United Nations, 12 June. Spain insisted this Monday before the United Nations on the need for negotiations with Britain on the sovereignty of Gibraltar, while the chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabián Picardo, defended that the island’s inhabitants have the right to self-determination.

“We believe in a change of policy on the part of the UK that will allow us to definitively turn the page on this sad colonial situation,” said the Spanish ambassador to the United Nations, Agustín Santos, in a speech before Decolonization. organizational committee.

The body held annual discussions on the Gibraltar case, in which Spain reiterated its request to the United Kingdom to negotiate over sovereignty of the reef and thereby comply with the UN General Assembly’s request.

Santos recalled that both sides were trying to mitigate the impact of Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU), but stressed that these negotiations did not respond to calls by the United Nations to resolve the issue.

“The ruling government has, unfortunately, not fulfilled either of these mandates. For this reason, and as we have done before committees in the past, we reiterate our call for the UK to approach decolonization with respect for the principle of territorial integrity.”

Meanwhile, Picardo persisted for another year on the idea that Spain had no right, “neither legal nor political”, to claim sovereignty of Gibraltar and that the inhabitants of rock had the right to “self-determination”.

“As long as I am chief minister, as long as we are in Government, there will be no concessions in our sovereignty,” he stressed in an English speech, in which he also emphasized that he would not allow Gibraltar to become “a bargaining chip at any negotiating table.” .”

In that regard, he said he would not allow a possible post-Brexit agreement between the UK and the EU to touch the question of Gibraltar’s sovereignty one iota. EFE

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