CINEMA DEL SOL
Find out where the big stars are filming in Andalucia this week... and learn about Spain’s most famous movie director
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OLIVE PRESS On a knife-edge GIBRALTAR
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MYSTERY DEATH AN autopsy has been completed on Telegraph journalist David Knowles who died suddenly in Gibraltar. The Royal Gibraltar Police said the results are yet to come but ‘there continues to be no specific concerns surrounding the cause of death’. They clarified that RGP detectives are still working with UK Counter Terrorism police to investigate the circumstances surrounding the journalist’s death. Knowles, who had enjoyed success with his podcast Ukraine: The Latest, died from a ‘suspected cardiac arrest’ at the age of 32. He had travelled to the British Overseas Territory to watch a Nations League match between the UEFA minnows of Gibraltar and Lichtenstein. He sat among a crowd of 680 people at the Europa Point stadium on September 8 for the match, which kicked off at 8pm and finished around 10pm. He died the same day. Knowles’ father, Peter Knowles, confirmed that his wife Kaye had flown to Gibraltar to Continues on page 4
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Vol. 8 Issue 232 www.theolivepress.es September 18th - October 1st 2024
As UK and Spanish foreign ministers meet to thrash out critical border deal over Gib, the cost of failure will ‘be huge’ THOUSANDS of undocumented livelihoods could be ruined if no deal is struck on the Gibraltar border this week. That is the number of Spanish and expat tradesmen and handymen who cross the border each week to do odd jobs, usually paid in cash. According to a government source, they need to be added to the already 15,000 documented workers, who rely on the Rock to pay bills. “There are loads of people coming in to paint homes and other part-time jobs,” he said. “That’s thousands of livelihoods who rely on a fluid border.” His comments came as a critical meeting is set for this Thursday in Brussels to sign an unprecedented deal to bring Gibraltar into the Schengen zone. It follows a high-level meeting in London between the Spanish and British foreign secretaries on Monday.
EXCLUSIVE By Walter Finch & Jon Clarke
But, sources behind the scenes are decidedly pessimistic, the Olive Press can reveal. “I am not optimistic at all. Things don’t look good. Both sides have red lines, which are hard to cross,” said the government source. “If we don’t get a deal things are going to be very hard. We need to find a way though and it depends on the negotiations on the day,” he added. Failure to reach a deal before the November 10 start date for the EU’s new Entry Exit System will likely see long snaking queues return to the frontier not seen for many years. Every day over 10,000 Spanish workers cross the border for jobs, while 5,000 more are made up of 3,000 British and 2,000 other international workers. The new entry system is expected to A GROUP representing businesses and trade ‘wreak havoc’ for unions on both sides of the border has urgentworkers and likely ly demanded a deal to avoid ‘disastrous consecause major issues quences in the Campo de Gibraltar.’ for tourists and GiThe Cross-Border Group (Grupo Transfronterizo) braltarians coming is demanding the governments of both Spain and the other way. the UK to ‘take responsibility’ in negotiations for a Despite negotiations post-Brexit border deal. going on for nearly The umbrella group includes representatives from two years and nearly businesses in La Linea, the Campo de Gibraltar 20 political summits, and the province of Cadiz, as well as counterparts no agreement has within Gibraltar itself. been reached on the They called a prolonged state of uncertainty ‘unacuse of the airport and ceptable’ and that the failure to strike a deal would the port. be disastrous for the economic and social relations No deal could be very between Gibraltar and Campo de Gibraltar. damaging for the They underlined that a no-deal scenario would Campo de Gibe devastating for the interests of citizens in braltar, which both Gibraltar and the Campo de Gibraltar. gets around They slammed such a possibility as ‘huge political 25% of its GDP failure’ for which all the actors involved should asfrom Gibralsume responsibility. tar, while an estimated
Disastrous failure
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952 147 834 See pages 12 & 15
LONG WAIT: Queues could grow if an agreement is not reached €2 billion or more is made for Spain. A breakthrough was thought to have been reached in April with the announcement of the ‘general political lines’ of an agreement. But since then, talks have dragged on causing heads to drop, despite the positive signals continuously emerging from both sides. Now, it seems that the talks might be approaching the last chance saloon with the resumption of ‘ministerial level’ talks in Brussels tomorrow, the third in the four-way format this year. Fabian Picardo will fly in to sit with Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares and his British counterpart David Lammy in a meeting hosted by EU Vice President Maros Sefcovic. Albares and Lammy met in London on Monday for bilateral talks in which the upcoming Gibraltar negotiations were high on the agenda. “Today we will work on a future agreement to ensure that we create this zone of shared prosperity between Gibraltar and the 300,000 Andalucians who are connected with the Rock every day,” Albares told reporters before the meeting. “We believe
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that it is in the interests of everyone that the United Kingdom comes as close as possible to the European Union.” Lammy said that the UK shared these goals to achieve ‘prosperity and security for the people of Gibraltar with a new treaty that cements the relationship with Spain and the European Union.’ It is thought that most aspects of a treaty have already been agreed upon – however the areas still outstanding involve the ‘red lines’ which neither side appears willing to compromise on.
Control
The main sticking point is believed to be control over Gibraltar’s entry points of the airport and port, with Spanish sources insisting their uniformed and armed officers should be present and free to move between both. The Spanish and British governments are both keen to strike a deal as quickly as possible, yet the latter has made it clear that it will not force an agreement upon Gibraltar. And Picardo struck a hard-line tone during the Gibraltar Day celebrations, declaring: “We will never surrender our British sovereignty or any part of it. For any price. For any deal. For any benefit. “We are not going to betray our ancestors and forefathers who suffered sieges and hardships to defend our land. Not for fear of new systems or longer queues or a harder Brexit.” 2/4/24 11:56 2/4/24 11:56
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Opinion Page 6