Brussels, 18/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 25 September, the European Commission will send an expert team to the border between Spain and Gibraltar. On Tuesday 17 September, Olivier Bailly, the spokesperson for the Commission, said on Twitter that it would be sending this mission to “check whether the free movement of people and goods is being respected and to examine allegations of contraband”.
This mission was announced in principle at the beginning of August in response to complaints against new controls introduced by the Spanish authorities. The Commission wants to ascertain whether these are “proportionate” and whether the time spent crossing the border is “excessive”. Experts will also check whether the concrete blocks the Gibraltar authorities have dropped off the coast in waters disputed by the two countries are encroaching on the activities of Spanish fishermen, as claimed by Spain, which, at the end of July, submitted an official complaint to the Commission on environmental grounds.
The UK has criticised the Spain for imposing border controls that penalise economic activities in Gibraltar, even though the Spain has the right so to do as Gibraltar is not part of the Schengen area. The Spanish government has justified these border controls because of the problems it has been experiencing with contraband, particularly illicit tobacco and capital traffic flows. The authorities in Gibraltar claim that the border controls are, above all, reprisals for the construction of the artificial reef. (SP and MB/transl.fl)