1995
Joe 1995

The Effect of Banking Legislation in Gibraltar

As Chief Minister, Mr Bossano considered the issue of banking legislation to form part of the wider question on Gibraltarian rights and self-determination and expressed his concerns about the same:

“If Gibraltar banks are going to passport into other countries and into the United Kingdom I must be satisfied that the supervision of those banks in Gibraltar is as good as it would be in the UK, otherwise I will not do it. Forget whether you are entitled to it as Community law, whether we have promised it to you or we have not promised it, the answer is very simple, either I am satisfied or I will not do it and all I need to do is that I need to pick up this phone and call my opposite number in Luxembourg and say; ‘There is a branch in Gibraltar that wants to open a branch there, be a good boy old chap, let him in.’”

As a result of these restrictions, Mr Bossano believed that Gibraltar was losing a substantial amount of business as a result of not being able to guarantee potential customers that “Gibraltar’s European Union credentials would be honoured and accepted and respected.”

We want to get on with the job of getting rid of the backlog of EEC legislation during the course of the year. We want to get on with the job of running the affairs of our city and we want to get on with the job of taking them to the negotiating table and decolonising our country and certainly whoever it may upset in the process we will pursue the struggle for self-determination and for decolonisation in the United Nations and wherever we need to do it unrelentingly, irrespective of the effect it may have on other things.