Spain and Britain do a deal over Gibraltar
Common sense versus windy talk of sovereignty
GIBRALTAR IS “a perfect synthesis of Britishness and the Mediterranean way of life”, boasts Fabian Picardo, its chief minister. It has red telephone boxes and a Marks & Spencer, but its 34,000 people often lapse into Llanito, a kind of Spanglish, and their daily lives are intertwined with Spain’s. No wonder that 96% of them voted in the referendum in 2016 for Britain to stay in the EU. On December 31st Gibraltar got some consolation for Brexit in the form of an agreement that softens what is now a hard border. It was a victory for common sense.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Between a rock and a softer place”
Europe January 9th 2021
From the January 9th 2021 edition
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