Timothy Spangler: The ruckus of Gibraltar
The peninsula of Gibraltar is shown on Aug. 8. Tensions between the British and Spanish governments have been raised on issues surrounding the sovereignty of Gibraltar.
Britain and Spain, two otherwise relatively harmonious members of the European Union, this week were in loud and angry conflict over the future for Gibraltar, the small British possession that forms one half of the “Pillars of Hercules,” marking the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. Madrid has recently imposed stringent border checks on vehicles entering the 2.6-square-mile outpost, leading to five-hour delays.
Although Spanish officials have justified the searches on a significant rise in tobacco smuggling, British Prime Minister David Cameron claims the move is politically motivated and in violation of European law. The free movement of people is a key right conveyed by the European Union and the centerpiece of six decades on economic and political integration.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, however, is battling a weak domestic economy and personal scandals, so cynics have suggested that this Gibraltar campaign is simply an attempt to distract local critics through cheap jingoist publicity. Further crackdowns are also being considered by Madrid, including a 50 euro chare on each person crossing the border and prohibiting flights to and from Gibraltar from entering Spanish air space.
Spain may even be tempted to make common cause with its own former colony Argentina and escalate their respective claims to Gibraltar and the Falklands to the United Nations in order to seek redress. Spain’s Foreign Minister José García-Margallo is scheduled to visit Buenos Aires in September. Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has recently renewed her country’s claims of sovereignty over the Falklands. Under Margaret Thatcher, Britain famously went to war in 1982 to protect their South Atlantic possessions after Argentinean soldiers attempted to “liberate” them.
Interestingly, four Royal Navy warships were sent this week from their base at Portsmouth in the south of England to Gibraltar for “regularly scheduled” military exercises.
British sovereignty over Gibraltar has been challenged by Spain for many years. Labeling the possession a “colony,” Britain’s enclave on the tip of the Iberian Peninsula has been a sore spot to Spanish pride for 300 years. The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht forms the basis of the legal justification for Gibraltar’s status, but a more important practical and philosophical defense of the status quo also exists.
Simply put, the overwhelming majority of the roughly 30,000 Gibraltarians want to remain British and do not want to become part of Spain. Since self-determination is such a central component of the United Nations’ approach to territorial disputes, it seems unlikely that any diplomatic attempt by Madrid to escalate this squabble would gain much serious traction. It could, of course, still be very embarrassing for Britain if the General Assembly entertained a debate on the question or even passed a nonbinding resolution condemning “British colonialism.”
Spain, however, is in a slightly awkward position with regards to charges of “colonialism,” as the Spanish still control a series of Gibraltar-esque enclaves across North Africa, including Ceuta and Melilla in Morocco.
While Madrid contends these territories are intrinsically Spanish, having been part of the country before anything like the modern nation of Morocco was formed, it seems highly unlikely that any attempt to compel a change in status for Gibraltar would be successful without a similar re-examination of Ceuta and Melilla.
Interestingly, while Morocco has claimed these territories on similar grounds as Spain’s claims on Gibraltar, Spain has defended itself using arguments similar to those the British have used against them, including the important points that the people living in these tiny bits of land want very much to remain as they are.
Madrid, therefore, should be very wary of any precedent it attempts to establish at the United Nations or under international law. Spanish officials could soon find their Moroccan counterparts, equally embarrassed by foreign sovereignty over these enclaves and longing for territorial integrity, reading back to them, chapter and verse, the same justifications.
Given the centuries of migration, conflict, war and opportunism that have driven human events around the world, our modern maps are not nearly as cleanly and consistently drawn as they could be. National borders in Africa, for example, are as arbitrarily drawn as could possibly be imagined, having resulted from the European “scramble” to carve up the continent in the 19th century.
Given the realities of history, especially in the lives of the real people who live in areas like Gibraltar, Ceuta and Melilla, self-determination needs to be at the center of any resolution of disputes over sovereignty. And given that, when last asked to vote about their future, in 2002, Gibraltarians backed the status quo, 17,900 to 187, it seems that Spain will need to put in quite a bit more effort in convincing them that a better future lies elsewhere.
Orange County writer and attorney Timothy Spangler hosts “The Bigger Picture with Timothy Spangler,” Sundays, 10 p.m.-midnight on KRLA 870/AM.
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