Spain won't back Brexit deal without clarity on Gibraltar, foreign minister says

Spain will not back theEuropean Union's draft Brexit agreement without clarity thatMadrid will be able to negotiate the future of Gibraltardirectly with Britain, Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Josep BorrellsaidMonday.

After arriving for Brexit talks with EU ministers, Borrell saidMadrid wanted the deal on Britain's exit to make clear thattalks on ties between London and the bloc will not apply toGibraltar.

A small peninsula on Spain's southern coast and a Britishterritory since 1713, Gibraltar is a major point of contentionin Anglo-Spanish relations. Spain has long claimed sovereigntyover the territory.

"The negotiations between Britain and the EU have aterritorial scope that does not include Gibraltar. Thenegotiations on the future of Gibraltar are separatediscussions," Borrell said.

"This is what needs [to] be made clear, and until it is clarifiedin the withdrawal agreement and in the political declaration onthe future relationship, we cannot give our backing [to thedeal]."

Gibraltar is due to leave the EUalong with theUnited Kingdom in March, although 96 per cent of its populationvoted in the 2016 referendum to remain in the bloc.

Spain said last week that it welcomed the inclusion of a protocol on Gibraltar in the draft Brexit agreement, but Borrell said at a news conference later on Monday that the document introduced "a certain confusion" on the issue.

As no concrete political declaration on Britain's future relationship with the bloc after it leaves has been presented, he said, "We cannot judge the whole without knowing the parts."

An EU diplomat said the issue could go as far as the Sundaysummit of all EU leaders aimed at rubber-stamping the Brexitdeal, where other outstanding points are fisheriesand a limit onany extension of a post-Brexit transition phase.

But Borrell rejected this idea, suggesting Sunday's meeting should not take place if the issue were not resolved beforehand.

Noting how Spain was obliged to accept British positions onGibraltar when it was negotiating its 1986 accession to thebloc, a decade after Britain had joined, a senior EU officialsaid London now had to accept that "the tables have turned."