SELECT COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
MEMORANDUM PREPARED BY THE FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
GIBRALTAR
Historical: The Spanish Claim
1.
Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in perpetuity under Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 with the proviso that, if Britain ever relinquished sovereignty, Spain must be given first refusal. A Spanish claim for the recovery of sovereignty has been pressed intermittently over the years. The Spanish claim was reactivated in 1951; and the current phase of the dispute dates from 1963-64 when Spain first raised the subject in the United Nations. Spanish case for restoration of sovereignty rests on the principle of territorial integrity and the need for decolonisation.
2.
service,
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The restrictions (suspension of Gibraltar-Algeciras ferry
closed frontier, trade severed, Spanish labour force with- drawn, telephones cut and prohibited airspace declared) were
imposed progressively during the 1960s. Spanish claims to territoria
waters in Algeciras Bay were also reasserted.
3.
British responses included an offer to go to the International
Court of Justice, and the 1967 referendum on the wishes of the
people of Gibraltar (12,138 votes in favour of retaining the British
link, 44 pro-Spain, 96% turnout). The preamble to the 1969
Constitution, which accorded substantial internal self-Government,
states that:
1
''Her Majesty's Government will never enter into arrangements
under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the
sovereignty of another state against their freely and
democratically expressed wishes''
Recent Developments:
4.
The Lisbon Agreement
The restoration of democracy in Spain after General Franco's
death in 1975 brought hopes that the restrictions on Gibraltar
would be lifted. Two formal meetings were held at Ministerial level
in 1977-78 to explore the possibilities of progress; but the
Spanish side at that time were unconvinced of the merit of proceeding
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