SPAIN: Senior British officials have admitted that the Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, and his Spanish counterpart, Mr Josep Pique, are to make shared sovereignty the basis of a controversial deal on Gibraltar to be discussed when they meet in London today.
The first public confirmation that power-sharing would form the core element of an accord to end 300 years of disputes over the Rock came yesterday from Gibraltar's elected Chief Minister, Mr Peter Caruana.
He said Mr James Bevin, the Foreign Office's chief Gibraltar negotiator, had informed him that a forthcoming Anglo-Spanish declaration, similar to the 1993 Downing Street Declaration that opened the way to peace talks in Northern Ireland, would include power-sharing.
"It is clear that what they are proposing is that the United Kingdom and Spain issue a joint declaration of principles which includes a compromise on the part of the United Kingdom on sharing sovereignty," Mr Caruana told El Pais newspaper. The chief minister swore to do all he could to block the deal.
Both sides have pledged to seek a deal before the summer.
The private confirmation came despite the Foreign Office and Spain's Foreign Ministry making constant public denials.
Ministers have also denied that a deal has been made. "No agreement has been reached with the Spanish government and the Spanish government has made no such claims," Mr Straw told MPs two weeks ago after news first emerged that co-sovereignty might be part of the deal. "Any provisional agreement reached between us and the government of Spain will be subject entirely freely, in a secret ballot, to the wish of the people of Gibraltar."
But Mr Caruana complained that although Britain had said the agreement would not be implemented unless Gibraltarians accepted it in a referendum, a joint declaration that accepted co-sovereignty still amounted to a sell-out.
British diplomats had told him that even if the principles contained in the declaration were rejected in a referendum and not implemented, co-sovereignty would still become the official basis of all future negotiations with Spain. That would represent a major shift from the stance of previous British governments, which have refused to change their policy without Gibraltar's support.
A "No to British treason" march takes place in Gibraltar today. - (Guardian Service)