Britain's threat of legal action to Spain on Gibraltar, Daily Express

Britain's threat of legal action to Spain on Gibraltar

Gibraltar from the air.

BRITAIN should take Spain to the European Court of Justice over its flagrant breaches of sovereignty in Gibraltar, MPs will say next week

By MARCO GIANNANGEL

The call will put Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond under further pressure after criticism that he has failed to properly deal with the issue.

It follows an ultimatum by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee which gave the Foreign Office six months to take action.

Speaking last night, committee chairman Richard Ottaway MP told the Sunday Express: “We have been a soft touch for long enough.

“We told the Government that if there was no improvement in six months, Article 259 of the Lisbon treaty should be invoked, and we should take Spain to the European Court of Justice.

“Well, six months have passed and little has changed: the delays are still going on, Spain is still illegally intruding in British territorial wars and air space, and Madrid is unwilling to enter into even ad hoc talks with Britain.”

In October Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo QC, told the United Nations that Spain had made 245 illegal incursions into British waters in just two months.

In a separate development last night, Madrid was accused of “shameful” behaviour after using its support of the war against the Islamic State terror group to persuade US politicians to drop plans to officially back Britain’s claim over Gibraltar.

The move comes just weeks after a series of barbaric beheadings of US and British citizens by IS, including aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning.

Read more here:

Further reading here:

Additional Information

Militant Spanish mayor plans invasion of Gibraltar in anti-British protest, Daily Express

A MILITANT Spanish mayor has announced plans to occupy Gibraltar with thousands of supporters in a one-day protest to claim the disputed territory for Spain.

Communist Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo made headlines two years ago after organising Robin Hood-style raids on supermarkets and handouts of the stolen food to poor families.

Now the left-wing union he leads is preparing for a mass invasion of the Rock on August 29.

Gordillo, mayor of the town of Marinaleda near Seville as well as head of the Andalucian Workers Union, has claimed they will cross the border peacefully.

But he has insisted on keeping secret the details on how he and his supporters will get into Gibraltar, hinting union members could cross by foot and car as well as arriving by plane and boat before staging their headline-grabbing protest.

Around 2,000 people are expected to take part although the union has 20,000 members and is hoping for support on the day from Spaniards who work on the Rock or are visiting as tourists.

Mr Sanchez, who boasts of running his town like a communist utopia, told a Spanish paper: "We will enter Gibraltar from different points and then see what we do. "It will be a peaceful demonstration but a very revindicative one."We have to take advantage of the surprise factor to be able to achieve our aims."

Read more here:

Further Reading here:

Gibraltar rejects Spanish border plans, Daily Telegraph