GIBRALTAR

Gibraltar is at the southern tip of Spain. It belongs to the UK but Spain, with some justification, wants it back. Britain, experienced and pragmatic in these situations says, ‘let the people decide’. The people, rather like their brothers and sisters on the Falkland Islands, prefer the regime they know rather than the uncertainty of a new one. And so it goes on. Pressure mounts, as both Spain and the UK are partners in Europe and the semi-European status of Gibraltar needs to be resolved.

Few places in the world of such small size – 5.8 square kilometres in area –have been the subject of international controversy for as long as Gibraltar. Centuries of history have turned ‘The Rock’ into a symbol of British naval power and a synonym for security. It would be wrong to gloss over the Rock’s imperial past, for the minute you arrive on the bizarre airstrip between the Rock and Spain you can see its strategic importance. It is a towering, impregnable fortress on one side of a narrow passage that makes the Mediterranean into an inland sea. It also has a huge harbour.

It is no exaggeration to describe Gibraltar as a link between two continents, two civilisations, two religions, two ways of life and two great seas. It is however as a colossus of British naval history that Gibraltar is best known. Nelson sailed from here in 1805. In the 19th century it was the staging point for a far-flung Empire, and it played an important part in both World Wars, especially as an anti-submarine base. In 1942 the existing tunnels were extended to contain generators, a telephone exchange, food stores, a water desalination plant, a bakery and a hospital.

In perpetuity

The Spanish took possession of Gibraltar following victories over the Moors, and held it until 1704, when it was seized by a joint Anglo-Dutch military force under Admiral Sir George Rooke during the Spanish War of Succession. The peace treaty that settled this war was signed in Utrecht in 1713 and ceded Gibraltar to the United Kingdom ‘in perpetuity’. The territory has remained under British control ever since. 2004 was the 300th anniversary of its seizure and the inability to restore it to Spanish sovereignty has been a bitter pill for Spain to swallow.

Second World War

With the fall of France in June 1940 and the entry of Italy on the side of Nazi Germany, Franco was confronted with a dilemma. It seemed a golden opportunity to recover Gibraltar, but Spain was still exhausted from a long civil war, and suffering from both hunger and poverty on an unprecedented scale. On the one hand Franco’s friends Germany and Italy had helped him during the Civil War, yet on the other he was in no doubt that Britain would apply a massive blockade preventing ships leaving or entering Spanish waters.

Although sorely tempted, Franco refused Hitler”s attempts to force Spain to become an Axis ally but Franco gave permission for a German military team to visit Spain led by Admiral Canaris, and in July 1940 plans were made for a joint German/Spanish assault on Gibraltar. German reconnaissance teams observed Gibraltar’s 1,400-foot-high limestone mountain bristling with gun emplacements, guarded by 12,500 soldiers and laced with intricate supply tunnels. But the operation to conquer Gibraltar never got beyond the planning stage.

Franco continued to play both sides against each other in an attempt to stay neutral, while siding with the Axis powers. He sent letters to London and Washington promising to stay out of the war. He answered Hitler’s plea for entry into the war with a long list of essential goods that Spain lacked. Despite personal visits from both Hitler and Mussolini, Spain remained neutral, soothing the Germans by allowing Spanish volunteers to fight alongside the Germans in Russia.

Franco then met with the American ambassador who assured him Allied landings in North Africa had no intention of intruding upon Spanish territory. He then gave orders not to allow any German troops to move across Spain to reinforce their troops in North Africa. Franco ended his romance with the Axis, and his dreams of recovering Gibraltar for the moment.

Ironically the growth of a Gibraltarian consciousness was first stimulated during the Second World War. The mixed civilian population was forcibly evacuated to Northern Ireland, Madeira, and Jamaica and deeply resented being sent into temporary exile for the duration of the war. This exile made the Gibraltarians miss their homes and made them all the more determined to return to take an active part in governing themselves in the future.

Closing the border

A low point in Spanish/UK relations was reached in 1954 when Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Gibraltar on their royal yacht as part of the Coronation Tour. This was waving a red cape in front of a Spanish bull and Franco took it as a personal insult. Mobs chanted and waved Spanish flags, screaming insults and cries that ‘Gibraltar is Spanish’. For 13 years, telephone communications between Gibraltar and Spain were blocked.

A second low point occurred in 1969 when the border between Gibraltar and Spain was closed by the Spanish, imposing considerable economic hardship on the territory. Spain cancelled the work permits of almost 5,000 Spanish workers who were unable to continue working in Gibraltar. Franco even ordered a boycott of ships that had used the port of Gibraltar, and prohibited their entry into Spanish territorial waters. Further pressure limited incoming and outgoing flights through Spanish airspace. The border was reopened in 1985 after having been closed for 15 years.

In 1999 border controls into Gibraltar were tightened again in order to put pressure on the British government over its stance on sovereignty.

None of these actions have endeared Spain to the Gibraltarians. The Spanish however have come to realise that regaining Gibraltar will be by diplomacy and not coercion. Perhaps they will finally treat Gibraltar as a friendly equal.

Change?

Gibraltar’s population of 28,000 supports the status of a British territory and has twice given overwhelming support for the continuation of the present arrangement. In both votes 99 percent rejected proposals to full or shared Spanish control. A referendum organised by the Gibraltarians themselves voted overwhelming against the idea of shared British-Spanish sovereignty. The proposal would have given the territory greater autonomy within the European Union as well as the retention of its British naval base and intelligence facilities under the NATO banner.

Ironically this patriotism is an embarrassment for Britain, who would like to resolve the issue with Spain. It has formally endorsed the shared sovereignty formula; an outcome that both Spain and Britain agree is the best way forward. In reality the only solutions to the Gibraltar problem are either a continuation of the status quo or the introduction of some form of shared sovereignty.

The Spanish government has re-stated their position on Gibraltar many times and has invited the current Chief Minister of Gibraltar to participate in negotiations. Spain has made it clear that it intends to continue conversations with Britain to reach an agreement that satisfies all interested parties. Spaniards have been surveyed many times and ironically agree with the Gibraltarians on joint sovereignty:

• Only 6% support joint sovereignty status.
• 49% want Gibraltar integrated into Spain.
• 41% are not against Gibraltar achieving independence.

Today’s Gibraltar

Gibraltar has an image of comprising English pubs, fish and chips shops, British retail outlets, together with Tax Free electrical and liquor outlets. Things are changing! Britain’s fortress is dominant no more, and young Gibraltarians are being born into a community where the working partnership is no longer with Her Majesty’s Armed Forces, but with leading European and International financial companies.

The Rock has moved on from servicing the former vast armies and fleets of Britain’s Empire, to learning skills which exploit its unique position inside the EU. Gibraltar remains outside the EU VAT structure and the Customs Union. It has jurisdiction in its own right for sovereign and fiscal matters, but is subject to most EU directives and rights.

Trans-shipment of vehicles, offshore betting, e-commerce, industries that use qualified company status complement a finance centre dominated by banking, self-holding investment structures, trusts and insurance work. This is the new central pillar of work opportunity and the economy of the Rock.

The future? E-land, naturally. Seven years ago two computer enthusiasts took the plunge and set up Gibraltar’s first Internet provider – Gibnet. Scepticism was promptly followed by addiction, and soon the most senior people were avid e-mailers. Then came Victor Chandler and Ladbrokes with the offshore betting, its success causing a change to UK betting tax laws.

The most exciting move in recent years has seen a memorandum of understanding signed between the Gibraltar Government and a specialist in complex web hosting, increasingly described as net-sourcing. The project depends on their ability to provide high quality, secure and reliable management for websites. The base for this international hub of predominantly financial sites is at Lathbury Barracks, formerly the heart of the British Army. This 80 million Euro project will place the Rock at the heart of a worldwide industry expected to grow five-fold over the next few years.

Today most visitors to the Rock are on duty free shopping sprees, but there is plenty to fascinate the historically curious including the 32 miles of tunnels open to the public. Other visitors include migrating birds: they cross from Africa to Europe and back over a strip of land a few kilometres wide with Gibraltar to the east and Tarifa to the west. Migration takes place all year round but the key periods are spring for northward movement and autumn for southward movement.