fbpx
Log in

Login to your account

Username *
Password *
Remember Me

Create an account

Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.
Name *
Username *
Password *
Verify password *
Email *
Verify email *
Captcha *

Gibraltar a “colonial anachronism”, Spanish king tells UN

gibraltarNow even the king of Spain has joined in the Spanish chorus begging for control of Gibraltar.

Using his speech at the United Nations General Assembly as his platform, King Felipe VI said that Britain should “end the colonial anachronism of Gibraltar”.

After referring to Britain’s decision to leave the EU, the king called for a negotiated handover of the enclave which has been a British territory since 1713.

"I invite the UK, on this first occasion at the UN after Brexit, to end the colonial anachronism of Gibraltar with an agreed solution between both countries to restore the territorial integrity of Spain and bring benefits to the people of Gibraltar and the Spanish area of Campo de Gibraltar."

Alert officials in the Gibraltar government responded immediately, chiding Spain for being stuck in the past.

"The days when territories could be handed over from one monarch to another regardless of the wishes of the people who live there ended a very long time ago," a spokesman for Gibraltar’s administration said.

"This is not 1704, when Britain conquered Gibraltar, or 1713 when Spain ceded it by Treaty for ever."

"This is 2016 when what matters most is the right of a people, however small, to determine their own future."

"It is regrettable that the mentality in official circles in Spain remains stuck in the eighteenth century."

"Madrid has still not come to terms with having lost Gibraltar over three hundred years ago and it’s time they realised that they are never going to get it back."

Within moments of the Brexit outcome being announced in June, Spain's acting Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo called for joint sovereignty over Gibraltar "to solve the situation of Gibraltar and allow it to keep its access to the EU's single market."

Co-sovereignty, he reminded his listeners meant “the Spanish flat on the Rock”.

In what the UN New Center called a “wide-ranging address”, the king referred to the troubling period that Spain was going through but did not expand on the on-going failure to elect a government. He did not tackle the issue of Catalonian independence, but indicated that Spain works best through a democratic framework.

Pin It

Comments  

-2 #10 Hilblyth 2016-09-25 10:39
And what about Ceuta. Isn't that exactly the same.
-3 #9 algarveandroid 2016-09-24 14:53
So we are talking about a country wanting to claim back something it gave away , but doesnt want Catalan to break away?

Tell you what Spain free Catalan , only then we can talk about a hand back of Gib.
-3 #8 dw 2016-09-23 16:23
Europe, Africa, wherever, all are now debt colonies of the US led global financial order anyway.
-3 #7 Ed 2016-09-23 13:28
Quoting Peter Booker:


What you appear to be saying, Ed, is that the Spanish held territories should remain Spanish because Spain has held them by right of conquest since the 16th century ; whereas Gibraltar should become Spanish because it has been British only since the 18th century. I have never understood the quality of this argument.

You might just as easily say that Spain´s possessions are in Africa (so that´s all right, because Africa has been subject to widespread colonisation) but Gibraltar is a part of Europe (so that´s not all right).

Not at all! I was just trying to define the legal status of the enclaves and islands of Morocco (subsequent to the comment by Margaridaana) and expressed no opinion on the rights and wrongs of the arguments between Morocco and Spain, and Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
-2 #6 Peter Booker 2016-09-23 12:20
Quoting Ed:
Quoting Margaridaana:
Ceuta and Melilla are not Spanish. GIbraltar was ceded to Britain. A gift becomes the recipient's property. One cannot ask for it back just because it no longer seems such a god idea.

They are autonomous Spanish cities, or 'plazas de soberanía' and integral parts of Spain since the C16th.

Morocco of course wants Spain to transfer the sovereignty of Ceuta and Melilla, along with uninhabited islets such as Alhucemas, Velez and Perejil all of which are Spanish possessions.


What you appear to be saying, Ed, is that the Spanish held territories should remain Spanish because Spain has held them by right of conquest since the 16th century ; whereas Gibraltar should become Spanish because it has been British only since the 18th century. I have never understood the quality of this argument.

You might just as easily say that Spain´s possessions are in Africa (so that´s all right, because Africa has been subject to widespread colonisation) but Gibraltar is a part of Europe (so that´s not all right).
-1 #5 Peter Booker 2016-09-23 08:09
"…but indicated that Spain works best through a democratic framework." So which part of this democratic framework applies to Gibraltar?
+1 #4 RCK 2016-09-22 22:30
Regarding Gibraltar, the Spanish, like the Argentinians in relation to the Falkland Islands, refuse to give up on their claim to foreign owned territory.
Which part of 'No, get lost' do they both not understand?
0 #3 Ed 2016-09-22 18:18
Quoting Margaridaana:
Ceuta and Melilla are not Spanish. GIbraltar was ceded to Britain. A gift becomes the recipient's property. One cannot ask for it back just because it no longer seems such a god idea.

They are autonomous Spanish cities, or 'plazas de soberanía' and integral parts of Spain since the C16th.

Morocco of course wants Spain to transfer the sovereignty of Ceuta and Melilla, along with uninhabited islets such as Alhucemas, Velez and Perejil all of whcih are Spanish possessions.
-1 #2 Margaridaana 2016-09-22 17:32
Ceuta and Melilla are not Spanish. GIbraltar was ceded to Britain. A gift becomes the recipient's property. One cannot ask for it back just because it no longer seems such a god idea.
+2 #1 Mike Skinner 2016-09-22 17:25
Presuably Spain will relinquish the Plazas de Soberanía?!

You must be a registered user to make comments.
Please register here to post your comments.