Just itching to get its hand on Gibraltar, Spain’s foreign minister has revived a plan to share sovereignty over the territory if voters decide to leave the EU.
Such an arrangement would give Gibraltar continued access to the EU should the UK pull out.
The minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, told Spanish radio that if the UK decides to leave the EU, "it is obvious that Gibraltar also leaves the European Union, and won't therefore have access to the single market".
He said that solutions would need to be created for “Gibraltar to have a link with the European Union”.
Gibraltar’s financial service industry is heavily reliant on access to the single market. Its leader, Fabian Picardo, has warned that Brexit would be a “disaster” for the territory.
The minister suggested “shared sovereignty during an extended period of time”. An earlier proposal for joint control had been aired back in 2001 but was quashed by Gibraltarians in a 2002 referendum.
Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in perpetuity by virtue of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.
