OPINION

Now or never

SUNDAY’S avalanche of Partido Popular (PP) and far right Vox gains across Spain, followed by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez calling an election in July is an alarming wake-up call for Gibraltar.

With EU treaty talks still stalled on various key points, authorities must now bust a gut to find a deal before July 23.

Let’s not forget that the PP have always found a way to make life difficult for Gibraltarians.

And Vox - which has called for Gibraltar to be ‘suffocated’ - could take an even more severe approach.

So to have both parties running Spain in two months could effectively spell the end of EU treaty talks with the UK.

That is the reality that Chief Minister Fabian Picardo must now be confronting.

The PSOE party also now knows this which could make it less likely to relent on Gibraltar’s demands. Reports suggest that the main sticking points are the degree of Spanish oversight at the airport and seaport.

And even Gibraltar minister Joe Bossano admitted that after the proposed Frontex plan ends after four years, Spanish officers would take over.

That would be tricky in a community that still fears Spanish control over its affairs, especially as it has not renounced its territorial claims.

But not making a deal, at least for four years, could be so much worse.

Indeed, it might see a new, right-wing coalition in Madrid actually closing the frontier, as Vox has often proposed.

Without the European Union as an obstacle, it would mean locals would be confined with difficult access to Spain.

Gibraltar could effectively return to the isolation it had back in General Franco’s times.

As all sides know, this could be the future reality, so let’s make sure there is a definitive last-minute breakthrough and deal before July.

PUBLISHER / EDITOR

Jon Clarke, jon@theolivepress.es

Dilip Kuner dilip@theolivepress.es

Alberto Lejarraga alberto@theolivepress.es

Jo Chipchase jo@theolivepress.es

John Culatto

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