London, 05/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - The British Foreign Affairs Minister, Jack Straw, and his Spanish counterpart, have confirmed that they hope to strike an agreement on Gibraltar by the summer. In a joint press release published after their Monday meeting in London (the third of its kind since negotiations were relaunched in July 2001), states that "progress" has been made. The agreement will cover all areas currently on hold, including co-operation and sovereignty. (Gibraltar was ceded to Britain by Spain in the Utrecht Treaty of 1713.) An agreement on sovereignty would also make it possible to settle the issue of the status of Gibraltar Airport, which has been holding up Community legislation for several years now in terms of passenger compensation for overbooking, security controls and the creation of a single European sky for European air control.
On Tuesday, around 2,000 people protested at the Spanish border of Gibraltar against talks between London and Madrid, with placards saying "Gibraltar is not for sale". Gibraltar's Chief Minister, Peter Caruana, said on television that there would be no changes affecting the colony unless they approved them in a referendum. This is challenged by Spain, which regularly points out that the Utrecht Treaty stipulated that Gibraltar would automatically revert to Spain if the United Kingdom decided to cede it.