Against the uneasy background of continued Spanish sea incursions and the questioning of British sovereign airspace over Gibraltar, it would be hard to believe that technical talks aimed at paving the way for agreements on maritime co-operation and the eventual implementation of the deal signed in Cordoba over the airport would take place in anything but a tense climate. There are three participants in the Tripartite Forum, not two, and Britain should have some issues which it might want to raise given the latest incidents at sea affecting the Royal Navy. Peter Caruana, for his part, has recently got a bit tougher locally over the continued Spanish incursions saying it was the responsibility of the British Government to protect and defend British Sovereign Waters although the RGP had its role to play, but we must see if this tough talking has been for the gallery only, for internal consumption, or whether it is reflected in this latest round of technical talks, if indeed any information is made public about the results of the talks.

We know, through comments made by Spanish Senator, Jose Carracao, that there were plans for joint exercises between the Port Authorities of Algeciras and Gibraltar related to responses to an emergency situation in the Bay, but that these were put on ice due to the continued incursions of Spanish Patrol boats into our waters. The Senator urged the Chief Minister to be brave and take bold steps forward in favour of co-operation, suggesting he was afraid of the reaction of the Opposition in Gibraltar. We also know that both Carracao and the Governor of Gibraltar have been talking about drawing up a protocol to try and ease the tension over waters.

Both of these issues have deep implications on sovereignty and the language recently being used by politicians of both sides of the Spanish Parliament clearly indicated that Spain would do nothing to even imply that Gibraltar had territorial waters or airspace. As the Opposition quite rightly pointed out recently, even during Franco days the demarcation of the Bay by buoys was a de facto recognition of both territorial waters and airspace given that aircraft were expected to keep within this area when arriving or departing Gibraltar. In the background too is the case in the EU over the denomination of Gibraltar waters to Spain for the purposes of implementing EU environmental directives which is still a hot potato. What will most probably come to light after the meeting is a willingness by Spain to construct the adjoining building that will link with the costly new Air Terminal despite the cuts in public expenditure across municipalities in Spain.

There was already a hint of this when the Mayor of La Linea, Alejandro Sanchez, returned from a meeting in Madrid. Sanchez said that the Air Terminal could prove a pinnacle in La Linea’s economic development and that he had been informed by officials that the Spanish Ministry would ensure that La Linea would gain significantly out of the Air Terminal development.

Last week he ignored these remarks and complained that whilst Gibraltar was prospering, La Linea was being forgotten and left behind, and he blamed the central Government in Madrid for both things, suggesting that Gibraltar’s “prosperity” was the result of the politics exercised by Jose Luis Zapatero over Gibraltar. Sanchez also wants labour related issues which he claims affects Spaniards currently working in Gibraltar to form part of the Tripartite Agenda as Moratinos himself promised when he visited Gibraltar last July.

With all of these booby traps to overcome, the Tripartite Forum has still to implement some of the issues agreed in Cordoba six years ago; namely the opening of the “Instituto Cervantes” which will not see the light of day for at least another six months, and the provisions of the airport deal which cannot be fully implemented until both sides of the Air Terminal are built and until there is an airline prepared to fly to destinations in Spain. In the meantime, relations between both sides of the border have never been tougher or worse.

The question is; will Peter Caruana grit his teeth and defend Gibraltar’s corner, or will it be another exercise in dodge and fudge with wishy- washy communiqués.