Gibraltar Fears Border With Spain Could Close If UK Quits EU

MADRID— Gibraltar could find its access to the single European market blocked by a hostile Spanish government if the United Kingdom were to vote to leave the European Union in a referendum next month, the chief minister of the tiny British territory ...
Gibraltar Fears Border With Spain Could Close If UK Quits EU
A picture taken on March 17, 2016 shows the Rock of Gibraltar with Spain in background. JORGE GUERRERO/AFP/Getty Images
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MADRID— Gibraltar could find its access to the single European market blocked by a hostile Spanish government if the United Kingdom were to vote to leave the European Union in a referendum next month, the chief minister of the tiny British territory on Spain’s southwestern tip said Sunday.

Fabian Picardo told The Associated Press that Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo had warned that if Britain exits the EU, the Popular Party government currently in power would “require that we accept joint sovereignty with Spain to have access to the market.”

Picardo said British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond had acknowledged that the European mechanisms in place to keep the frontier between Spain and Gibraltar flowing “will not be available to us if we are not members of the EU.”

Fishermen eat on the beach with Queen Elizabeth II projected on the Rock of Gibraltar in background to mark her 90th birthday on April 21, 2016. (JORGE GUERRERO/AFP/Getty Images)
Fishermen eat on the beach with Queen Elizabeth II projected on the Rock of Gibraltar in background to mark her 90th birthday on April 21, 2016. JORGE GUERRERO/AFP/Getty Images