Gibraltar may join Schengen ‘within months’, says official

GIBRALTAR could be part of the EU’S borderless Schengen area by the end of the year, says one of the territory’s most senior ministers.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Vijay Daryanani, Gibraltar’s tourism and business minister, said he hoped an historic new treaty allowing freedom of movement between the territory and the EU would be signed “within the coming months”.

He said such a deal could bring major economic benefits to Gibraltar and Spain, enabling frictionless travel for Spanish workers entering the territory, for residents from the Rock shopping across the border and for tourists coming from the EU.

However, he maintained there would be no sacrifice of sovereignty. “There will be no concessions whatsoever on sovereignty, jurisdiction or control. That is one of the things that Gibraltarians and the government are 100 per cent sure of,” he said.

Negotiations to secure a treaty have been ongoing since a temporary agreement allowing freedom of movement for up to four years was finalised in December 2020 just hours before the UK left the EU.

Mr Daryanani, a key figure in the ongoing talks, said: “We think we’re in a good place. And we hope that we can have a treaty within the coming months. We’d like to think that we could get somewhere by the end of this year.”

He said it would mean 16,000 Spaniards who cross the border daily to work in Gibraltar’s hospitals, hotels, restaurants and other businesses would be able to travel into the territory without passport checks. “We have more jobs than people, we need them to come and work in Gibraltar,” he said.

There would be reciprocal benefits for Spain, too. “Gibraltarians spend a lot of money in that area of Spain. We give them a lot; they buy kitchens, they buy furniture. There is a whole range of economic activity that goes on because of Gibraltar in that area,” said Mr Daryanani.