Spain urges UK calm following Falklands comparison
SPANISH Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis moved to calm down a diplomatic spat with the UK over the status of Gibraltar after a weekend of heated rhetoric that culminated in a suggestion Britain could go to war over the territory.
The flashpoint came on Sunday when Michael Howard, who led the Conservative Party from 2003 to 2005, made a comparison between the tussle with Spain and the 1982 FalklandsWar between the UK and Argentina. He repeated the implied threat in subsequent interviews, telling Channel 4 that “I can see no harm in reminding them what kind of people we are.”
“Comparing Gibraltar with the Falklands is taking things out of context,” Dastis told reporters in Madrid yesterday.
“It looks like someone in the UK is losing their composure.”
The spat, coupled with its gleeful reception in parts of the British press, threatens to spoil Prime Minister Theresa May’s hopes that Spain might be an ally in her negotiations with the EU.
Coming less than a week after May triggered two years of Brexit talks, the quarrel hinted at the diplomatic minefield the UK will have to navigate as it sets about extricating itself from the bloc and establishing a new relationship with its biggest market.
“I would say on Gibraltar, you see now how difficult the divorce is,” Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said yesterday
“Let’s be cool and carry on and not use too harsh language.”
The first indication of trouble came on Friday, when it emerged EU President Donald Tusk had handed Spain a determining say on whether any Brexit deal will apply to Gibraltar, an area of less than 8 square kilometres located at Spain’s southern tip that has been controlled by Britain since 1713.
The move caused consternation in Britain and Gibraltar, as Spanish ministers have suggested they’ll seek joint sovereignty of the rock. On Sunday, the territory’s chief minister, Fabian Picardo, spoke to May to seek assurances Gibraltar’s interests would be protected.
While May used the call to reiterate Britain’s position that Gibraltar’s status isn’t up for negotiation, others were less temperate with their language.
“Thirty-five years ago this week, another woman prime minister sent a taskforce halfway across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanishspeaking country,” Howard said. “I’m absolutely certain that our current prime minister will show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar.”
His tone was seized on by elements of the UK press. The Telegraph interviewed military experts on the size of the two countries’ naval forces and concluded even a reduced Royal Navy “could still cripple Spain”. The Sun headlined its story “Spain gets a Brexocet”, in a reference to the Exocet missiles used during the Falklands war.