LONDON: European Union diplomats were meeting Friday to finalise the draft divorce agreement between Britain and the bloc, amid a warning from Spain that it will oppose the deal if it isn’t guaranteed a say over the future of Gibraltar.
Leaders of EU nations are due to meet on Sunday to sign off on the deal, which lays out the terms of Britain’s departure in March and sets up a framework for future relations. But Spain remains unsatisfied.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted that Britain and Spain “remain far away” on the issue and “if there are no changes, we will veto Brexit”.
Spain wants the future of the tiny territory at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula — ceded to Britain in 1713 but still claimed by Spain — to be a bilateral issue between Madrid and London. Spanish officials are concerned that a key clause in the agreement referring to UK-EU negotiations on their future relationship makes no mention of Gibraltar.
Spain doesn’t have a veto on the withdrawal agreement, which does not have to be approved unanimously. But it could hold up a future free-trade deal between Britain and the EU, which would require approval of all 27 EU nations.
A Spanish government official said the dispute over Gibraltar could be resolved by modifying a single clause in the divorce agreement — though both Britain and the EU have said the agreement won’t be amended.
Spain’s junior minister for the EU, Luis Marco Aguiriano, said officials could tweak article 184 to make it clear that future relations between the EU and Gibraltar “will be negotiated with the UK with Spain’s prior consent”.
He said in an interview with Spain’s Onda Cero radio that officials in Brussels were working on options to accommodate Spain’s concerns about Gibraltar, and estimated there was a 60% chance of success.
Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo criticised Spain’s insistence on a written guarantee. “Gibraltar has demonstrated that we actually want a direct engagement with Spain on issues,” he said.
“Spain is the physical and geographical gateway to Europe for Gibraltar,” Picardo told the BBC. “We recognise that and there is absolutely no need for us to be vetoed into being brought to the table.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said Germany believed outstanding questions would be cleared up in time for Sunday’s summit to go ahead.
“We assume that open questions can be cleared up by Sunday,” Steffen Seibert said. “That is being worked on intensively, so the chancellor is preparing for the trip to Brussels.”
If EU leaders rubber-stamp the deal, it needs to be approved by the European and British parliaments — a tough task for British Prime Minister Theresa May, whose Conservatives lack a majority in the House of Commons.
May was answering calls on a radio phone-in on Friday in a bid to win public support for the divorce deal, which has been slammed by pro-Brexit and pro-EU politicians alike.
Brexiteers think the agreement will leave the UK tied too closely to EU rules, while pro-Europeans say it will erect new barriers between Britain and the bloc — its neighbour and biggest trading partner.
May is fighting to win domestic backing for her deal and is appealing directly to voters over the heads of politicians.
With eyes now on how May will defy parliamentary mathematics to get her deal through, her spokeswoman was asked about something that has become known as the two-step vote process. Essentially it would entail bracing the government for a defeat at the first attempt, watch the markets have a meltdown and then put it to the vote again, having spooked lawmakers into submission.
Spokeswoman Alison Donnelly said it absolutely was not the government’s strategy. Another official, speaking on anonymity, said it would be a wildly irresponsible undertaking.
Former Brexit secretary David Davis is the latest to call on May to rethink her Brexit plan, saying in a blog on the news website Huffington Post that the Conservatives risk losing the next general election otherwise.
“If this declaration is allowed to stand and the Withdrawal Agreement is passed we will not be easily forgiven and we will inevitably be sleepwalking to electoral defeat at the next general election,” he said.
Davis added that the proposed agreement means the UK will “not really be leaving in March” and will instead be trapped in the Northern Ireland “backstop” and tied to EU institutions.