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Vol. 10 Issue 249
Legal bid backfired SPAIN may end up biting off more that it can chew with its protestations over the Eastside marina development currently taking shape on Gibraltar’s Mediterranean coast. An environmental complaint running through a La Linea court is operating on the assumption that the project is being constructed in an area of Spanish jurisdiction. Speaking in parliament, Fabian Picardo said the government is considering the dispute from international law, which is ‘what really matters here, and the contest of jurisdictions that could ensue.’ “It is the Spanish that have run scared of a determination by an independent international tribunal of the issue of jurisdiction in the waters,” he said. But the Chief Minister pointed out they might end up there if they pursue a legal path to derail Eastside, adding he would ‘relish’ such a match up that could once and for all silence Spanish claims to Gibraltar’s waters.
MISS GIB: Shania Ballester represented the Rock at Miss World
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World at her feet
SHANIA Ballester told the Olive Press her experience at the Miss World contest in India on the weekend was ‘absolutely unforgettable’. “The energy backstage, the excitement from the audience, and just being part of something so global was surreal.” Contestants from 108 countries took to the stage, but it was Suchata ‘Opal’ Chuangsri (inset) from Thailand who was crowned Miss World 2025. “There's always a little bit of disappointment when your name isn't called, especially after all the hard work and heart you've put in,” she confessed after the judges did not vote her in the top 40. “But I genuinely felt proud just being on that stage representing Gibraltar.”
No-love island Charles Gomez clashes with Gibraltar’s Chief Minister over his support for UK Chagos deal
CLASH OF THE TITANS: Charles Gomez (left) challenges Fabian Picardo
Nonsense
A spokesperson for the government has previously told the Olive Press that ‘the BEST thing that could EVER happen to Gibraltar would be that any official entity of Spain should start a litigation on our waters, in any court, even their own.’ “It would enable us to make justiciable the nonsense of the argument they make that we have no territorial waters or, indeed, that our reclamation projects have not complied with all relevant and applicable rules,” the government said. Spain refused a UK invitation to put the issue before the International Court of Justice in the 1960s and since then has preferred to assert its sovereignty by making frequent incursions into the disputed waters. Legal experts generally agree that the UK would have the stronger case if it went to the Hague. The ICJ would favour modern international law over the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht that Spain relies on, as it predates today’s international legal framework.
CHECKMATE: Legal challenge might sink Spain’s claims to Gibraltar’s waters
EXCLUSIVE By Walter Finch
ONE of Gibraltar’s leading lawyers has slammed the Chief Minister for his ‘obnoxious’ stance over the UK’s decision to cede sovereign British territory to another country. Distinguished legal practitioner Charles Gomez was barely able to contain his outrage after Fabian Picardo claimed the UK deal to give away the Chagos Islands to Mauritius ‘had no read across to Gibraltar’. “Yes there’s read across!” Gomez said in a blistering broadside in conversation with the Olive Press. “It’s the transfer of British sovereignty without the consent of the people – then paying Mauritius £100m a year on top. It’s like giving something away and then paying the recipient to take it. “There’s no way you can convince anyone in Gibraltar that the UK selling out the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands without consulting the Chagossians is good for us,” he thundered.
Obnoxious
“I think Picardo’s comments are obnoxious to Gibraltar.” In response, the Chief Minister told the Olive Press that ‘Charles Gomez does not know what he is talking about’, adding he is ‘blind with hatred of the government and me.’ The explosive exchange comes just two weeks after the British government finalised the agreement to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius last week. The agreement will see the UK pay £3.4 billion to lease the strategically important US-UK military base on Diego Garcia over the next 99 years. The deal has caused considerable disquiet in Gibraltar – and barely disguised glee among the nationalists in Spain, who view it as undermining the inviolability of British sovereignty over the Rock. Gomez called it ‘one of the most dis-
graceful – if not the most disgraceful – foreign affairs situation of the UK in the last 50 years.’ He added that Picardo, along with the UK ministers involved in the decision, were responsible for covering it up. “Mauritius went and signed a deal with Russia the day after the signing ceremony,” Gomez continued. “They didn’t even wait 24 hours, such is their disdain for the UK.” Mauritius and Russia agreed to strengthen their bilateral relationship, focusing on cooperation in fishing and marine research during a meeting with Russian representatives in Port Louis, the Mauritian capital. The development has concerned observers in the UK, who worry that the close relationship between the two countries could complicate the security of the military base on Diego Garcia. Yet Picardo called it ‘the right decision’ when speaking in Gibraltar’s parliament, lauding it for ‘protecting national security while respecting international law.’ “This is a decision that protects national security while respecting international law,” Picardo said. He added: “The read across to Gibraltar is positive and is particularly relevant in the defence of British sovereignty. “I am very clear that there is no aspect of this decision which has any negative read across to Gibraltar. In fact, quite the opposite is true.”
The opinion is not shared by a large number of Chagossians, the people native to the islands who were forcibly removed in the late 1960s by the British government to make way for the military base. Mauritius never administered the Chagos Islands before their forced removal, and many exiled islanders recall threats and discrimination when resettled in Mauritius. They now oppose the handover of the islands to Mauritius, arguing they were not consulted and fear worse treatment under Mauritian rule.
Gibraltar’s Chief Minister dismissed Gomez’s challenge as ‘spouting nonsense.’
Outraged
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They associate Britain, despite its colonial abuses, with stronger legal protections and welfare support, and have long campaigned for resettlement under British sovereignty rather than return to a government they distrust. Understandably, they have been outraged by Keir Starmer’s decision, and it has set an example that many fear could be repeated in Gibraltar. “The Chief Minister talks about reading across, well the only that you can read across is that British sovereign territory is transferable without consultation of the inhabitants of that territory,” Gomez continued to GBC. “So how does anyone not read that it’s a diminution in our position of major proportions?” In response to Olive Press questions,
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