Gibraltar to vote against Spanish link

Gibraltarians will tomorrow vote resoundingly against a British-Spanish proposal to share sovereignty over the colony, Chief Minister Peter Caruana said today.

“I don’t believe this vote will be a close call,” Caruana said on the eve of the Rock’s 20,683 voters taking part in a nonbinding referendum on negotiations between Britain and Spain which centre around joint sovereignty.

Both Britain and Spain have dismissed the vote as meaningless in legal terms.

“We do not believe joint sovereignty is the way forward,” said Caruana, Chief Minister of the tiny British colony since 1996. “On the contrary, we believe it harms the political aspirations and rights of the people of Gibraltar.”

As he spoke, the Union and Gibraltar castle-and-key flags decked balconies throughout the t

in colony as residents gave a clear sign of their national sentiments. Posters saying Give Spain No Hope were plastered on walls about the old garrison town.

Caruana stressed that the vote, which has attracted some 250 journalists from across the globe, was not about whether to do a deal with Spain but rather a response to Britain’s July 12 declaration that the outline of an agreement had been reached with Spain to resolve the ancient row which involved sharing control of the rock.

“Joint sovereignty does not resolve Gibraltar’s colonial status, rather it enshrines it and perpetuates it for ever. It’s changing one master for two,” said Caruana, who added that it was proposal that had no precedent.

The Chief Minister, who opinion polls estimate is backed by most Gibraltarians, said the only way forward would be for round-table talks between all parties. Gibraltar has long refused to sit down with Spain and Britain until it is granted equal vetoing rights of proposals.

Britain captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 and was then formally ceded the territory in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. A clause in the treaty gives Spain first preference should Gibraltar’s status ever change. The Madrid government has, meanwhile, never given up its claim to the promontory and vigorously opposes Gibraltar’s push for decolonization and self determination.

The sovereignty issue stirs patriotic emotions and political debate in both countries with Gibraltar often being described as the mouse that jerks the British lion’s tail or the nail in the toe of Spain’s boot.

Residents on the 2.6 square mile limestone Rock which towers 1,400 feet high distrust the Spanish government. Few forget the near total isolation suffered when Spain under General Francisco Franco closed the border. That lasted 16 years until 1985.

Talks, stalemated for more than a decade, resumed two years ago and both governments expressed confidence that they’d reach an agreement by July of this year.

But the July 12 statement by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw outraged Gibraltar. Britain now says an agreement is still some way off and that there is serious discord over several points.

In Thursday’s referendum, voters are being asked do they agree with the principle of shared sovereignty. An overwhelming ’no’ vote is on the cards with only several hundred people, mostly people of direct Spanish descent, expected to vote in favour of the shared sovereignty idea.

In the last plebiscite in 1967, all but 44 of the 12,182 votes cast were against reverting to Spanish rule.