UK-EU negotiations on Gibraltar-EU relations

Background

Gibraltar left the EU along with the UK on 31 January 2020, although Gibraltarians had voted overwhelming to remain in the EU in the 2016 UK referendum on EU membership. Spain maintains a sovereignty claim over Gibraltar.

At Spain’s insistence, Gibraltar was not included in the territorial scope of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) which sets out arrangements for the UK-EU post-Brexit relationship. On 31 December 2020, the UK and Spain announced a framework agreement as the basis for UK-EU negotiations on Gibraltar’s relationship with the EU.

Since the vote to leave the EU, Gibraltar’s government has stressed the importance of maintaining an open “fluid” border between Gibraltar and Spain, given the importance to Gibraltar’s economy of the large number of frontier workers residing in Spain but working in Gibraltar. This is also important to the local economy in the Spanish municipalities bordering on Gibraltar.

Spain has implemented a unilateral measure to allow Gibraltar residents to continue to cross the border without the passport stamping normally required to enter the EU/Schengen area, with Gibraltar reciprocating for Spanish residents coming into Gibraltar.

UK-Spain Framework Agreement for Gibraltar

The December 2020 framework agreement (PDF) included a provision for Gibraltar to be associated with the EU internal border-free Schengen area. Physical infrastructure and barriers to the movement of goods and people at the Gibraltar-Spain border would be removed, with a customs union between Gibraltar and the EU also envisaged.

The framework provides for Spanish officials to be responsible for ensuring Schengen rules are observed at external entry points into Gibraltar (at the port and airport of Gibraltar), although officials from the EU Frontex border agency would provide assistance in carrying out these tasks for a four-year implementation period. Schengen border checks by these officials would follow border checks by the Gibraltar authorities to ensure compliance with Gibraltar immigration policy.

The framework agreement also envisages provisions to ensure a level playing field on the environment, state aid and employment to avoid distortions to trade, measures on equal treatment of frontier workers and cooperation on tax matters, social security, transport and police and judicial matters.

UK-EU negotiations on Gibraltar

The negotiations began in October 2021. The UK and Gibraltar have adopted a joint approach to the negotiations, with UK ministers reiterating that they will not agree to arrangements under which sovereignty over Gibraltar would pass to another state, or to an agreement with the EU that Gibraltar is not content with. This stance has been reiterated by ministers since the Labour government took office in July 2024.

The EU published its proposed mandate for talks with the UK in July 2021. Its proposals involved giving Spanish authorities wide ranging powers in relation to immigration and asylum policy in Gibraltar and the EU institutions would have powers to enforce relevant legislation in Gibraltar. The EU’s proposals met with objections from the UK and Gibraltar. Although the EU’s position was subsequently amended, the UK government said that some of its proposals remained unnecessary, disproportionate and beyond what was agreed in December 2020.

Negotiations are still continuing, despite repeated indications that an agreement might be imminent. Key sticking points in the negotiations have reportedly included the precise role of Spanish officials operating Schengen checks at external entry points to Gibraltar, and the status of Gibraltar airport which also hosts an RAF base and is managed by the Ministry of Defence.

According to a joint statement following a first meeting under a new format in April 2024, involving the UK and Spanish Foreign Ministers, the Gibraltar Chief Minister and the European Commission vice-president, general political lines had been agreed, “including on airport, goods and mobility”.

Then Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said in May 2024 that the Government was clear that the UK’s military base in Gibraltar would have to continue to operate in the same way as it presently does.  He also stressed that that the arrangements for the border would not involve Gibraltar joining the Schengen area but would create a “Schengen-adjacent territory” in order to have a fluid border. Gibraltar would need to adopt some legislation that was equivalent to EU law, but he said there would be no direct oversight by EU institutions.

Negotiations under new UK Labour Government

Negotiations have continued under the Labour government since the July 2024 election, with Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo indicating that UK negotiating stance has not changed.

The Chief Minister said in October 2024 that the UK/Gibraltar had made “fair” and “balanced” proposals which respected the security of the Schengen area and the integrity of the EU Single Market, and that it was up to the Spanish government to decide if it would accept them. Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares also referred to “balanced and generous” proposals that Spain/the EU had made.   

The Paymaster-General (responsible for relations with the EU) Nick Thomas-Symonds said in October that the UK and Gibraltar governments were “working exceptionally hard” to conclude the negotiations but were also prepared to cover “all eventualities” if an agreement could not be reached. The UK Government has been supporting Gibraltar preparations for a non-negotiated outcome and the Gibraltar Government has issued guidance (PDF) for such an outcome.  

All sides have also stressed the importance of reaching an agreement before the implementation of the EU’s new entry/exit system (EES), an automated border system involving biometric checks, which Spain would also need to implement at the border with Gibraltar if there is no agreement on new arrangements. EES implementation had been scheduled for November 2024, but this has been postponed.