Spanish / Gibraltarian conflict

There has, for a long time been great tension and dispute between Spain and the proud British independent colony of Gibraltar. Tensions have increased further recently, despite little media coverage in the United Kingdom, due to the regular Spanish incursions into the territorial waters of Gibraltar. The most unnerving case - the unauthorised intrusion of two Spanish Naval vessels, heavily armed with guns, into the territorial waters of Gibraltar on the 10^th of December 2012.

Mr. Stewart told MP’s during an emergency meeting “May I gently remind the house that an illegal incursion into British Gibraltarian sovereign waters is actually, technically and act of war?”

Had Britain been under the same heavy handedness of Thatcher and had the circumstances been similar to that of the Falklands war, those naval vessels, quite possibly, would have met the same fate as the Belgrano in 1971.

The outrage sparked a freedom of information request, revealing that there had been 42 formal written complaints to the Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry since 2008 regarding similar Spanish incursions.

Intrusion by Spanish fishermen and the Spanish “Guardia Civil” / the Spanish Civil Guard have been a regular occurrence in these past few years; a prime example being on the 31^st of January when the Guardia Civil attempted jurisdiction over a working vessel within Gibraltarian territory – as close as the North Mole.

Pictured to the right is a Gibraltar National Day t shirt which humorously reads"Aqui no se pesca" / "You dont fish here"

The refusal of the Spanish Government recognize Gibraltarian territory is in violation of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, an agreement between countries such as Britain, Spain, France and the Dutch Republic to end the war. Although the treaty does   

not specify heavily on the Gibraltarian right to the surrounding waters, Spain is still in direct violation of the ‘UN Convention on the Law of the Sea’ which states that British Gibraltarian marine territory is 12 nautical miles (22km).

A comment posted in response to a recent article over the issue of soverignty over Gibraltar rightly read: 
"Spain only has the right to question the status of Gibraltar when they give up Ceuta and Melilla (in Morocco). Even if Spain were to give those up, then Gibraltar should still remain British as it's status was established by treaty. The bottom line is that the status quo is working - the people of Gibraltar are happy and the status of Gibraltar will not improve Spain's economic troubles."

Ex Chief Minister Peter Caruana stated that “Spain is subscribed to the treaty, making no reservations whatsoever in relation to Gibraltar. International law makes Spain’s denial of territorial waters in Gibraltar completely unsustainable in law.”

            Daily Mail: Most Recent Spanish Incursion.

Aside from regular incursions, it seems that the Spanish Government is partial to holding up the queue in the border to Spain to extortionate waits. Despite this being petty and an inconvenience to those Gibraltarians who work / have houses in Spain, it is also inconveniencing their own local workers who travel to Gibraltar daily to work and fight the wide spread poverty which can be found in the neighbouring city of “La Linea”.

In an attempt to curb the massive waiting times at the border, the Gibraltarian Government has set up cameras which stream live to the internet on www.frontierqueue.gi.

Being a proud Gibraltarian myself, I am outraged by the pettiness and provoking actions of the Spanish Government in these situations. The colony of Gibraltar is persistently trying to work with the Spanish Government to come to friendly terms, with regular charities to help the neighbouring Spanish city of “La Linea”, which is currently on the verge of Bankruptcy, frequent meetings with Spanish Governments and last but by no means least, providing the city with thousands of jobs. Hopefully one day soon these differences can be put aside and perhaps Spain and Gibraltar may finally work closer together to resolve these issues. 

For those unfamiliar with Gibraltar, there is a brilliantly produced virtual tour below.