Emergency talks under way with Spain to prevent Brussels from strangling Gibraltar with No Deal Brexit border logjam
EMERGENCY talks are under way with Spain to try to stop Brussels from strangling Gibraltar with a No Deal Brexit border logjam.
An EU Commission edict is demanding that passports of all travellers between Britain and the EU must be stamped if the UK leaves without an agreement, including into the Rock.
But 15,000 workers cross into the British territory every week day morning using just one entrance, as well as tourists.
The Brussels edict leave many unable to get to work and Gibraltar’s economy in peril, its bosses fear.
A senior Gibraltar government source told The Sun: “If Brussels purposely tries to snarl things up just to spite Britain, it will be a total s***show.
“Almost nobody will get in or out. The Spanish won’t be able to come in to work. Spain doesn’t want that, and neither do we, which is why we are talking to them now.”
The Rock’s government has invested in emergency supplies of more desks as well as ink in a bid to limit the border queues.
‘TOTAL S***-SHOW’
Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo also issued a No Deal statement yesterday in response to a claim in a leaked UK government report that border queues could be four hours long.
Mr Picardo said: “Being out of the EU, especially falling out without a Withdrawal Agreement, is not a bed of roses and there will be some disruption.
“A no-deal Brexit is bad for Gibraltar and it is bad for the United Kingdom and the EU. I urge all parties to work to avoid such a scenario, but if a no-deal Brexit does happen, we are ready for it.”
The EU Commission’s edict about passport stamps was issued on March 25 this year, ahead of the initial Brexit deadline.
It is also expected to mean longer queues for British tourists or businessmen entering mainland Europe, as they will all have to get ‘wet stamps’ in their passports too.
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That also goes for travellers at St Pancras and Folkestone using passport control point for channel tunnel and ferry services where long queues are also expected to build.
A fact sheet in produced for Brits at the time read: “The Commission has proposed that UK nationals can travel visa-free to the EU for short stays, if the UK also grants the same arrangement for citizens from all EU Member States.
“Your passport will be stamped both when you enter the EU and when you leave it, so that this period of 90 days, which is visa-free, can be calculated.
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