Madrid (AP) – Gibraltarians gathered on Wednesday for National Day celebrations a month before a fence separating the infested area at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula from Spain.
It was the first such celebration because the European Union and Great Britain reached a June To facilitate cross -border shop and travel in Gibraltar.
The festivities recall a referendum from 1967 above the state of the rock, because the territory is popularly called English. The Gibraltarians voted overwhelmingly to remain part of the UK, rather than joining Spain, which at that time ruled by the dictator Gen. Francisco Franco.
Gibraltar’s main Minister Fabian Picardo said this year’s “added meaning” celebrations.
In June, the EU said all physical barriers, controls and controls of people and goods moving between Spain and Gibraltar would be removed. At a time when many countries build new or higher border walls, this includes a fence separating Gibraltar from Spain, which is about 15,000 people every day.
The agreement is expected to enter in the first half of 2026.
Britain left the European Union In 2020 with the relationship between Gibraltar and the block unresolved. Until June, he speaks of an agreement to secure the flow of people and goods across the border of Gibraltar-Spain only to stop progress.
Gibraltar was transferred to Britain in 1713, but Spain has ever maintained its claim to sovereignty. Relations concerning the rock have had their rise and falls for centuries.
In Britain 2016 Brendum referend96% of voters in Gibraltar supported the remaining in the EU. Small territory at the southern rush of Spain is very dependent on the access to the EU market for its 34,000 inhabitants.
(Tagstotranslate) Gibraltar
