When he leaves office next year, Fabián Picardo (Gibraltar, 1972) He will have been Gibraltar’s chief minister for more than a decade and a half. During that period, the leader of the Socialist Labor Party has had a considerable number of controversies with the Government of Spain. Now, however, everything seems to be in harmony with Pedro Sánchez’s Executive. In a few days the agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union that regulates the relationship of the colony with the community bloc after Brexit. The fence that separates Gibraltar and the Campo de Gibraltar will disappear. To talk about it, Picardo spoke to EL PERIÓDICO and a group of Spanish media in Gibraltar last Friday.
The agreement is scheduled to be signed in Brussels on July 13 and come into force before the 15th. How are the preparations going? You are taking the 13th for granted, which is a date that was leaked in Brussels as a possible one. Maybe it’s before or after. The international agenda of commissioners and ministers from four countries is being considered. What is clear is that we are all completely committed to the provisional application starting on July 15, a day that will go down in history.
Is there going to be some kind of ceremony? Who is coming? We are still working on all the preparations [para implementar el acuerdo]. The citizens would not forgive us if we had focused more on what we are going to do as a ceremony than on making sure that fluidity becomes a reality [de personas y mercancías].
There is some concern among the Gibraltarian population about possible security problems following the removal of the Gate. The issue of security is a psychological effect of what Franco did to us when he locked us up. […] Those of us who stayed on the south side of the Gate became a caged population, with the border on one side and the sea on the other. Ironically, that gave us a great sense of security. My parents didn’t close the door at night at home. Here you left the key in the car, because no one could steal it from you except to take it for a ride or throw it into the sea. Gibraltar was a haven of security. When border crossings resumed in 1982, we were also a little scared. Suddenly the cage opens; the bird can fly, but other birds can also enter […]
What security preparations are you making? We have invested a lot of resources for the Royal Police, for customs and for customs control. There will be recognition cameras in the northern area of the airport and on the main roads of Gibraltar. We will have the ability to biometrically identify individuals who may be in the Interpol or British and Gibraltar Police databases to arrest them immediately.
The Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo during a meeting with Spanish journalists. On June 19, 2026 in Gibraltar. / Francisco J. Olmo / Europa Press
Imagine that a thousand Spaniards want to come to Gibraltar with flags to demonstrate or members of Vox, could they do it? Are you preparing for this type of actions? If you want to demonstrate in Gibraltar, you have to obtain a permit from the Royal Gibraltar Police. If you demonstrate without that permission you are acting illegally.
They have published new restrictions on obtaining residency in Gibraltar. Since we took the famous photo on June 11 last year [Picardo y los ministros de Exteriores de Reino Unido y España y el comisario negociador de la UE sellando verbalmente el acuerdo]the number of applications to be resident in Gibraltar skyrocketed, not only from Britons but also from other nationalities who are equally welcome in Gibraltar. From having a thousand applications a year we went to three thousand applications in three months. We had to stop and put in a new system that we published this week. There has to be a real economic relationship with Gibraltar, contributing. Gibraltar cannot be seen as a way to enter the Schengen zone more easily, also to be faithful to the agreement with the Schengen zone.
On the subject of bases and Gibraltar as a military base… Gibraltar is not a military base, as is unfortunately said in Spain. It is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom in which there is a presence of the United Kingdom Armed Forces. It is not like the British sovereign areas of Cyprus, bases with soldiers and their families living there.
Are there going to be Spanish military liaisons in British bases? Gibraltar has always thought that we should have a fluid and positive relationship between the British Armed Forces in Gibraltar and the Armed Forces of Spain, our NATO neighbour. The opposite is not normal. It seems that the magnificent relationship between Spain and the United Kingdom on military issues is suspended in Gibraltar as if it were a small Bermuda triangle in military cooperation. I hope that the Treaty marks a before and after in this. That expedites an even closer future relationship between the United Kingdom and Spain. For example, regarding the operations that may take place in the area, although it is an issue that does not concern me.
What happens if a soldier or intelligence agent from another country, for example Morocco, is invited by the British Ministry of Defense and then moves freely through the Schengen zone? It is as if an individual enters Algeciras invited by Spain and then comes to Gibraltar, but it is not my responsibility.
At the airport there will be double passport control, by Gibraltarian and Spanish agents. How many Spanish agents are there going to be? Gibraltar airport is very small. Usually we have two individuals to do everything that is passport control. From what I have seen of the work we have completed, there will also be two Spanish agents at the entrance and exit.
Do you fear that the next Spanish Government will use the possibility of challenging this agreement in the review in four years? Do you think the PP or Vox can suspend him? […] I think there are many opportunities for this to be such a success within one, two or three years, or over the next 40 years, that a politician would be foolish to try to bring less fluidity and less shared prosperity. It is not my responsibility to give advice to any Spanish politician, much less those on the right, but I would advise them to always blame the PSOE for this agreement, but to allow citizens to continue to have the benefit of fluidity and shared prosperity.
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