EU and UK reach accord on cross-border trade and travel in Gibraltar

BRUSSELS — The European Union and the U.K. announced Wednesday that they have reached an agreement to ease cross-border trade and travel in Gibraltar after years of post-Brexit wrangling over the contested territory at the tip of the Iberian peninsula.

In a post on social media, EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič raised the deal as ''a truly historic milestone: an EU-UK political agreement on the future relationship concerning Gibraltar. This benefits everyone and reinforces a new chapter in the relationship.''

Britain left the European Union in 2020 with the relationship between Gibraltar and the bloc unresolved. Talks on a deal to ensure people and goods can keep flowing over the Gibraltar-Spain border previously had made only halting progress.

Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713, but Spain has maintained its sovereignty claim ever since. Relations concerning the Rock, as it is popularly referred to in English, have had their ups and downs over the centuries.

In Britain's 2016 Brexit referendum, 96% of voters in Gibraltar supported remaining in the EU. The tiny territory on Spain's southern tip depends greatly on access to the EU market for its 34,000 inhabitants.

The British government said the agreement ''resolves the last major unresolved issue from Brexit,'' while Spanish Foreign Minister José Albares said the deal was historic and marked ''a new beginning'' in the relationship between the U.K. and Spain.

He said that Spain ''will guarantee free movement of people and goods,'' adding that Gibraltar would now be linked to Europe's free travel zone known as the Schengen Area with Spanish authorities controling entry and exit.

The deal, which must be ratified by parliaments in Spain and the U.K., will remove all physical barriers, checks and controls on people and goods moving between Spain and Gibraltar, the EU said in a statement.

In order to preserve The EU's free travel zone and borderless single market for goods, entry and exit checks will instead be conducted at Gibraltar's airport and port by both U.K. and Spanish border officials. The arrangement is similar to that in place at Eurostar train stations in London and Paris, where both British and French officials check passports.

The U.K. and Gibraltar had previously resisted Spain's insistence that Spanish border officials be based at the airport, which is also home to a Royal Air Force base.

An agreement was also reached Wednesday for visas and travel permits.

The U.K. said that half Gibraltar's population crosses the border each day and that without an agreement, new EU entry-exit rules mean every one would have to have their passports checked.

The British government hailed the deal as a win in Prime Minister Keir Starmer's attempt to reset relations with the EU, five years after the U.K.'s acrimonious departure from the bloc.

The U.K. said the agreement ''does not impact sovereignty'' and ensures ''full operational autonomy of the U.K.'s military facilities in Gibraltar.''

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez noted that Spain maintains its claim of sovereignty over Gibraltar.

''After three centuries of no progress, the EU, the United Kingdom, and Spain have reached a comprehensive agreement that benefits citizens and our bilateral relationship with the United Kingdom. All this without renouncing Spanish claims to the isthmus and the return of Gibraltar,'' he said on the social network X.

Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo also hailed the agreement and said it ''will bring legal certainty to the people of Gibraltar, its businesses and to those across the region who rely on stability at the frontier.''

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Lawless reported from London, Naishadham from Madrid.