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No drone zone
Borderline control Uncertainty reigns over whether new Schengen border control will go ahead in November as Gibraltar prepares itself for no deal with Spain THE European Commission has refused to rule out the possibility that its new border controls for the Schengen zone will be delayed beyond the November 10 start date. La Linea Mayor Juan Franco (below) said that infrastructure apparatus for the new Entry Exit System (EES) has already been installed at the border with Gibraltar. However, a European Commission spokesperson told the Olive Press: “The implementation of a system like EES is a complex operation and delays cannot be completely excluded. “However, the Commission will continue to support Member States in the lead-up to the start of operations as foreseen.”
SCHENGEN: The delays may be delayed
By Walter Finch
It has been reported that France, Germany, and the Netherlands have confessed to the European Commission (EC) that they won’t be ready by November 10. Some sources suggested the start date could be pushed back a week to November 17. The start date has often been viewed as an informal deadline for negotiators to seal a deal to incorporate Gibraltar into the Schengen zone. Failure to reach one could see 15,000 not be in our interest as a negotiating cross-border workers and their em- party” ployers face potentially crippling de- The sticking point, as ever, has been Spain’s demand that uniformed and lays and disruptions. But Chief Minister Fabian Picardo armed Spanish officers be present on (left), who participated in inconclu- Gibraltar territory manning the borsive treaty talks two weeks ago, re- ders at the airport and the port. jected this notion and said talks with With both set to become Schengen the EU and Spain were likely to con- entry points in the event of a treaty, tinue after the EES has gone up. it is believed that the Spanish side “It is not impossible there might be is demanding, as EU citizens, that other such high-level meet- their officers must oversee the two – ings in the coming weeks or something Gibraltar views as a clear months,” he said in Par- infringement of its sovereignty. liament. Picardo said his government’s position “As I’ve said already, I had been made clear ‘ad nauseum.’ don’t want to fall into “On Gibraltar, there only needs to be the trap of Gibraltar law enforcement agents, setting up British law enforcement agents enany date in forcing Gibraltar's laws, including November our immigration laws and giving asas a cliff surance to third parties in the con*Data extracted from process closure surveys after using our roadside assistance and breakdown services.text of what happens in and around edge against See pages 9 & 13 which we Gibraltar.” *Data extracted from process closure surveys after using our roadside assistance and breakdown services. would be Although the negotiations have TheOlivePress-256x170-Multi2404.indd 1 negotiating, been held behind closed doors, it is b e c a u s e believed that Gibraltar’s position is TheOlivePress-256x170-Multi2404.indd 1 that would that the European Border and Coast
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PIC CREDIT: Facebook/Janet Desoiza
THE ghosts of the McGrail Inquiry continue to murmur. An investigation into whether whistleblowers were ‘incentivised’ to give evidence against former Commissioner of Police Ian McGrail has been dropped. It was handed off to former Northern Ireland Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) John McVea, and backed up by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA). On Thursday, September 26, it was announced that McVea’s investigation had not ‘uncovered any evidence that meets the threshold for criminal prosecution for Misconduct in Public Office.’ Meanwhile, on the same day, it was also announced that McVea had landed the position of Chief of Police for the Gibraltar Defence Police (GDP). “The chess pieces are on the move,” a high-level Gibraltar source told the Olive Press. In a statement McGrail said: “The suggestion that there was witness inducement was not plucked from thin air but arose from high level official information that I had received from the RGP in early 2021 and which had been shared with the then Governor, Vice Admiral Sir David Steel.” However, the former Commissioner of Police expressed his ‘satisfaction’
THE Spanish Navy is busy undertaking military exercises around the Strait of Gibraltar to practise anti-drone warfare. It comes after observing the success the Ukrainian Navy has enjoyed picking off the Russians in the Black Sea with both sea-based and aerial drones. The MAR 24-2 training mission, encompassing both the Gulf of Cadiz and the Alboran Sea, features a number of frigates, landing ships, supply ships, as well as Spain’s flagship aircraft carrier Juan Carlos I. The eight vessels will focus primarily on Above Water Warfare (AWW), while also practising for electronic warfare and anti-aircraft warfare scenarios. Up in the air, Spanish F-18s, MH60R helicopters and a UK-based Joint Electronic Warfare Core Staff (JEWCS) aircraft will be soaring overhead. The urgency for the training comes as the Houthis in Yemen have consistently targeted vital Western shipping that transits the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.
Guard Agency, known as Frontex, should assist its border staff to man the entry points. “Frontex is a European agency which can aid member states in respect of the provisions of the statute that creates Frontex, and insofar as that creates jurisdiction in respect of Frontex,” Picardo said.
Efforts But efforts have already been stepped up to prepare Gibraltarians, Brits and Spaniards alike for the likelihood of no deal before the EES comes into effect. Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia told delegates at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham that ‘Gibraltar will remain as proudly British as it has ever been, treaty or no treaty’. But he added that there were ‘important red lines on sovereignty and juris2/4/24 11:56 diction which neither Gibraltar nor the UK would cross, and in those cir2/4/24 11:56 cumstances there would be no treaty’.