Gibraltar’s Open Door

The opening of negotiations between Great Britain and Spain to coincide with the opening of the border between Gibraltar and Spain is for the better, even though there is little cause to hope for a speedy breakthrough on Gibraltar’s future.

Britain is insisting on scrupulous respect for the wishes of the people of Gibraltar, who are ethnically Mediterranean but steadfast in their loyalty to the United Kingdom, wishing no change in their status as a self-governing colony. This preoccupation with settler wishes has overtones of the Falkland Islands, where Britain has allowed the local population to veto efforts to draw up a compromise that better addresses the global issues. That posture does not leave much to talk about with Spain, equally determined in its efforts to regain sovereignty over Gibraltar by rewriting history and the Treaty of Utrecht through which Madrid ceded the rock to Britain in 1713.

Interests of the free world will be equally well served whether London or Madrid has sovereignty. Monitoring the 50,000 ships that pass through the Strait of Gibraltar each year is in itself of considerable importance to Western defense. This is a gateway for the Soviet Black Sea fleet. The strait, a critical choke point for world navies in the event of war, could be equally well controlled by either ally. But that neutralization of the strategic issues has not ameliorated the strong political passions on both sides of the question.

The border was closed 16 years ago by the late Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco, as part of his campaign to regain Spanish sovereignty. The closure only made negotiations more difficult. Now the economic integration that is part of the agreement to reopen the border, and that will be reinforced when Spain enters the Common Market next year, may help erode the sharper differences and make more likely some compromise. The commitment of both Spain and Britain to serious talks was shown by the prompt commencement of negotiations, within hours of the opening of the roadway gates, between Fernando Moran, the Spanish foreign minister, and Geoffrey Howe, the British foreign secretary. Spokesmen for both paid special heed to what they described as a friendly and constructive first round, without hazarding an opinion of when the final round might come.