Three historical and legal reasons for Gibraltar's return to Spain through the ages

Updated 30/10/2023 at 4:47pm.

In 2018, Pedro Sanchez claimed to have reached an agreement with then British Prime Minister Theresa May in which she pledged to address the issue of Gibraltar's sovereignty. The president of the Spanish government even promised that if Britain exited the European Union with the famous Brexit, "the political, legal and geographical relations with Peñón would go through Spain." Apparently this has not happened five years later, although it was implied by the letter, a copy of which was obtained exclusively by the ABC.

In it, May denied the allegations. "The Spanish government has asked for this on a number of occasions but has not achieved it," the Prime Minister then explained''regarding the change to Article 184 of the Treaty of Utrecht, adding a reassuring message to the people of Penyon: "We will always be on your side, we are proud that Gibraltar is British. Our position on its sovereignty has not and will not change. "

More than three hundred years of polemics have passed since the signing of the treaty, in which Spain has tried to regain this strategic territory of 6.8 square kilometers and a population of 31,000 people, whether we were in a republic, a dictatorship, a monarchy or under the rule of the PSOE or the Popular Party.

In 1720, King George I of Great Britain sent the first letter to Spain promising to return Peñón "speedily." Seven years later there was even a war over Gibraltar, in which''England has won. "The Moratinos era regarding Gibraltar is over," said Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo, a former foreign minister.

In the 18th century, Gibraltar was subjected to severe sieges by different regimes to gain possession of it. In the most significant siege between 1779 and 1783, more than 5,000 Spaniards and 1,900 British soldiers died. More recently, then-Socialist Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos declared in 2009 that the claim to the territory's sovereignty was "enduring." And in 2013, his successor, Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo, responded that "the Moratinos era with regard to Gibraltar is over. "

Violation of the Treaty of Utrecht

There is no end to the story. But if we adhere to the provisions of the Treaty of Utrecht,''then, despite various disputes and military clashes between the two countries over Penyon, it can be established that Britain has been violating some of the points established in 1713 for 300 years.

What are they saying exactly? What do they establish and why are they not enforced from London? The famous Article X reads, "The Catholic King [Philip V], in his own name and in the name of his heirs and successors, conveys by virtue of this Treaty to the Crown of Great Britain the full and complete possession of the city and castles of Gibraltar, and of its port, fortifications and forts which belong to him, absolutely granting him this right and forever, without exception or hindrance of any kind. "

At present, however, the definition of ceded territory is''subject to dispute over land, airspace and sea, precisely because the treaty provided for a transfer "without territorial jurisdiction and without open communication with the neighboring country from the land."' This meant that while Britain had a valid title, its territorial extent had to be resolved because the boundary was not set out in the Article X mentioned, and was not later demarcated. The town, castle and structures built in 1704 were listed as English, but what happens to the territorial extensions made in later years?

Spain had already expressed its opposition to the British presence on the peninsula and objected to the building of an airport in 1938,''as they were outside the demarcation defined in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. "Missbroughs" and "frodes." To 'prevent abuse and fraud in the importation of goods', the treaty also established that 'communication by sea with the Spanish coast cannot be open and safe at all times.' This isolated Gibraltar from the land, allowing it to be supplied by sea for its own existence, but not to trade what it received. And in times of "great hardship" allowed its inhabitants to buy food from Spanish territory, but only for their own consumption. Under this provision, Gibraltar remained isolated until 1985, when, in the context of Spain's entry into European institutions and NATO, it sought to attract''the inhabitants of Gibraltar to a more favorable position in favor of their cause on the one hand, and to promote the development of the whole region on the other. However, these steps to facilitate exchanges did not result in significant progress towards the goal of reclaiming the territory. Rather the opposite, as Britain, in addition to consolidating its political autonomous status, continues to strengthen the colony's economy and continues to work to turn Penyon into a business center in the near future, contrary to what was agreed upon in the Treaty of Utrecht.

It has been of great interest to the British government recently to recognize that the waters surrounding Peñón are English sovereign territory, something Spain does not recognize, po''for the simple reason that only the waters of the port of Gibraltar were ceded in the treaty. Nevertheless, the past government of David Cameron, for example, did not miss the opportunity to accuse Spanish ships of violations of those waters, encouraged by the 'llanitos'. But as agreed in 1713, no such violations occurred.

The Third Utrecht Agreement

The Third Utrecht Agreement is the most important because it indicates that Spain has the priority right to put an end to the transfer if the UK attempts to "transfer, sell or alienate in any way the property of Gibraltar". In this respect, the British government has already decided to "alienate" its colony. Not to a foreign power, of course, but to the people of Penyon with the help of''the ambiguous concessions that have been made to it. On the one hand, the 1969 Gibraltar constitution, and on the other, the 2006 amendments which introduced the right of self-determination for Gibraltarians, although it was conditionally linked to 'existing treaties', as Spain demanded.

If we are guided by international law and correctly interpret Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht, the cession to Spain should have been completed and Spain should have regained sovereign rights over the ceded territory. We should not forget that the said article considers this piece of land as a strategic stronghold without demographic dimensions, so it says nothing about its population. Hence it was envisaged to return it''Spain if the United Kingdom were to abandon it. This not only prohibits the transfer to a third country, but also to an independent Gibraltar, which has already been reaffirmed by the United Nations in its resolution 2253 of 1967.