The Government of Spain has denied Friday that the area near Gibraltar, where two agents of the Customs Surveillance Service of Spain were injured of varying degrees in the early hours of Thursday after being stoned while trying to abort a cache of contraband tobacco, is of “alleged British sovereignty.
Thus responds the Executive after the statements of the chief minister, Fabian Picardo, and the joint statement of the Governments of the United Kingdom and Gibraltar, which have argued that “the incursion into British territorial waters of Gibraltar, with Spanish officials landing in Gibraltarian territory on the Levante beach, is clearly a serious violation of sovereignty and jurisdiction.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned “the aggression suffered” by members of the Customs Surveillance Service who were intervening “in an operation to combat smuggling in Spanish territory and waters near the Rock of Gibraltar, resulting in serious injuries”.
In this context, from the department led by José Manuel Albares have rejected “categorically” the terms of the joint statement issued by representatives of the British Government in relation to the incident, “as well as the claims about an alleged British sovereignty over the territory and waters of Gibraltar contained in it.
“The Government of Spain demands effective measures to combat the smuggling that harms the whole area and wishes the Spanish agents its wishes for a speedy recovery,” the Executive has pointed out.
On the other hand, the Government has considered that the statement of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom “is particularly incomprehensible at a time when Spain has put on the table an agreement to create a zone of shared prosperity”.
Precisely, the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, has referred this Friday to the agreement being negotiated by the EU and the UK for the future relationship of the bloc with Gibraltar. “We are very close but at the same time nothing is agreed until everything is agreed,” he stressed in an interview on La Sexta, picked up by Europa Press.
The minister recalled that the proposal is on the table and now it is up to London to decide what kind of relationship it wants. “The ball is in the UK’s court,” he insisted. “According to Gibraltar and the United Kingdom, this intervention “would constitute a very serious breach of the law” in the case of “confirming that Spanish officials fired their weapons in Gibraltar”, in addition to being a “reckless and dangerous” action in an area, as they have stressed, “with a high density of civilian population, given the proximity of a residential development”.
In this context, the Governments of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom have considered that the events “will require careful assessment as to the nature and level of the diplomatic response”, and have explained that “they will contact Spanish officials to seek explanations on this violation of Gibraltar’s sovereignty before taking a final decision on the measures to be taken”.
“The evidence surrounding this incident reveals a serious breach of British sovereignty and potentially the most serious and dangerous incident for many years,” said Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, who noted, however, that “before reacting” they will “be sure of the facts.” “But the events indicate that the actions of the Spanish officials are intolerable”, he criticized.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)