The Government considers it remarkable that Mr Azopardi has felt it necessary to issue a press release as long as his doctorate in order to defend in complex terms what he said explicitly in his doctorate, which is that ‘an Andorra solution’ is not joint sovereignty.
The fact remains that although Mr Azopardi paints himself as a hawk, he was the Deputy Chief Minister in the GSD administration when Sir Peter Caruana was publicly advocating the Andorra solution as a potential solution for Gibraltar in the Parliamentarian Magazine in the UK, and he never disassociated himself from the clear policy of his Party in Government.
The simple fact is that the last time Mr Azopardi formed part of a GSD Government, he towed the line of an Andorra solution for Gibraltar – which is hardly the behaviour of a hawk.
This clear GSD policy position is the exact opposite of the policy of this GSLP/Liberal Government to never recommend an Andorra style solution to the people of Gibraltar.
Mr Azopardi is also nonsensically against the New Year’s Eve Framework Agreement, which is the crucial agreement that creates the possibility of a Brexit treaty being negotiated.
It is this absurd position that makes it impossible to negotiate alongside him.
The reality is that Mr Azopardi has taken so many different positions on Brexit that any delegation sitting opposite him will be all too aware that he can be pushed into changing his position just as he flip-flops his way around his positions in Parliament in Gibraltar
In stark contrast, the negotiations led by the GSLP/Liberal Government follow one very clear position with red lines on sovereignty, jurisdiction and control that will simply never be crossed, and which have been steadfast and vehemently defended from the very beginning.
The Chief Minister, the Hon Fabian Picardo KC MP, said: “Keith Azopardi was Deputy Chief Minister in a government the Chief Minister of which said he was in favour of an Andorra style solution. He was Deputy Chief Minister when that spark lead to the Joint Sovereignty debacle. He has taken every position going on a potential post-Brexit solution. He cannot he seen as a serious negotiator. Putting him in pole position in the negotiations for Gibraltar would be bad for all of us and would be dangerous for our people and future generations. Hilariously, Mr Azopardi says my negotiation is a failure but he insists on taking me along with him. I won’t be the backbone that he lacks. I won’t sit alongside him in negotiations. I will fight to ensure he is not the choice of the people at the next election. I will fight to Keep Gibraltar Safe. I have given more than half my life to this fight and I won’t risk Mr Azopardi’s conflicting signal politics being the voice of Gibraltar at this crucial time.”
ENDS
