UK, Brussels row over Gibraltar rumbles on

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) - The sovereignty of Gibraltar -- a tiny British territory south of Spain -- “cannot conceivably change,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Monday morning.

Johnson was speaking after discussions about the effects of Brexit on the British Overseas Territory, whose population voted overwhelmingly to stay inside the EU in last June’s referendum.

His comments followed Prime Minister Theresa May’s Sunday remarks that she “will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state” -- a pointed reference to Spain.

The spat between U.K. officials and the EU began on Friday after a draft Brexit plan was announced by Brussels in which it proposed a right to veto any agreement involving the British pene-exclave.

This would give Spain a say in the future of the territory.

Gibraltar, with a population of around 30,000, was ceded to Britain by Spain under the treaty of Utrecht in 1713.

In referenda held in 1967 and 2002, the Gibraltarian public widely rejected proposals for it to be governed by Madrid. Spain, however, continues to press its claims on the territory.

Johnson said he thought the British government’s position was “very, very clear”.

“Which is that the sovereignty of Gibraltar is unchanged and it's not going to change, and cannot conceivably change without the express support and consent of the people of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom," he added.

The British government triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and started official Brexit negotiations on March 29.