Gibraltar — House of Commons, 2015-01-08
Topic: International Affairs
David Roy Lidington (Conservative, Centre-right): After one summons in respect of an incursion by a survey vessel, that survey vessel’s time in Gibraltar waters was curtailed and the immediate crisis was ended. The various strong actions that we took—the Spanish Government know that a public summons is a very exceptional action for the UK Government to take—did contribute to making that difference. At that time, there were also direct political representations at ministerial and top official level to Madrid. It is not the case that a summons to an ambassador or a protest by note verbale are necessarily the only actions that we take. Such actions are often accompanied by political representations on the appropriate senior channels The number of unlawful incursions dropped from 496 in 2013 to 387 last year—about a 22% reduction—but that still leaves us with an unacceptably high number of incursions. We will continue to make it clear to Spain that, as an EU partner and a NATO ally, the escalation of tensions is bound to impose a cost on the bilateral relationship. The normal practice is that Spanish state vessels are challenged by the Royal Navy, and we follow that up with diplomatic and political protests. It is important to make it clear that, although incursions are a violation of sovereignty, they do not threaten or weaken sovereignty in the sense of undermining the strength of our legal case for sovereignty over those waters. That is what made the survey vessel incursions particularly serious. By purporting to exercise jurisdiction by going about survey work in British Gibraltan territorial waters, those survey vessels were acting in a way which, if unchallenged, could be interpreted as our acknowledging a loss or a diminution of our sovereignty over those waters. That accounts for the difference of the calibration of our response to those incursions compared with some of the others by, for example, Guardia Civil vessels I was asked about our assessment of naval resources. The Government’s assessment is that the assets, structure and procedures of the Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron are commensurate with its tasking, including challenging unlawful maritime incursions within British Gibraltan territorial waters. We regularly assess the naval mission and the assets and people required to deliver it to ensure that its responsibilities can be carried out effectively, and I will certainly not rule out reinforcement of the naval mission or of other military assets in Gibraltar In making such a determination we would have to decide how such deployments would make a practical difference for good. For example, I was asked about arrests. The legal reality is that state vessels under international law have sovereign immunity from being boarded. That is a legal reality and a breach would have implications well beyond British Gibraltan issues and one would have to think through the possible consequences for British vessels in other circumstances and other parts of the world. When we discuss these questions in government and carry out these reviews, it is a question not just of which vessels and how many people are involved and so on but of which rules of engagement will apply if one dispatches additional reinforcements. We keep the matter under close watch and I have been having regular conversations with my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces over recent months. The clear principle is that we will not budge in a resolute defence of British sovereignty over those waters We have been in close contact with the European Commission on border delays during the past few months and since the publication of the report and the Government’s response last year. At the request of the United Kingdom, the Commission sent a second border monitoring mission to Gibraltar on 2 July and subsequently wrote to both Gibraltar and Spain. The Commission has stated publicly that it has serious concerns about the lack of progress Spain has made in addressing its earlier recommendations and—critically, this has happened since the publication of the two reports—the Commission has said that checks that give rise to waits of several hours to cross the border are disproportionate. We are using the arguments about the freedom of movement of persons with the Commission, other member states and the Government of Spain. Spain has the right to impose such border checks as are proportionate and sufficient to provide safeguards against crime, smuggling and other illegal activities and it is a fact that not just we and the Gibraltan Government but the Commission, as guardian of that freedom of movement right under the treaties, is saying that those checks are disproportionate to the objectives laid down in European law. That is a significant step We continue to lobby the Commission on the need to ensure that Spain carries out its recommendations and to make it clear that we expect the Commission to take legal action should there be little movement My hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham (Martin Horwood) asked about the possibility of a permanent monitoring force or unannounced inspections, as did the right hon. Member for Wolverhampton South East (Mr McFadden). I have already urged the Commission to carry out unannounced inspections and the Government of Gibraltar have made an offer to host a permanent monitoring mission if the new Commission is willing to undertake such an operation Spain has now begun construction work at the border area, saying that it is working to improve the system in line with the plans it has submitted to the European Commission, and we have started to see an overall downward trend in the delays, although the level of delays remains unacceptable. We continue to press the Commission to monitor the situation closely I do not rule out unilateral action by the United Kingdom under article 259 of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union. My caution about this option is that precedent shows that going to the European Court of Justice in such a way is not a swift process. My judgment for now is that we stand the better chance of securing the outcome we want for the people of Gibraltar if we work through pressure on the European Commission, using the arguments about enforcing European law, and seeing that Spain complies with it, than if we take unilateral action, which would put an end to the work in the European institutions to which we have committed ourselves to date.