Gibraltar set for major post-Brexit border change with Spain as 118-year-old controls are removed
For decades, people crossing between Spain and the British Overseas Territory have faced checks and often lengthy queues
Gibraltar is preparing for a major change in its relationship with Spain, with border controls between the two due to be removed from 15 July under a post-Brexit agreement between the UK and the European Union.
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For decades, people crossing between Spain and the British Overseas Territory have faced checks and often lengthy queues, particularly during the morning and evening rush when around 15,000 Spanish workers travel in and out of Gibraltar.
Under the new arrangements, Gibraltar will align with the European customs union and the Schengen free travel area, ending the land frontier as it has existed for more than a century.
Travellers arriving from outside Schengen, including from the UK, will instead face passport checks by both Gibraltarian and Spanish officials at Gibraltar’s airport and port.
One of them is Shilpi Chotrani, who cycles each day from her home in La Línea de la Concepción to her job in human resources at a Gibraltarian shipping and tourism company.
She said: “The fact that there is a border between us is ridiculous. I don't think a fence should separate people from one place and another.”
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She added: “This is going to be a great step forward, both for the Spanish side and the British side.
“All of those of us who live [in La Línea de la Concepción] think this is a great idea. This should have been done a long time ago.”
The change is expected to have major economic consequences on both sides of the frontier.
Gibraltar is one of the wealthiest territories in the world by income per head, while nearby La Línea and the surrounding part of Andalusia remain among the poorest parts of Spain, with unemployment close to 30 per cent.
Juan Franco, the mayor of La Línea de la Concepción, said: “This is something historic, we've had a border fence since 1908.”
He added: “You have to realise that for an average company in this town a third of its income is from clients in Gibraltar.”
After years of uncertainty following Brexit, he said: “This solution to Brexit will end up having a positive effect for us”.
Gibraltar voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum, with 96 per cent backing Remain.
Concerns at the time included the impact on trade, travel and fears that Brexit could strengthen Spain’s long-standing sovereignty claims over the territory.
Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said the agreement marked “a huge change” for the territory.
He said: “One of the key things which has defined the past eight generations of Gibraltarians is the restrictions at the frontier.”
He described the deal as bringing “complete and utter fluidity of people and goods” between Gibraltar, Spain and the wider EU.
Picardo said: “Business will now be able, in Gibraltar, to see a footfall increase which is not going to be restrained by a potential queue on the way in or frontier queue on the way out.”
He added: “This will be huge for human relations, it will be huge for business, it will be huge for frontier workers, it will be a new dawn” for Gibraltar’s relationship with Spain and the EU.
Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has also described it as “a new era” for Gibraltar. But the changes will also bring new rules for businesses.
Goods sold in Gibraltar will now need to comply with EU regulations, and the territory’s long-standing system without VAT will change.
A new transaction tax will replace import duty, starting at 15 per cent this year and later rising to 17 per cent, alongside higher excise rates on some goods.
John Isola, managing director of the Anglo Hispano Company, which runs restaurants and bars in Gibraltar, said there was relief among businesses that the Brexit uncertainty had finally been resolved without a hard border.
He described the deal as “a good compromise”, but warned it would bring added complexity.
He said: “For anybody importing goods the scenario changes completely in terms of the paperwork that one is going to have to present to get the goods in.”
He added that the need to meet EU product rules “is a challenge for anybody who is importing goods from the UK or anywhere else outside the EU”.