His Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar notes statements made suggesting that there is a text for a UK/EU Treaty in relation to Gibraltar.
Although some texts have been proposed by both the UK and the EU during the course of the negotiations (to show the other side what the Treaty could look like in such areas) these texts represent the position of the negotiating parties in such areas based on respective mandates.
There are no agreed texts pending a “dotting of the I’s or a crossing of the T’s”.
Negotiations continue very positively and the Government of Gibraltar continues to work seamlessly alongside the Government of the United Kingdom, towards being able to agree texts with the European Union as soon as possible but only if the principles, substance and texts are safe and secure for Gibraltar.
The negotiations are both technically and politically complicated. Despite that, Gibraltar continues to work intensively with the United Kingdom to make as much progress as possible as soon as possible as we are committed to reaching agreement if possible and we are optimistic that we will be able to do so.
At the same time, as is responsible and necessary, we continue to plan for a No Negotiated Outcome in the event that it were not possible to reach agreement.
The Chief Minister of Gibraltar, the Hon Fabian Picardo KC MP, said: “It’s clear to me that all parties are putting a lot of hard work and good faith into trying to finalise this important UK/EU Treaty as soon as possible in a manner that is agreeable by all relevant parties. Great resources are being deployed to try to reach an agreement. We are all optimistic and positive in our outlook. That there are elements in respect of which we may be largely in agreement at this stage of these long and arduous negotiations is certainly true. We look forward to crossing t’s and dotting i’s on the text relating to all aspects of Gibraltar’s future relationship with the EU at the right moment and, for the sake and interests of citizens on both sides of the border, we look forward to this process happening sooner rather than later. But we are not there yet. The fact is that, however positive and optimistic we might be, we can only reach agreement if the proposal is safe and secure for Gibraltar and we are certain we can reach that stage. The people of Gibraltar can be assured that the Government of Gibraltar will provide full, correct and accurate information as soon as it is able to and should not put reliance on any other source of information when making assessments of progress in this matter.”
ENDS
