Spain and Britain to sign accord on Gibraltar side-issues

Spain and Britain were today due to sign a historic agreement resolving disagreements stemming from their 300-year-old dispute over Gibraltar while leaving the thorny issue of sovereignty untouched.

Gibraltar itself – the tiny British colony at Spain’s southern tip – will also sign the accord, the product of unprecedented three-way talks that began 18 months ago.

The representatives gathering in the southern Spanish city of Cordoba are Britain’s European affairs minister, Geoff Hoon, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Peter Caruana. Under the agreement, there will be flights from Spain and the rest of Europe to Gibraltar.

Up until now, Spain has blocked flights to the tiny promontory, making it only possible to fly there from Britain.

Other measures include boosting the number of phone lines into the British colony and resolving a long-running row over pension payments to Spaniards who once worked on Gibraltar. Spain has also promised to soften sometimes overzealous border controls which have often seen frustrating hours-long queues build up at the border.