The Gibraltar First Minister, Peter Caruana, has given an interview to the Catalan regional television station TV3.
He told the peak time morning audience that the 30,000 Gibraltarians could not be the only citizens on the planet who, according to Spain, were not and would never be entitled to exercise the right to self-determination, to have beaches that had no right to even receive water or to have its airspace recognised.
He also told the audience that Gibraltar ‘does not live with its back to Spain’ and does not wish to do so, ‘which does not mean that we would be prepared to be absorbed by Spain or integrated into it’.
He said he did not want to see tension with Madrid, and that the Gibraltar Government had always sought ‘the maximum degree of normality, stability and good relations with Spain at all levels’.
Asked about the recent comments by the Prince of Asturias regarding Gibraltar during the recent visit of Prince Charles, Caruana said Prince Felipe had put his viewpoint ‘with a certain degree of sensitivity and diplomacy’, but Gibraltar was not in agreement with what he said and there was no way forward with just bilateral talks. He said that Gibraltar had not blocked the diplomatic progress of the Tripartite Forum created in 2004.
Caruana thought it was possible that Madrid was ‘psychologically influenced’ in its reactions towards Gibraltar by concerns about wider political implications of the Spanish state’s relations with the Catalans and Basques.
He also denied claims that Gibraltar was a financial haven, describing it instead it had transformed over the past 15 years as a financial centre, where there was no longer any opacity.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment