Cheers for Royal Navy as warship docks in Gibraltar

The Royal Navy warship sailed into Gibraltar‘s waters on Monday morning, at a time when relations between Britian and Spain over the rock’s sovereignty have reached a new low.

Local residents gathered on the quayside to welcome the ship, waving union flags. One called it “a two-fingered salute towards Spain”, while another said he hoped the warship would persuade the Spanish to “calm down”.

The frigate is taking part in pre-planned naval exercises in the Mediterranean, but its arrival came just a day after a protest by Spanish fishermen over Gibraltar’s decision to construct an artificial reef.

Dozens of boats sailed into disputed waters on Sunday morning before being turned back by police and Navy vessels. The fishermen claim the reef will restrict their access to a vital fishing ground.

Gibraltar wants the reef in place to help reclaim land for a new leisure resort on the island, called the Eastside project, which Spain claims is in breach of environmental laws, as well as territorial rules outlined in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.

Two-fingered salute

In response, Spain has imposed stringent border checks on all traffic entering Gibraltar, which has caused long queues and lengthy delays. Britain has threatened to pursue legal action in the European courts, and has called for EU monitors to be sent to the border “urgently” to gather evidence.

Downing Street said they wanted to resolve the dispute “via political means and through dialogue with the Spanish government”, but warned “We will do what we need to do to bring this to a statisfactory conclusion.”

The president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, told the Spanish prime minister that any plan to charge tourists a fee for crossing the frontier would be “illegal”. He told Mariano Rajoy to “respect the law of the European Union”, and appealed for dialogue with Britain.

In a new development, the Commission said that Mr Rajoy had agreed to allow a team of European observers to begin a fact-finding mission at the Gibraltar border “as soon as possible”, to examine questions about border controls and the movement of people.

According to reports, British officials have been considering retaliatory measures which could disrupt Spain’s tourist industry or block policy initiatives at the EU.

Writing in Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung on Monday, the Gibraltar chief minister Fabian Picardo accused Madrid of using the dispute to deflect attention away from allegations of corruption involving the ruling People’s Party.

He inisted that the reef was essential to help marine stocks recover from overfishing.