Keep calm Britain and let Gibraltar carry on being British

Gibraltar became an actual issue for the UK this week because of Spain’s intentions to veto any future EU/UK trade agreement over the inclusion of Gibraltar if it wished. As British press jokes, keep calm Britain and let Gibraltar carry on being British.

Spain, according to the Council’s draft Brexit negotiating guidelines, has no new rights nor confers any fresh obligations on other EU members. But the only Madrid has the same ability as little Belgian Wallonia to block the trade deal. In particular, each EU member state and 10 regional parliaments and upper chambers should approve all the trade deals, there is the only modus operandi.

The fresh example of such legal precedent is Wallonia and the holding up the EU-Canada trade deal signing. The small southern region in Belgium blocked this deal for several weeks, Mr Trudeau even delayed his visit to Brussels for the official signing. The Gibraltar’s behaviour is very similar, the region could veto the trade deal as well, that fact caused the hot discussions in the UK parliament.

For the prime minister, probably, will be very useful just to keep calm Britain and let Gibraltar carry on being British.