The Gibraltar government called a referendum and Gibraltarians have turned out in force to vote in a referendum that is expected to overwhelmingly reject attempts by Britain and Spain to negotiate joint sovereignty over the British colony. Here are just a few things that caught my attention:
- Both London and Madrid say the referendum carries no legal weight. I know, I know, legal is far from democratic, let alone commonsensical but are they not even going to pay lip service to the wishes of the governed population?
- A party atmosphere prevailed in Gibraltar, where streets were decorated with red and white pennants and many houses flew Britain’s Union Jack or the Gibraltar flag. One man walked down the street wearing a “Proud to be British” tee-shirt. Yeah, that’s how you can tell it wasn’t in Britain…
- There is no official “yes” campaign. The overwhelming sentiment of campaign posters and of people ready to give their opinion was a rejection of joint sovereignty. What are the chances of replicating this in the UK with a rejection of abrogating our sovereignty to the EU?
Gibraltarians say they have been British since the 18th century and culturally are not Spanish nor do they want to be. They also believe they are better off economically as a British colony than they would be if they joined Spain. (Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, but has been attempting to recover it ever since.)
At least the Gibraltarians seem to know what is at stake in their referendum…
A Moroccan diplomat and I had a chuckle the other evening over a beer about the Spanish being so cross about Gibraltar and then getting all self-righteous when Moroccans make claims to the Spanish enclaves on their mainland, Ceuta and Melilla.
Sad thing is, I think all Latin countries at some deep level really believe that the Roman Empire had some special authority above other states in history, and that they, Latin-based-language-speakers, continue to own some of that authority somehow.
Both London and Madrid say the referendum carries no legal weight. I know, I know, legal is far from democratic, let alone commonsensical but are they not even going to pay lip service to the wishes of the governed population?
Why would they? How many people in Hong Kong wanted to be turned over to the PRC?
Another of life’s anomalies, how is it that most, or at least a large proportion of English would move to Spain, given the chance, while the Gibraltese(?), want to be tied to the sinking UK ship?.
Must be something in that water they collect in Gib.
E
At the very least they’d better be bullding up their weapons caches. Even better: maybe the lads here would sell them off. Kills two birds (no pun intended… well maybe) with one stone as it were. We get the excess weaponry out of NI where we don’t need it; they get it into Gibralter where they may *well* need it.
Of course the only thing that works is if they get their kids to wrap explosives around themselves and walk into Spanish resorts. Or perhaps hijack an airliner and ram into Madrid.
Then everyone would rush to give them victim status.and they’d be all set.
Ernest, dunno about you but I think spain is a cowpat of a country. I hate the food and the service stinks. I have met spainish people who were nice but I sure would hate to live there. Gib sounds great though
bad