In a further sign of the deepening strain between Spain and Britain, the Cervantes Institute in Gibraltar is to be closed by Madrid.
The Spanish foreign minister told parliament of the decision to shut the language school.
In a possible reference to the popularity of the Spanish language, José Manuel García-Margallo said: “And in Gibraltar, everyone speaks it except for the apes”.
More than 200 Barbary macaques live on the Rock, Europe’s only wild population of monkeys.
He also noted that setting up a Cervantes Institute “in what is considered Spanish territory” was clearly absurd.
The Centre opened in 2011 under the former Socialist government as part of the 2006 Córdoba Agreement, a set of accords between the UK, Spain and Gibraltar.
But when the present Popular Party at the end of 2011 came to power, it overlooked the agreement in favour of hectoring over the British Overseas Territory status. Madrid sees Gibraltar as a colony while it deems its own overseas enclaves as integrated parts of Spain.
The Gibraltar Cervantes Institute said that some 60 students enrol on its Spanish courses each term.
