The Mixed Commission for closer co-operation with Gibraltar was set up last week, and will study a number of common projects between Gibraltar and the Gibraltar Area.
Gibraltar was there, of course, a long time before the British took it over, and the name of the area surrounding the Rock is the ‘Campo de Gibraltar.’ Leaving international politics to one side, the authorities on both side of the border have been having talks with a view to working together towards a common goal for many years, ever since the border opened again at the beginning of the 1980s. The most eagerly awaited meeting of all took place recently in the Town Hall of Los Barrios, and the result was as expected: a Mixed Commission was created to promote co-operation between Gibraltar and the Campo de Gibraltar, the greater Gibraltar Area.
The Mixed Commission met for the first time since it was set up last week, made up of three members from Gibraltar and three from the Gibraltar Area, each with his own portfolio and accompanied by civil servants specialising in the different areas. The commission was signed into formal existence by the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Peter Caruana, his Education and Employment Minister, Bernard Linares, the president of the Mancomunidad (Association of Municipalities) of the Gibraltar Area, Juan Montedeoca, and the mayor of Los Barrios and special delegate for matters relating to Gibraltar, Alonso Rojas. They were accompanied by the man in charge of technical aspects of both institutions, José Manuel Alcántara, the director general of Services, representing the Mancomunidad, and by Steven Ramagge, a senior Convent Place civil servant.
The Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Peter Caruana, announced just before the meeting began that it was about “a process of dialogue with an open agenda on either side, to talk about all issues.”
The Los Barrios Process
Caruana said: “It is not about setting up another co-operation agreement, because we have had lots of them, but of establishing the process by which it will be carried out in general terms, whatever issue might be on the agenda, and establishing the structure of the commission in a process that will be known in the future as the Los Barrios Process.”
The areas in which co-operation will take place were listed in a press conference afterwards. These include the environment, civil protection and co-operation in cases of emergency, tourism, sports, ground transport, airport use, the port, telecommunications, commercial relations and any other type of activity that would be of common interest to both sides, and beneficial to the well-being of both communities on either side of the border.
Airport
Questioned at the press conference by journalists on the issues of most importance, Caruana replied: There are many common issues of interest, and we all have the same desire to work together on them. We will talk about issues that have historically been difficult to see eye to eye on, such as use of the airport. In my personal opinion, the most important issues are the environment and the airport, and I don’t know if we can reach agreement on this. I hope we can, and that we’ll reach a historic agreement on use of the airport. Then there are other issues like tourism and commercial relations between the two communities to be discussed as well.”
Joint use of the airport was also mentioned by the president of the Mancomunidad, Juan Montedeoca, who said that he believed the airport should be available to all the people of the region, and that every issue of interest to the people should be discussed. “But now we’re in the process of establishing the commission, and there are still some issues that are outside our brief, so we have to be imaginative and see what we can do to clear the way forward. There is a wide range of possibilities in improving the quality of life of the people of the Gibraltar Area, and it is in relation to this that we are going to work all out in the immediate future.” As far as areas of co-operation are concerned, there are more than a dozen different environmental issues that need to be discussed, such as garbage collection, water purifying and the defense of the natural environment. The president of the Mancomunidad also declined to go into the more concrete aspects of the agreement, saying that “a commission has been set up that has work to do, and which was demanded by the people of the region in order to achieve better competitiveness and wealth for everybody, and to provide an answer to all those questions that have been bothering us all for some time, and which are now of the agenda. The result will be of benefit to all of us.”
Constitution Mixed Commission
Object: Identify, promote, develop and carry out joint projects for the benefit of both sides of the border, and to promote better relations between the two communities.
Focus
Activities: The environment, civil protection, tourism, sport, education, transport, communications, commercial relations and any type of activity that would lead to an improvement in the standard of living of both communities, or any activity of mutual interest.
Gibraltar: Peter Caruana, Chief Minister; Bernard Linares, Education and Employment minister, and civil servant Stephen Ramagge.
Town Hall Associations: Juan Montedeoca, president; Alonso Rojas, Special Delegate for Gibraltar Affairs; José Manuel Alcántara, Director General of Services.
Sovereignty out of bounds
J. M-M. Los Barrios
The thorny issue of sovereignty over Gibraltar, which is under negotiation between the governments of Spain and Britain, was not on the agenda in Los Barrios. Chief Minister Caruana said that “there is no negotiation on this issue. We are having talks only on the question of co-operation between Gibraltar and the Association of Municipalities (Mancomunidad) of the Gibraltar Area. If reference is being made to another round of talks that my Minister for Foreign Affairs mentioned with my consent in Madrid, when the last meeting was held there, this will be a process for three parties to participate in.” He then went on to say: “This means that we can invite discussion by all parties and that each of us can put any agenda on the table. We will discuss whatever needs to be discussed, and the most important thing is that we maintain this dialogue open, and that we recognise that this is a process of dialogue, not of political negotiation.”
Courtesy of Sur in English
www.surinenglish.com
