Chief Minister says process of removing Gibraltar from Spain's tax 'blacklist' has begun

The timeframe for Spain's commitment under the tax treaty to remove Gibraltar from its blacklist is coming to an end.

Speaking in Parliament, the Chief Minister said he'd had it confirmed via diplomatic channels that this process had began.

Were this not to be achieved in a 'reasonable' period of time, Fabian Picardo said it would be more in 'sorrow than in anger' that he would have to withdraw from the agreement.

This was one of the issues discussed in this afternoon's varied parliamentary agenda.

Thursday afternoon and CMQ's began with tributes and a one minute silence in memory of Louis Triay KC, who died this month.

Although yesterday the Government announced that by later this month the site of the Eastside reclamation, needs to be emptied ahead of it being handed over to the developer, not a penny has yet been paid towards it.

The Chief Minister said negotiations on the final contract were being finalised. The premium to be paid by the TNGGlobal Foundation is 90 million.

In answer to a question by Elliott Phillips, Fabian Picardo also revealed the Government will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the MOD in respect of the facilities for pedestrians, cyclists and e-scooters to continue travelling across the runway after the Eastside tunnel has been built.

The Government will take over the funding of the runway guards although these will continue to be provided by the MOD.

On the GHA, Health Minister Albert Isola told the house that of the 1670 operations cancelled in the past year only 24 percent of these had been because of operational issues. Over 40 percent of the cancellations had been because patients were unwilling to proceed.

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