Should no changes be made “with respect to Gibraltar”, Spain will vote against the Brexit deal’s draft, said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during an economist conference in Madrid.

Since the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, when the Rock was ceded to the British Crown, Spain has tried numerous times to win back the peninsula. The issue linked to article 184 is the following: both parties should seek ’to negotiate rapidly the agreements governing their future [EU-UK] relationship between 29 March 2019 and December 2020. Thus, Spain is pushing to further discuss the future of the Rock bilaterally with the UK until both sides get a satisfying agreement.

This kind of bilateral talk is not peculiar to this case. Aside from the Spain-UK, we can also name Ireland and Cyprus which have been conducting ‘separate talks with the UK about specific border issues’ reported the BBC.

Matthieu Mazerat

For further information

The BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46267684
Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-spain/spain-to-vote-against-brexit-accord-if-text-on-gibraltar-not-changed-pm-idUSKCN1NP0UU?il=0