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ONLY a trainee police officer prevented an order from the Spanish police’s ‘rogue officer’ to stamp Fabian Picardo’s passport when crossing the border. The now-suspended border police chief David Barrero gave the order to specifically target the Chief Minister in October 2024, according to Spanish daily Europa Sur. Accompanied by a photograph of the Gibraltar Chief Minister, the message read: "From this day on, the passport of Fabián Picardo will be stamped, since he is a third-country national."
Discrimination
Barrero added that if Picardo crossed the border in a car with other Gibraltarians – as he often does – ‘the passports of those accompanying him are not to be stamped if they showed a red ID card, but Mr. Picardo’s should.’ However, before the humiliating directive could be put into effect, the La Linea police chief intervened after being tipped off by a rank-and-file. Barrero is now facing a fifth charge from his superiors over his antics when manning the border, this time for discrimination – the penalties which can range up to a six year suspension and a forced transfer. He was already suspended in February for repeatedly disobeying orders.
ROGUE: Fabian Picardo singled out (AI IMAGE)
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Tomahawk territory
AHOY: HMS Astute has made its second visit this year
PHOTO COURTESY OF: Michael J Sanchez
NO LOVE LOST
Vol. 10 Issue 248
FOR THE CHOP? The butcher of Hama’s family back in court for laundering millions through Marbella and Gibraltar, see page 6
HMS Astute took on a raft of Tomahawk cruise missiles after arriving in Gibraltar on the weekend. A loading operation was carried out in the port, with multiple of the American-made missiles being hoisted onto the sub. The Tomahawk missile, the backbone of HMS Astute's strike arsenal, is a long-range cruise missile capable of hitting ground targets more than 1,600 kilometres away. Unlike ballistic missiles, the Tomahawk flies at low altitude, allowing it to avoid enemy radars and adapt to the terrain. The MoD stressed that the loading of missiles on the Astute is standard protocol to maintain the full operability of the submarine during longer deployments.
EGG ON FACE
Grand ‘reset’ between London and Brussels arrives despite Spanish claims Gibraltar had to be ‘resolved’ first SPAIN’S assertion that a ‘reset’ between the UK and the EU cannot be reached without first ‘resolving the issue of Gibraltar’ has proven to be empty. Foreign Minister Jose Manual Albares told the British media that the UK was not able to simply cherry pick its relationship with Europe ahead of the summit in London. “There are many, many things we have to talk about, Gibraltar included,” Albares said on the BBC’s Newsnight. “It’s not resolved yet, there's no agreement yet. We need to solve the issue of Gibraltar in order to have a full EU - UK relationship." However, a grand deal was announced to much fanfare on Monday that will see various changes to the UK’s relationship with the EU – but a treaty on Gibraltar was not one of them. The talks were deadlocked until an 11th hour breakthrough over the weekend, thought to be a compromise on EU fishing access to British waters – Brus-
By Walter Finch
sels had demanded permanent access but in the end settled for a deal that runs until 2038. It’s a concession which prompted cries that the UK Labour government had sold out its fishing communities – and might unnerve a few on the Rock. While rhetoric on the Gibraltar treaty has remained relentlessly upbeat, it’s clear that a similar ‘breakthrough’ will be necessary to get it over the line.
Metaphors
A host of politicos from all sides have struggled for metaphors to describe just how close a deal is, with Antonio Costa, the Portuguese President of the European Council, confidently saying during a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that a treaty is ‘not far off.’ And EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic met separately with UK Foreign Secretary David
Cops on trial FOUR serving RGP officers and another former one will go on trial over allegations they beat up a member of the public. All four were suspended in November 2023 after a video emerged that appeared to show the assault, while the fifth had already left the force by this time. The investigation began after the discovery of the video dating back to 2019 during a separate investigation. The defendants appeared in the Magistrates on Monday where they were granted bail, their case immediately sent to the Supreme Court without a plea. Police Sergeant Lionel Gomez, 34, Police Sergeant Daniel Fendley, 43, Police Constable
Colin Tester, 28, Police Constable Christopher Catania, 36, and former Police Constable Antony Gaul, 51, have all been charged with misconduct in public office.
SPLAT: Jose Manuel Albares (left and below left) with EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic at the summit in London Lammy and his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albares on the sidelines to ‘capitalise on momentum and get the job done.’ But it was Fabian Picardo who admitted that negotiators had tried to coincide a treaty announcement with the UK-EU reset but they still need to ‘clear all the other issues’ while insisting to GBC ‘we are excruciatingly close to a treaty.’ The Chief Minister added: “It's a deal made up of choices we are having to make in compromising certain things – never conceding on any of our fundamentals – but having to make these compromised deals with a club that we used to be a member of.” However, speculation has also been rife on the Rock that the harmonious chorus of ‘soon nearly there’ emanating from all sides is because a deal has in fact already been agreed. “The goofiness of Costa, Starmer and Picardo yesterday on GBC suggests to me that the Gibraltar deal has been done and has not been announced for strategic reasons,” one senior figure told the Olive Press. It’s a theory that would also save Albares’ blushes after EU ambassadors across the bloc approved the Brussels - London deal. This theory notwithstanding, the new pact will have vanishingly little impact on the Rock. Even a wildly popular agreement to let British passport holders skip the post-Brexit queues and use European e-gates will not apply at the Gibraltar border.
And each EU member state will have discretion as to whether to permit British travellers to use their e-gates – and will depend on rollout of the EES, currently due to come into effect on October 25 (but always subject to change).
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