‘We don’t know what will happen after November’

On November 10, the European Union plans to implement the so-called “restrictions” on all its borders. Entry-Exit System (EES)which will register all travellers from non-EU countries entering the Schengen area for short periods of up to 90 days. The ESS, which will replace the current passport-stamping system, It will allow for real-time information exchange between member countries.ensuring that border authorities have the right data when they need it.

In addition, starting in the first half of 2025, The European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) will be addedwhich will require prior travel authorization for citizens of visa-exempt countries. This is very similar to the so-called ESTA, which is already mandatory for visa-free travel to the United States for citizens of 38 countries.

The new EU controls, clearly more sophisticated and effective, However, they have found it difficult to establish themselves in Gibraltar after Brexit.. Since 2021, The Rock is, for all intents and purposes, the territory of a third country and the line that separates the British colony from the Peninsula: an external border.. On paper, therefore, the new Schengen border protocols should apply in La Verja from this month of November. Something that, according to the industrial, commercial and tourist sectors of the area, This will cause “chaos” at the border, with huge queues and hours of delays in the movement of goods.

Since the end of 2020, Spain, the United Kingdom and the Rock have been discussing how to avoid this anomalous situation following the departure of the British from the EU. Until now, Gibraltarians have provisionally been able to cross to the other side of the border without any requirement other than showing their Gibraltarian identity card. But this temporary process will end in November with the mandatory implementation of the new measures required by Brussels.

Although negotiations have been going on for more than three years, the agreement has not yet been finalised. Sources from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs They pointed out two weeks ago to El País that “80% of the future treaty has already been agreed,” although they acknowledged that “the most sensitive 20%” was missing.

This percentage of disagreement comes, above all, from Gibraltar’s refusal to allow Spanish and Frontex (European Border and Coast Guard Agency) police officers to move freely “throughout the border area” and to serve “in uniform” and “carrying weapons.” These words were put in black and white by the Government in a response to the PP in the Senate and greatly angered Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar’s Chief Minister. “There will be no Spanish boots on the ground,” he said publicly.

Who controls whom?

Although negotiations are being conducted in total secrecy, The “agreement in principle” reached in 2021 indicated that the Fence would be ‘demolished’ and that controls would be carried out both at the port and at the Peñón airfield. In these areas there would be a ‘double key’: Gibraltar would first decide whether to authorise or deny entry to the visitor, using its own database. Afterwards, it would be Spain who would finally decide on entry into the Schengen area, which would include Gibraltar.

“Both decisions will be cumulative,” was stated in a document that also stated literally that “Spain and Gibraltar will carry out controls on people and luggage at the port facilities, in addition to other controls on cruise ships and the marina” or that “Spanish and Gibraltarian officials will share offices in a facility at the airport created for this purpose.” In other words, the presence of Spanish police officers to carry out surveillance and border control tasks was guaranteed, something that Picardo would now refuse to do.

“Spain and the EU cannot accept that an external country controls who enters the Schengen area, especially since that person would not encounter any further controls until the border with Poland and Belarus,” he explains. The HuffPost Luis Romero, journalist and honorary professor at the University of Cádiz.

The reporter, who has been covering political information in the area for more than 25 years, also finds it difficult for the United Kingdom to let others control the entry and exit of its soldiers, since we cannot forget that Gibraltar hosts a military base and has a large Defence presence throughout its territory.“A British military plane landing in Gibraltar is not subject to any control at the moment. But if Spain or Frontex take over the surveillance of human trafficking on the Rock, would that also involve the surveillance of soldiers? In the end we are all members of NATO and it could be sorted out, but it is a problem,” says the journalist.

Added to these problems of human trafficking is another one concerning goods. “Gibraltar has a lower tax rate than Spain and Europe. If you raise the fence, what prevents products with a low tax rate from passing into Spain and the EU? “We need a fiscal balance to reduce it, although we cannot forget that a large part of Gibraltar lives off precisely that fiscal difference,” says Romero, recalling that a bottle of whisky or petrol costs 25% less than in Spain, and tobacco 15%.

Citizens “in limbo”

In case no agreement is reached in the extremesthe situation on the Rock would swing in the completely opposite direction: greater border control and greater bureaucratic burden in the control of access of people and goods at the border. According to data provided by the Government of Gibraltarright now there are more than 15,000 people who live in Spain but work on the Rockcrossing the border every day. The vast majority are Spanish (10,406), but there are also British (1,779) and even Gibraltarians (137).

“These more than 15,000 people are the only lever that Gibraltar has to blackmail Spain in the good sense of the word. But it is also true that if these people do not pass, Gibraltar’s way of life disappears, since its economy is largely supported by these workers. For example, 80% of the staff of the only hospital in Gibraltar are Spanish professionals. “Who would take care of the sick then?” Luis asks.

Adding more bureaucratic obstacles to the border would inevitably lead to chaos, although this could be alleviated in part by a bilateral agreement on border traffic. “Can anyone imagine the queues that would form at eight in the morning with thousands of people trying to get in at once?”asks Luis. “Especially considering that the Gibraltarian government has already said that it will impose on the Spanish the same impediments that the Spanish impose on Gibraltarians when entering or leaving their territory,” he adds.

For Antonio Varela, president of the Official College of Customs Agents in Campo de Gibraltar, the uncertainty is even greater for his interests and those of those he defends. If there is no agreement, the goods would be paralyzed in the customs premises for hours. “It would be a huge disaster and would mean heavy losses for everyone.”assures The HuffPost. But if there is an agreement and the border is removed, many of the companies he supports would have to close. “It would make no sense to have agents if goods can circulate freely,” he says.

But what Varela regrets most is the opacity with which the negotiations between Spain, the United Kingdom and Gibraltar are being carried out. And the lack of attention that, in his opinion, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is giving them. “We requested a meeting in Madrid several months ago and we still haven’t received a response,” he says.

Both he and his representatives advocate maintaining the current status at the border with some improvement. “If something works well, why change it? There is good harmony and a sense of neighbourhood between the two sides of the customs and also between the transporters,” he says.

A feeling that Luis also shares, in part, after many years living in the area. “The vision that we have here is very different from what you hear or read in the rest of Spain about Gibraltar. There is no confrontation here. Families mingle with each other as normal, young Gibraltarians go out partying in La Línea at weekends... Are there interests that can be opposed? Yes, but each one defends his own. If I were a llinois I would also say the same as them. How can I defend living worse? They live in the best possible world, since Gibraltar has the second highest per capita income in the world. So I understand their approach, although I do not share it,” concludes Luis.

For the preparation of this article, The HuffPost has contacted the Government of Gibraltar through its Information Service in order to obtain its opinion and seek answers to some of the questions or issues raised, but the request has not yet been met.