According to the British Prime Minister’s office, Keir Starmer held a telephone conversation with his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sánchez, tonight following the announcement of the “historic agreement to secure the future of Gibraltar”, a British territory in the south of the Iberian Peninsula claimed by Spain.

Sánchez, according to the Downing Street statement, “congratulated the Prime Minister on his leadership, adding that his government had succeeded where others had failed”.

“Both leaders also agreed that this development opens up a huge opportunity to advance bilateral relations between the United Kingdom and Spain, on behalf of the British and Spanish peoples,” the statement from Starmer’s office said.

The United Kingdom and the EU today reached a “definitive political agreement” on Gibraltar, following Britain’s exit from the bloc (“Brexit”), according to a joint official statement from all parties involved in the negotiations.

The negotiating teams will now finalise the “full legal text” of the agreement, which will then have to be signed and ratified by the European Parliament and member states.

The agreement is the result of more than 20 negotiation meetings and is the only one pending between the two parties following the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, approved in a British referendum held in 2016.

In December 2020, it was agreed that an agreement would be negotiated for Gibraltar, involving the EU, the United Kingdom, Spain and the authorities of the British colony itself.

The United Kingdom compared the agreement for Gibraltar to the one that exists for the Eurostar train, which connects London to France, under which French security forces operate at Saint Pancras station in the British capital to control passengers.

Gibraltar was ceded by Spain to the British crown in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht, but the Spanish authorities continue to claim sovereignty over the territory.

According to information available on the website of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MNE), in 1713 only “the city and the castle” were ceded, and “the isthmus, as well as the adjacent waters or airspace, was not ceded by Spain and has always remained under Spanish sovereignty”.

“Gibraltar is a colony” that is included in the United Nations list of “non-self-governing territories pending decolonisation”, whose fate must be decided under the principle of self-determination of peoples, according to the Spanish MFA website.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez welcomed the announcement of an agreement, “after three centuries without progress”.

“The EU, the United Kingdom and Spain have reached a comprehensive agreement for the benefit of citizens and our bilateral relationship with the United Kingdom. All without renouncing Spanish claims on the isthmus and the retrocession of Gibraltar,” Sánchez wrote on X.

According to information released today, the agreement guarantees the free movement of people and goods between British territory and Spain and will remove the physical barrier (known as “the fence”) around Gibraltar, “the last wall in continental Europe”.

With regard to people, entry and exit controls in the Schengen area, to which Gibraltar will be linked, will be carried out at the port and airport of the British territory, thus eliminating border controls. Around 15,000 people cross the border between Spain and Gibraltar every day.

On the EU side, “Spain will carry out Schengen controls”.