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Spanish FM calls for calmness over Gibraltar issue

Xinhua, April 3, 2017 Adjust font size:

Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis on Monday made an appeal for calm after suggestions made over the weekend that Britain would be prepared to go to war to protect the interests of the British Crown Colony of Gibraltar.

The suggestions were made by former Home Secretary and leader of the British Conservative party Michael Howard.

The issue of Gibraltar's status was raised at the end of last week by the European Union (EU) following British Prime Minister Theresa May's letter to the EU triggering Article 50, which opened the negotiations for Britain's departure from the EU.

The colony is part of the Spanish mainland and Spain has long wanted its return ever since it was ceded to Britain as part of the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.

These hopes appeared to move a step closer last week with the EU indicating it would allow Spain to veto any agreement regarding Gibraltar, which in turn sparked Howard's outburst.

The former Tory leader compared the situation to the one in 1982 wherein the UK sent a naval force to recapture the Falklands Islands after it had been seized by Argentina.

"Thirty-five years ago this week, another woman prime minister sent a task force halfway across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country...I'm absolutely certain our current prime minister will show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar," Howard said in an interview on Sky TV.

Speaking in El Pais newspaper on Monday, Dastis, a career diplomat, took a calmer tone.

"There is no reason to lose one's cool over Gibraltar," he said, adding that Howard "hadn't exactly" advocated war, although he admitted that talk of the Falklands conflict was "out of proportion."

"The Spanish government, if anything, is a bit surprised by the tone generated in the United Kingdom, a country traditionally characterized by its phlegm. It's clear that on this issue, the traditional British phlegm is recognizable by its absence," added Dastis.

Two days earlier, the Spanish foreign minister had told the Spanish press he had "no plans" to close the border with Gibraltar, and that Spain was "closer" to favoring a so-called "soft Brexit." Endit