The Fence that separates Spain from Gibraltar has its days numbered. The European Union plans to publish this Thursday the final text of the Treaty on the British colony which has already been agreed with the Government in London and negotiated with Spain and Gibraltar. When it comes into effect, “all physical barriers related to the movement of people between the Union [Europea] and Gibraltar must be eliminated“.
The signed explicitly leaves aside the dispute over sovereignty of the Rock already in the first article. The text, of 604 pages and 336 articlessets out the technical details on carrying out controls at the port and airport of Gibraltar (two lines of passport checks, one controlled by Gibraltar/United Kingdom, and the second by Spain/European Union). It also details the thorny questions about taxesthe trade of tobacco or the treatment of sewage, among other issues that have generated tension between London and Madrid for years.
Spain will not be able to control military personnel
One of the most controversial aspects is the question of United Kingdom military bases on the Rock and the intense traffic of military personnel. Spain You will not be able to carry out passport or visa controls to visitors who declare themselves military. “The non-resident members of the United Kingdom Armed Forces”as well as their family members and “associated civilian personnel” will be “exempt from Schengen regulations and controls on visa and passport”, says article 38. Free entry does not mean that they have the right to reside. “They will not be considered as obtaining residence or domicile in the Schengen area.”
The same applies to visitors from “Armed Forces of third countries“, whether from NATO or from “selected partners”, who arrive at the invitation of the United Kingdom. It will be enough for them to present a military identification issued by the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom or the visiting country, showing their name, date of birth and rank, according to the text, which was advanced by El Confidencial and Europa Sur and was published this Thursday on the European Commission website.
“As it stands, a Moroccan military to legally enter Gibraltar can appear in Warsaw and no one finds out,” explains a police source with knowledge of the control of the Gate in Gibraltar.
The United Kingdom is committed to inform Spain in detail of the arrival of military personnel to Gibraltar and of the armas that these carry. The same approach will be applied to the family members that accompany these soldiers, so that they will not be subject to passport or visa control either. The United Kingdom provides Spain with the necessary information to identify the arrival of ships and aircraft.
Las military goods Transferred to Gibraltar by the UK Ministry of Defense or visiting forces from third countries will be subject to “strict specific customs controls at designated posts, and will be exempt from customs duties and indirect taxes provided that the temporary admission procedure is complied with.”
Military equipment, such as firearms, will require “prior authorization“from Spain and may be denied considering international obligations, sanctions, national security, human rights and risk of deviation.” To this end, a special control and monitoring procedure is established: the United Kingdom must provide the Spanish authorities with detailed lists of products, guarantee safe transportation and strict accounting.
“All physical barriers must be removed”
The text states that “all physical barriers must be eliminated.” That is, the Fence, the line where controls of people and goods in both directions are currently established, must be demolished. Ending queues for daily traffic of some 30,000 people was one of the demands of the inhabitants of La Línea de la Concepción and Peñón.
De facto, Gibraltar becomes part of the European Schengen area, since people who have passed the second control, by Spanish police, will now be able to move freely through said area. Gibraltar will have a particular customs system, but once again it is integrated into the customs union.
Goods entering through the port and airport must comply with European regulations.
History of a long disagreement
Spain and the United Kingdom took, on December 17, the definitive step to tear down the separation fence between Gibraltar and La Línea de la Concepción and the rest of Spain. The negotiators of the European Union (representing Spain) and the British Government closed the legal text that will define the future relationship with the colony after the Brexit (which came into effect on January 31, 2020).
He Treaty on Gibraltar, the details of which have become known today, It will temporarily come into force on April 10, because on that date the new entry and exit control system of the European Union begins to operate. It must still be ratified by the European Parliament and the United Kingdom. The text will not pass through the Congress of Deputies.
to the agreement Popular Party and Vox have opposed each other in Spain. The Joint Commission for the EU gave the green light in Congress to an initiative by Vox, which the PP supported, to “recover Spanish sovereignty over Gibraltar and reject the agreement of the June 11, 2025.
Albares, Sefcovic, Lammy and Picardo celebrate the agreement on Gibraltar / Ministry of Foreign Affairs
After almost four years of negotiations, a political agreement on key elements of the future of the British colony was reached on June 11, 2025. The commissioner staged it Maros Sefcovic and the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albareson behalf of the EU, and the Foreign Minister David Lammy and the chief minister Fabián Picardo for the British.
Keys to the agreement on Gibraltar
The main objective of the Agreement is to “ensure the future prosperity of the entire region”, in the words of the Commission. This is achieved by “removing all physical barriers to the movement of people and goods between Spain and Gibraltar, while preserving the space Schengenhe Single Market of the EU and the Customs Union“.
With this Treaty, Gibraltar leaves the limbo legal in which he was after the departure of his metropolis from the community area. It defines the framework to fit the Rock into the Schengen space and into the Customs Union and, with this, facilitate daily mobility in the area. The real and symbolic objective is to remove the fence that separates both sides and replace the current controls with a system that allows more fluid trafficstill pending technical specification and the corresponding approvals.
Controls of people and merchandise would stop being carried out at the Gate and would move to the port and the airport, with “dual controls” Gibraltar/Schengen in those facilities, according to Minister Albares’ explanation in Congress. The Spanish Police would be the ones who would carry out the Schengen checks at the port and airport, a sensitive point for the Gibraltar Government due to the symbolic burden on sovereignty of having Spanish agents on what they consider their soil.
File – Images of the border between Spain and the Rock of Gibraltar. On June 12, 2025 in La Línea de la Concepción, Cádiz (Andalusia). / Francisco J. Olmo – Europa Press – Archive
Regarding taxation, Gibraltar would raise indirect taxes to resemble the Spanish VAT y never below the European minimum, in addition to introducing measures on tobacco and alcohol to limit distortions and smuggling.
The Treaty, whose text is still unknown, must address differences in the environment (waste and discharges) and coordination in social security, with a social fund for Spanish workers who cross daily.
On the thorny issue of military bases of the United Kingdom in Gibraltar and the control of soldiers y goodsSpain would have for the first time access to complete information about people and goods let them go through the British military base, to ensure the application of the Schengen acquis and the Customs Union there as well, always according to the Foreign Minister.
When the review and ratification process is completed, the border post will be eliminated and, with this, the free movement of people and goods will be allowed. The physical removal of this border should occur at the beginning of 2026, according to first forecasts, without confirming. In this sense, the agreement is an important step for the 15,000 cross-border workers and the 300,000 residents of Campo de Gibraltar. Neither Spain nor the United Kingdom renounce their historical claims to the sovereignty of the Rock.
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