Spain needs to decide on 'Gibraltar argument' says Sir Peter

For too many years Spain has got away with occupying the muddy water between political and legal arguments when talking about Gibraltar. In his first public comments away from the Rock since 2012, Sir Peter Caruana told an audience of academics, politicians and journalists in San Roque that the government in Madrid needs to decide whether its argument on Gibraltar is essentially political or legal in nature. He said it cannot be both. 

Sir Peter said the place where civilized people solve legal disputes is in the court of law and Gibraltar is willing to go down that route but Spain isn’t. If on the other hand Spain decides Gibraltar is a political problem, then as a western democracy in the 21^st century she has to apply democratic principles to handling it. That excludes imposing things on people against their will.

Meanwhile, local lawyer Charles Gomez and professor Dr Jesus Verdu used their talk in San Roque to discuss an undergraduate course they are running for students through the Algeciras faculty of the University of Cadiz.

The lectures are delivered in English and are designed to give young lawyers, mainly Spanish, a chance to develop their language skills, as well as learn about Canon Law.

The conference on Brexit and cross border relations continues tomorrow in San Roque with another session at the University of Gibraltar on Thursday. The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo QC, the Chairman of the Bar Council Keith Azopardi QC, and the President of the Chamber of Commerce Christian Hernandez will be among the speakers.

• Share