Deal nearly done for Gibraltar to join Schengen area, leaving it closer to EU than ever

Gibraltar is set to join Schengen, removing passport controls at the border with Spain

Credit: Jon Nazca/Reuters

Talks between the UK, Gibraltar and Spain that would allow the territory to enter the Schengen area with free movement at the Rock’s crucial land border are well advanced, according to reports in the Spanish media.

Gibraltar relies heavily on inflows of goods and people, including 15,000 Spaniards who cross the border daily to work in the territory, whose population is less than 34,000.

Brexit means that from January 1, Madrid would be able to create a hard border between Spain and Gibraltar, strangling the territory’s economy.

Spanish newspaper El País reported on Tuesday that Gibraltar and Spain are close to a deal that would allow for free movement across the border, with Gibraltar entering the Schengen space.

Ironically, the change forced by Brexit would bring Gibraltar closer to the EU than ever, with UK visitors still required to show their passports on arrival in the territory, while anyone crossing from Spain into Gibraltar or vice versa would walk through an open border.

Entry into Schengen would also allow Gibraltar to have flights from the 26 countries signed up to the open-border agreement, while currently only flights to and from Britain take place as Spain has not agreed to the territory entering the EU aviation space.

The difficulty lies in the policing of the new Schengen border in Gibraltar’s ports and airport, with the Rock reportedly refusing to allow Spanish security forces onto its territory. Instead, the different sides are considering the option of bringing in agents from the EU’s Frontex border agency.

Fabian Picardo, chief minister of Gibraltar, said at the weekend that “a Schengen-style agreement would be the most positive”, and thanked the Spanish government for its willingness to pursue a solution.

“We are just a few phrases away from a historic agreement,” Mr Picardo said.

Fabian Picardo has welcomed the proposed entry into Schengen

Credit: David Rose/Telegraph

Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya has repeatedly stated that her government’s aim is to “create an area of shared prosperity” around the Bay of Gibraltar, which includes some of Spain’s poorest urban areas with unemployment levels of more than 30 per cent.  

Sources from Spain’s Foreign Ministry said the talks were continuing on Tuesday as negotiations between the EU and Britain also ground on over the future relationship post-Brexit.

Spain is preparing for the possibility of there being no UK-EU trade deal by commissioning work on a new customs area for goods on the Spanish side of the border with Gibraltar. Even if there is a Schengen-style arrangement allowing people to cross the border, goods would be subject to checks and tariffs in the event of Britain becoming a third-party state under a hard Brexit.