Gibraltar: British steadfast in adhering to Treaty of Utrecht

GIBRALTAR – The Rock has been a British enclave ever since the Treaty of Utrecht, which in 1713 ended the Spanish War of Succession. The Spanish have attempted to regain its former territory ever since that time while London has refused to discuss the matter. The Spanish hope that standoff may finally now be coming to an end. With both Spain and the UK a member of the EU, the two countries have discussed matters of mutual concern, such as taxation, security and the environment although they say they did not deal with Gibraltar’s status. However, Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs did recently visit the Rock to meet his British colleague there. The 6,5 square kilometre territory has been controlled by Great Britain since 1704, when a joint British-Dutch naval force occupied it. The majority of Gibraltar’s citizenry of 30,000 prefer to remain British but with greater autonomy.