Checkpoint at the Rock

Gibraltar, Britain, Spain, and the EU’s search for common ground.

Custom image by FEE

Commentary

Ever since Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016 in a referendum dubbed “Brexit,” Gibraltar has been in limbo. A British Overseas Territory on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, the Rock (as it’s commonly known, after its most salient geographical feature) presented formidable problems. One major challenge was finding a solution that respected the wishes of Gibraltarians, 96 percent of whom voted to remain in the EU; another was ensuring that the 15,000 people who cross the border with Spain daily (10,000 of them Spaniards who work in Gibraltar) would not face massive queues at passport control. But the governments of the UK, Spain, and Gibraltar had drawn political red lines they insisted could not be crossed. Negotiations sometimes became hostile or stalled completely. A lasting agreement appeared impossible.