• 515 days Will The ECB Continue To Hike Rates?
  • 515 days Forbes: Aramco Remains Largest Company In The Middle East
  • 517 days Caltech Scientists Succesfully Beam Back Solar Power From Space
  • 917 days Could Crypto Overtake Traditional Investment?
  • 922 days Americans Still Quitting Jobs At Record Pace
  • 924 days FinTech Startups Tapping VC Money for ‘Immigrant Banking’
  • 927 days Is The Dollar Too Strong?
  • 927 days Big Tech Disappoints Investors on Earnings Calls
  • 928 days Fear And Celebration On Twitter as Musk Takes The Reins
  • 929 days China Is Quietly Trying To Distance Itself From Russia
  • 930 days Tech and Internet Giants’ Earnings In Focus After Netflix’s Stinker
  • 934 days Crypto Investors Won Big In 2021
  • 934 days The ‘Metaverse’ Economy Could be Worth $13 Trillion By 2030
  • 935 days Food Prices Are Skyrocketing As Putin’s War Persists
  • 937 days Pentagon Resignations Illustrate Our ‘Commercial’ Defense Dilemma
  • 938 days US Banks Shrug off Nearly $15 Billion In Russian Write-Offs
  • 941 days Cannabis Stocks in Holding Pattern Despite Positive Momentum
  • 942 days Is Musk A Bastion Of Free Speech Or Will His Absolutist Stance Backfire?
  • 942 days Two ETFs That Could Hedge Against Extreme Market Volatility
  • 944 days Are NFTs About To Take Over Gaming?
Fintech Valuations Have Grown Red-Hot

Fintech Valuations Have Grown Red-Hot

Nu’s successful listing probably served…

SuperBowl Is About to Set a New Betting Record

SuperBowl Is About to Set a New Betting Record

This Sunday, the Rams are…

Biggest Job Gains in History, but It’s Not Enough

Biggest Job Gains in History, but It’s Not Enough

The U.S. economy added 467,000…

  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Breaking News

Gibraltar Flare-Up Could Further Complicate Brexit

Gibraltar

The UK’s journey to become the first nation ever to withdraw from the European Union appears fraught with more pitfalls than previously anticipated. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Theresa May scored what the British media has roundly termed a “pyrrhic victory” after defeating 117 rebellious Tory MPs advocating for a time limit to the controversial backstop arrangement to ensure that Brexit remains on track.

But it might still be premature for pro-backstop politicians to do a victory lap. There are still some major Brexit kinks that need ironing out before it becomes a reality, with the opposition this time likely to come from a neighboring nation jostling for ownership of a tiny peninsula.

Irish Border Backstop

The Irish border backstop agreement is a clause under Theresa May’s current Brexit plan. It provides that the UK will be forced to stay in a custom union with the EU at the end of the Brexit transition period for an indefinite period with no unilateral right to exit should it fail to strike a new trade deal or alternative arrangement before the end of the transition (slated for March 30, 2019).

Many Tory MPs and Brexiteers have been raising a furor over the Irish backstop because they see it as a blow for their dream of a “global Britain”, one that will allow the UK to strike trade deals around the world and set its own regulatory path unshackled by the EU. In fact, the Democratic Unionist party see backstop as being tantamount to breaking up the UK. Related: Corporate Bounty-Hunting Raked In $168M This Year

May’s win has saved her own skin for another 12 months at the very least, but she still faces an uphill battle trying to sell her Brexit deal to a recalcitrant parliament. If she somehow miraculously manages to squeak it through, she will still have an angry Madrid to contend with.

Between a Spanish Rock and a Hard Place

Since 2000, the Spanish government has advocated for joint sovereignty of Gibraltar, a tiny colonial exclave that Spain ceded to Britain more than three centuries ago. Britain has always rejected this proposal, and usually things have fizzled out amicably.

But now the matter now appears to have taken on new life, with Spain being particularly unhappy about the lack of clarity regarding bilateral relations between Gibraltar and the UK/Spain in the 585-page Withdrawal Agreement signed off by EU members on Sunday.

For years, Spain’s opposition Party Popular (PP) has been piling pressure on the government to press claims for suzerainty over Gibraltar as a matter of national pride. Never mind that Gibraltar, a 6.7-square kilometer rock promontory and home to 36,000 souls, has twice emphatically chosen to remain part of the UK and also voted in 2016 by a 96 percent majority to remain within the European Union, the largest Remain victory in 382 counting areas.

Related: The Science Behind Melting Gold At Room Temperature

Apart from feeling nostalgic about a tiny peninsula it controlled in the pre-Victorian era, Spain has a more genuine reason to want to stake claim to Gibraltar—an estimated 12,000 Spanish workforce crosses the border every day to work there, and Spain would naturally want to protect their interests.

The UK and Spain have already had parallel negotiations to talks in Brussels over Gibraltar, and things at first appeared to be going smoothly. No details have yet been divulged about the talks, though they are believed to have covered issues such as tobacco smuggling, environment, security cooperation, and citizen rights and taxes.

Gibraltar might be a small country but make no mistake about it— the future of Brexit talks might easily get disrupted over this seemingly small matter.

Indeed, the Gibraltar Agreement will be attached to the overarching Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and the EU—after it’s agreed upon. Spain cannot unilaterally block the UK’s departure from the EU since this requires a simple majority from the 27 EU member states. Any future vote with the UK as third country, however, will only pass via unanimous decision. A Spanish veto over the Gibraltar standoff could grind discussions to a halt pretty much like Canada’s 2016 CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) deal.

By Alex Kimani for Safehaven.com

More Top Reads From Safehaven.com

Back to homepage

Leave a comment

Leave a comment