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Britain, Spain settle a dispute over Gibraltar
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and Spain have settled a long-running dispute over Gibraltar that blocked the European Union from ratifying some international conventions, including treaties on aviation and on children, Britain said on Tuesday.
Britain said the agreement would open the way for the EU to ratify the 1996 Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and the 2001 Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment, which is important to the aviation industry.
"I am delighted that, with the agreement of the government of Gibraltar and in the spirit of ongoing cooperation, we have now concluded a set of arrangements with Spain which will allow the EU to move ahead and ratify all such instruments," Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement to parliament.
EU ratification of a number of conventions had been held up for years by a disagreement between London and Madrid rooted in their dispute over the sovereignty of Gibraltar, a British colony at the foot of Spain.
Spain had objected to British plans to appoint officials in Gibraltar to administer the treaties.
Spain argued that this would recognize that Gibraltar had competence in foreign policy, a power Spain rejects.
Spain's objection blocked EU ratification because all EU members must agree before Europe can ratify.
Miliband said Britain and Spain had compromised on a so-called "post-boxing" system under which communications between Spain and Gibraltar involving the treaties will go through London.
The 1996 Hague Convention covers parental disputes over child custody and child abduction. The Cape Town Convention makes it easier for aircraft leasing companies to get their planes back if operators default on payment.
Britain captured Gibraltar in 1704 and Spain ceded sovereignty to London nine years later, but ever since, it has been fighting to regain the strategic spur that sits at the entrance to the Mediterranean.
In a sign of thawing relations, Spain, Britain and Gibraltar have held talks in recent years on improving relations and a ban on direct flights between Madrid and Gibraltar has been lifted.
(Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
