- “Thank you very much, Mr. Lange. And thank you very much to to all the members of the Parliament for for the questions. I mean, I certainly understand your your frustration because we still don't have a legal text and I'm not we are not pretending that this is the beginning of a legal process in the Parliament on a text that you haven't seen. We were invited here to give you precisely because there was this announcement in June to give you a little bit the results of the negotiations, which for the moment, as we always do with all the international agreements, once the negotiations are concluded, then we prepare the text on that basis. So certainly you don't have the legal text, but we really hope that this will, uh, be, uh, at your disposal very soon as, as from, uh, from the question on the legal form, this will be an international agreement. This will be an association agreement. The legal basis will be article 217 of the treaty, and the Commission will present it as an EU only agreement. We consider that the competences that we are negotiating are EU competences, both on Schengen and on goods, and that this will could be of course, we need to discuss this with the Council, uh, presented and concluded as an EU only agreement. So the proposal that the Commission will do will be draft association agreement based on article 217 and it will be presented as an EU only. But again, the proposal doesn't exist yet. The text is well advanced. I mean, we have uh, because during these four years of negotiations, we have been able to make progress.”
Enlargement of Schengen area · EU Single Market harmonisation
- “So there is a legal, let's say, hole in the relations with Gibraltar because we don't have any agreement on that. So the objective was to do that and to do that by, um, by getting rid of the fence that today is in the border between the territory of Gibraltar and Spain, and that deals with the controls on goods and persons. Why we wanted to do that. We wanted to do that because we wanted to make sure that after Brexit, the region could maintain the level of social and economic coherence. It is very important for the people living there and for the businesses operating there, while at the same time, and Mr. Langen has already hinted to that, we ensured that our Schengen area and our internal market and our customs unions will be, will have been preserved. So the agreement will give legal certainty, will give confidence to the people of the region and will promote. This was one of the main objectives, the prosperity and also the relations, the relations between Gibraltar and the Spanish authorities. So the agreement is divided or contains two main pillars, one concerning persons and one concerning goods. As I said, we are. The objective on day one is to get rid of the current fence and to do the controls elsewhere, because of course, Gibraltar will not be in the Schengen area, Gibraltar will not be in the internal market.”
Enlargement of Schengen area · EU Single Market harmonisation · EU-UK relations
- “We will also have a chapter, what we call on aviation. We have also found a solution to deal with the airport so that the airport will be open to flights in the EU. Currently it is not there will. There is also a chapter on the rights that will be given to frontier workers, precisely because of the fact that a lot of people are EU citizens. Spanish citizens go and work in Gibraltar every day, and they will also be specific provisions on financial mechanisms in order to promote the cohesion in the area. And this will be financed both by the UK and by the EU. Um, there's also a part on anti-money laundering. Uh, this is a very important element also of the agreement. Gibraltar has committed to apply the EU law as it stands today, and all the international law that applies into the area. And there is a review clause in order to align in the future, uh, if the EU was to modify the legislation or to update the standards in this area, Gibraltar will also align with that through this review clause. And finally, because of the enhanced cooperation we are creating in the persons matters in the Schengen Area, Gibraltar will also apply in a dynamic way the rules, the EU rules on data protection. So again to to to sum up, this is an agreement that doesn't put Gibraltar in the Schengen area, doesn't give access to Gibraltar to the internal market, doesn't cover services at all.”
Anti-money laundering regulation · Enlargement of Schengen area · EU-UK relations
- “So if they want to produce something for the moment, they don't produce much. Very, very few. It will have to be in line with EU law. The agreement foresees the whole procedure so that the EU law will be applied in a dynamic way. Together in this, uh, apart from the customs part of the of this of this pillar of the agreement, Gibraltar will also have a system of indirect taxation equivalent to the VAT and the excise system in the EU, and progressively will converge towards the Spanish rate in order to avoid distortions in the regions. There are other areas in this agreement that will be covered what we call in the matters of level playing field, uh, as we have in the Trade and Cooperation agreement with the UK, we will have provisions concerning state aid. We will have provisions on taxation and labour. We will have also provisions on environment. I will point in particular to the provisions on state aid. This is a very strong system that we have foreseen in the agreement. Gibraltar will apply fully. Eu law on the control of state aid. There will be responsible for the application, but they will align fully align with all EU law in this matter. The agreement has also will also have rules concerning the transport of goods in what we call the Campo de Gibraltar, the very small area surrounding Gibraltar.”
State Aid · VAT harmonisation · EU-UK relations
- “So we need to we need to solve the issue of the controls. So in the area of persons, the agreement foresees that all the Schengen border checks will be done at the port at and at the airport, and this will be done by the Spanish authorities. So the Spanish authorities will be able to perform all the checks foreseen by Schengen law as if it was Madrid Airport or Malaga airport, because this is an external border of the Schengen area. So there will be doing this at the port and the airport. As as I said, this is from from the people point of view. It's very important you have to, uh, to imagine that more than 15,000 people cross from Spain to Gibraltar every day to work there back to Spain, because they live in Spain. So it's a solution given to these people that on a daily basis need to commute to to Gibraltar. So, as I said, the full Schengen controls and check will be carried out by Spain. The Schengen acquis will be applied fully by Spain, at the airport and at the port of Gibraltar. Spain will also have responsibilities as far as the resident permits are concerned, because, of course, people living in Gibraltar will be able to go to Spain and to the Schengen Area without any kind of control.”
Asylum & border control · Enlargement of Schengen area · EU-UK relations
- “It only covers goods. Apart from the small provision on the transport of goods in the area, it only covers, as I said, what was needed to be able to get rid of the controls. Current controls that should take place in the border between the territory of Gibraltar and Spain. We are now finalising the legal text. As I said after this, after this political meeting. It is difficult for me to give you a very precise timeline of when the legal text will be finalised. We are doing as much as possible. We are working as hard as possible to do that. There is the political objective to be able to have the agreement in place before the entry exit system in the EU will be applied. As you know, this will be mandatory as from April 2026. But of course, this is a very ambitious timetable and we need to see if we will be able to to do that. Um, so I'm looking forward to working with you, with the rapporteurs, with Mrs. Nina Carberry and Mr. Royton. And once the text is is finalised and agreed and by the Commission, I will be more than happy to come and present it again with more details, if you wish to do so. Thank you very much.”
Asylum & border control · Enlargement of Schengen area · EU-UK relations
- “As I said also in my introduction, the agreement doesn't cover services the EU. This is a very clear position. Didn't want to have an agreement that will have given Gibraltar access to the EU internal market and services. So the situation of service will be on services will be as it is today and as it was, as it is since since Brexit. So Gibraltar will not have access to our single market on services. And therefore we'll be able to do what they do today and they will be able to exercise services in the EU as any third country can do, applying the rules that we apply in the EU. So the agreement doesn't cover the services, but not because we didn't I mean, because Gibraltar didn't want to cover the services. Gibraltar rather spend a long time the UK, spend a long time in the negotiations asking the services to be included in the agreement. But we, the EU, didn't want to do that because we didn't want to give them access to the single market. The safeguards, we think we have safeguards enough in the in the treaty. You will hear the details of the provision. Of course, the treaty can be terminated at any moment. As in all international treaties, some parts of the agreement can be suspended. Also, if we were to see that the provisions have not been applied correctly by the other party. So there are a series of provisions in the treaty, as in most of international treaties, which allow us to, to, to to be sure that this is applied correctly or the treaty will then be suspended.”
EU Single Market harmonisation · EU-UK relations
- “There will be applying EU law. The Commission will be able to go, as we do in all Schengen, other external borders and to check and evaluate if this is being performed in accordance with EU law. So from that point of view, it's treated in the same way. If we were to have an issue, of course we will address this with the Spanish authorities. If we see that there is a problem in application of EU law, as we do with all Member States in all the circumstances. So from the person's point of view, fully Schengen checks by the Spanish authorities on the goods, as as I have explained, all the goods will come through Spain. So they are EU goods and therefore in line with EU law, or they have put into circulation in the EU and the controls have been done somewhere in the EU, and they arrive by land to Gibraltar, and all the customs procedures will be done by the Spanish authorities. The products will be will be put in transition in, in transit, sorry, in transit until they arrive to Gibraltar. They pay the transaction tax and then the transit procedure will be closed by the Spanish authorities. So we think that the system is, is is strong enough to be sure that the controls will be done, as you said. And of course, the agreement will give us the legal tools. If we were to see that this does not happen in the right way.”
Asylum & border control · Enlargement of Schengen area · EU-UK relations
- “Of course, this agreement doesn't deal with sovereignty. Clearly, we we will not have we don't have a mandate to do that. The Commission has negotiated. The Council has never asked us to us to negotiate an agreement on sovereignty. This is and the members of the Parliament that have raised this issue know perfectly. This is a bilateral issue between Spain and the UK. It cannot be dealt with at EU level because these are questions of sovereignty. What we are trying to do here with this agreement is to find a solution to the very specific situation of Gibraltar after Brexit, but we will not solve and we are not. The objective is not to deal with the sovereignty issue, which still remains an issue that can be discussed by Spain in bilateral at any moment. So from that point of view, we will not enter into this discussion. And the agreement makes very clear that it doesn't put into question or change in any way the position of each party in the question of sovereignty on this territory. Um. There was a question, I think, by Mrs. Gori on you said, I hope the Czechs will be real. I mean, the Czechs will be performed by the Spanish authorities. So Spain will be at the airport and at the port and will be performing the Schengen controls, as they should do in Madrid or in Malaga or in another border.”
Asylum & border control · Enlargement of Schengen area · EU-UK relations
- “So we are hopefully able being we hope to be able to finalize the text at the latest in the next 1 or 2 months. So we will not take very long on the very specific questions you raised on the commitments in a level playing field. I said in my introduction that this was indeed a very important part of the of the text. We have, in a way, reproduced part of the provisions that are in the Eu-uk agreement, the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the chapter on level playing field. There are provisions on state aid, on taxation and labor, and on environment, on taxation, on labor and environment especially. And I will also answer to the questions put on environment. Gibraltar will be obliged to apply EU standards and to not regret from EU standards thanks to this agreement. Um, in the area of environment, there is even a further, let's say, obligations, because Gibraltar will apply EU standards over time means that if the EU was to change the standards, Gibraltar will be obliged to apply them on. State aid is even more strong than on environment and labour and taxation. They will simply apply EU law, the whole EU law. There will be an annex in the agreement with the list of provisions, and Gibraltar will be obliged to apply them. If we were to modify the EU law in this area, Gibraltar will be obliged to apply this rule. So if we think that this is a very important part of the agreement needed to ensure precisely the level playing field between the two sides of the agreement, and we are confident that the provisions will be strong enough in this particular case.”
State Aid · EU-UK relations
- “As I said, there was a clear position from the EU not to cover the the services in this agreement. So the council decided that give us a mandate to negotiate only the part and persons, the part on goods, because the objective was simply to get rid of the controls at the border, but not to include Gibraltar in the single market. If you ask Gibraltar to apply EU law in all the services, it means that they have full access to the single market. And this was not the objective of of the agreement. Um, on tobacco, there are very, very specific provisions on tobacco. A full system of monitoring. They will align with the types in Spain on tobacco. That is a differential of pricing that will be fixed. So we really think that the situation will improve in this matter thanks to the agreement. And a final point, because I'm sure I'm taking too long on the rates. Gibraltar will start with 15%, but in three years time they will have to align with the levels at the EU and at any moment there will be a group of experts that will decide if there is any distortion of competition between the two sides. Gibraltar will be asked to increase the level and to align with the Spanish level. So this is an objective and not immediately from the day one of the entry into force of the agreement, but a medium term. They will align with the Spanish rate so that we avoid any distortions between the two markets. Thank you.”
Smoking regulation · EU-UK relations
- “Um, on environment, I think I have already given an answer. This is indeed a very important part of the agreement. So Gibraltar will be obliged to apply EU law in EU standards in environment. I think that currently they are not obliged to do because of Brexit. So the agreement will bring this obligation to Gibraltar so that they need to apply EU standard. And if we were to change. So it's a dynamic, let's say, equivalence on EU standards that we are foreseeing in the, in the treaty. Um, on the information given, I mean the commission is is more than happy to come here and debrief you at any moment. So whenever the Parliament has invited us, we come here and we inform you on the, on the I mean, the negotiations. Normally you always need to keep a certain, a certain margin of not confidentiality, but let's say not revealing the whole position of the parties. What Picardo or the Minister did in Gibraltar is, of course, his own responsibility. He was not ready at all to tell what was the result when he announced everything, so it was a risk he took to say what it was going to be in the agreement. The negotiations were continuing, so we have informed publicly on the agreement. Once we were sure about what is going to be in the agreement. Um, again, on the you talk about the person's, uh, persona.”
EU-UK relations
- “So Spain will have a say on the residence permits that will be issued by the Gibraltarian authorities. Spain will also be able to issue visas when the main purpose will be the stay in Gibraltar and part of this block on person. There is also strong, um, uh, reinforcement and enhanced cooperation in judicial and in police matters that accompanies this part of the persons in the area of goods. Again, we will not have controls at the current border. All the customs formalities will be performed by the Spanish authorities. So there are two types of situations. The goods that will come to Gibraltar. They will all come through the land. They will all come through Spain. So there will be fully in line with EU law. Spain will do the formalities, the customs formalities in three designated customs posts that will be created in Algeciras, in La Linea most likely. And the third one will probably be in Valencia or in Malaga. And all the products will go through this, what we call Dcp's designated customs post. And before reaching Gibraltar, um, the second part of the goods or the second category are the goods manufactured in Gibraltar. Gibraltar doesn't manufacture a lot of goods. Very few. All the goods that will be produced in Gibraltar will have to be in full compliance with EU law.”
Asylum & border control · EU Single Market harmonisation · EU-UK relations
- “Thank you very much, Mr. Lang. Um, and thank you very much for for having organised this exchange of views on the future EU, UK agreement in respect of Gibraltar. It's I'm very happy to be here, to be able to present you the results of the negotiations. As you know, certainly the text of the agreement is not yet doesn't exist yet. We are working on that. But the negotiations were, as Mr. Lang has explained, concluded in June this year with the political meeting that took place in Brussels between Commissioner Sefcovic and Minister Alvarez on the other side, and Foreign Secretary and Chief Minister Picardo on the UK side. These negotiations have lasted almost four years. We received a mandate from the council in October 2021 and it took us, as I said, almost four years to conclude with this political meeting. But as I said, we are still working on the legal text to reflect the political agreement reached in legal terms and in concrete provisions. What is the main objective of this agreement? And Mr. Lang has hinted to that. Indeed, Gibraltar is in a situation where the after the Brexit, the legal statute has not been solved. Gibraltar is not covered by any of the Eu-uk agreements that we have concluded, nor by the Trade and Co-operation Agreement, the TCA and the Withdrawal Agreement. The agreement that that regulated the withdrawal of the UK from from the EU had a protocol on Gibraltar, but it expired the day Brexit entered into force.”
EU-UK data transfer · EU-UK relations