its composure,” Spain’s Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said during a conference in Madrid.

Ceded to Britain “in perpetuity” in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, Gibraltar has long been a bone of contention between London and Madrid and the border was closed for many years during the Franco dictatorship. In a 2002 referendum, Gibralatrians rejected by 98 percent a proposal for joint British-Spanish sovereignty.

“The sovereignty of Gibraltar is unchanged and is not going to change,” British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Monday as he arrived for an EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg.