The Brussels Agreement, 1984, was an agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and of Spain concerning the territorial dispute over

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

. The agreement was criticised by Gibraltar politicians for limiting the participation of

Gibraltarians Gibraltarians (Spanish language, Spanish: ''gibraltareños'', colloquially: ''Llanito#Demonym, llanitos'') are an ethnic group native to Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territories, British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip o ...

in their

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

Background

The Lisbon Agreement, 1980, did not provide an immediate solution to the problems resulting from the blockade of Gibraltar that had been imposed by

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

in 1969. The border did not reopen as planned, and London and

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

continued to disagree over the interpretation of the agreement. Spain's admittance to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

and the

EEC The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

provided the impetus that finally broke the deadlock in 1984.

Terms

The Brussels Agreement was concluded in November 1984 and implemented in February 1985. Aldrich & Connell, 1998, pp. 19. Spain's application to join the EEC proved to be the key factor since Britain linked Spain's membership with the opening of the frontier with

and threatened to veto the application otherwise. The Brussels Agreement clarified and reactivated the earlier Lisbon Agreement, which had been subject to widely-differing interpretations, complicated Anglo-Spanish relations and delayed the full opening of the border. Under the agreement, the United Kingdom and Spain would hold talks over Gibraltar, and the British were prepared to negotiate on sovereignty. The agreement was signed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, Sir

Geoffrey Howe Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, (20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015), known from 1970 to 1992 as Sir Geoffrey Howe, was a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1989 to ...

, and the Spanish Foreign Minister, Fernando Morán López. These were key points of the Brussels agreement: * Provision of equality and reciprocity of rights for Spaniards in Gibraltar and Gibraltarians in Spain. * The establishment of the free movement of persons, vehicles and goods between Gibraltar and the neighbouring territory. * The establishment of a negotiating process aimed at overcoming all the differences between Spain and the United Kingdom over Gibraltar.

Criticism

The agreement was vocally criticised in Gibraltar Kellerman, 2001, pp. 19 since the Gibraltar government was invited to participate, but only as part of the United Kingdom's delegation.Joe Bossano, The Fight for Self-Determination, Speech to UN Decolonization Committee, 1994 Another major deficiency from Gibraltar's perspective was that it did not allow for the discussion of differences between Gibraltar and Spain. The agreement was also criticised by Gibraltar politicians as the Gibraltar delegation was expected to form part of

Aftermath

In the key 1988 elections, the

Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party The Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (GSLP) is a social-democratic political party in Gibraltar. The GSLP is the oldest surviving active political party in Gibraltar. Its roots are based in the trade union movement, as its founder and former lea ...

called for

, expressed its opposition to the negotiations over the sovereignty and future of Gibraltar between Spain and the United Kingdom and opposed any transfer of sovereignty to Spain. Gold, 2005, pp. 101. It also asked for the withdrawal of the negotiations on the Brussels Declaration and opposed the Airport Agreement. The GSLP got 8 seats and a 58.2% of the

popular vote Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group. Popular may also refer to: In sociology * Popular culture * Popular fiction * Popular music * Popular science * Populace, the tota ...

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

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External links

* * *{{cite web , url = http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons/lib/research/rp2002/rp02-037.pdf , title = Gibraltar's Constitutional Future , access-date = 2011-02-04 , last = Miller , first = Vaughne , date = 22 May 2002 , work = International Affairs & Defence Section , publisher = House of Commons Library , ref = Research_paper Politics of Gibraltar History of Gibraltar 1984 in Belgium Treaties concluded in 1984 Treaties entered into force in 1985 Treaties of Spain Treaties of the United Kingdom Gibraltar–Spain border Spain–United Kingdom relations 1985 in Gibraltar 1984 in Gibraltar Gibraltar and the European Union