An AFP journalist at the border reported that a few minutes after midnight, several dozen people and vehicles crossed the border from Spain for the first time without customs checks. To mark this occasion, several hundred people waving Spanish flags gathered, and Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo declared: “Europe has returned.”
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Gibraltar – a British overseas territory at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula – has only about 40,000 residents but depends on roughly 15,500 workers who commute daily from Spain. During peak hours, long queues often formed at the land border while documents were checked. However, under a new agreement reached by Brussels and London after the United Kingdom left the European Union in 2020, border controls have now been removed.
The agreement was signed on Tuesday in Brussels.
EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič attended the signing ceremony alongside ministers from the United Kingdom and Spain, as well as Gibraltar’s leader F. Picardo.
Earlier in a radio interview, Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said the agreement opens “a new era” for Gibraltar and the adjacent Spanish region, offering “huge opportunities.”
A very positive step
Smoother border crossing will ease the hiring and retention of employees living in Spain for Gibraltar companies, as businesses have faced significant difficulties until now, said Owen Smith, head of the Gibraltar Federation of Small Businesses.
“It was an important factor in retaining employees, and undoubtedly smoother border crossing will greatly ease life,” he told AFP, calling the decision to remove checks “a very, very positive” step.
This agreement will align Gibraltar’s rules with those of the European Schengen Area, where travel is passport-free. It was reached after lengthy negotiations between Spain, the United Kingdom, and the EU.
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Travelers arriving from outside the Schengen zone will still have to present their passports to officials at Gibraltar airport and port.
The Sword of Damocles
The border was closed in 1969 by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco after Gibraltar, whose defense and foreign policy depend on London, voted by a large majority in a referendum to remain a British territory. The 13-year border closure halted daily worker movement from Spain to Gibraltar and separated families. Since then, long queues have regularly formed at the Gibraltar-Spain border as diplomatic tensions over territorial sovereignty prompted Spain to tighten controls.
“It is important that this Sword of Damocles disappears,” said Manuel Triano Paulete, general secretary of the CCOO trade union in the Spanish region bordering Gibraltar.
Gibraltar, whose economy is based on financial services and online gambling, covers just under seven square kilometers. Its per capita income is among the highest in the world. Gibraltar has long been vital to people living in the adjacent Spanish region, which historically has one of the highest unemployment rates in Spain.
London and Madrid have disputed control of Gibraltar since this small territory was ceded to Britain under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.
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