Spain is still at it regarding Gibraltar.
Last week, the Royal Navy vessel HMS Sabre, a Scimitar-class fast patrol boat, which has been a part of the Gibraltar squadron since 2003, chased away a Spanish warship out of Gibraltarean - and British - waters (it doesn't bode well for Spain if all out war ensues against Britain if its warships are scared off by a Royal Navy vessel that's nothing more than a patrol boat).
The Spanish are trying to claim the seas around the rock - in the name of the environment.
Incredibly, the EU has granted Spain legal rights over British waters surrounding Gibraltar (though it's really no different from the EU allowing Spanish and other vessels to catch fish in British waters off the coast of the UK itself).
Despite this, the Royal Navy will still repel any Spanish warships entering British warships, no matter what the Spanish or the corrupt, unelected oafs who run the EU think.
Now both Britain and Gibraltar are protesting against this, and Royal Navy and Spanish ships have clashed off Gibraltar.
All this despite the fact that Gibraltar is, by rights, a British possession due to the Treaty of Utrecht (which gave Gibraltar to Britain "in perpetuity" - or for eternity) and the fact that the overwhelming majority of its people wish to remain British.
Gibraltar ambush: Spain grabs miles of British waters to carry out 'environmental protection'
By Simon Mcgee
31st May 2009
Daily Mail
They've tried invasion, diplomacy and downright skulduggery to grab a piece of Gibraltar during the past 300 years.
But now the Spanish have played their trump card by laying claim to 20 square miles of sea around the Rock...in the name of the environment.
And it seems to have worked – for the moment, at least. For the EU has granted Spain legal rights over British waters surrounding Gibraltar.
Repel the invaders: HMS Sabre forced a Spanish warship out of Gibraltar's waters
But the move has sparked protests from Britain and the Gibraltar government and led to a confrontation between Royal Navy and Spanish warships.
The grab for the section of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW) came about when Spain convinced the European Commission to include Gibraltar’s waters within a new 69sq mile EU marine conservation area called the Estrecho Oriental, to be maintained by Spain.
However, under EU law, only the member state with sovereignty over the land or sea in question can apply for it to be designated an EU conservation site – meaning the EU has recognised Spain’s possession of British water.
The designation requires Spain to undertake environmental protection work within
the specified area, handing it an excuse in EU law for its ships to mount incursions into British waters.
Gibraltar has been a key strategic asset since it was ceded by Spain to Britain in perpetuity under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, although the Spanish still claim the territory and insist the Treaty never relinquished its waters.
Spain’s new-found recognition was tested earlier this month when it sent
a corvette into British waters, fuelling diplomatic tensions.
1713 Treaty of Utrecht and British Gibraltar Territorial Waters
In their attempt to seize Gibraltar, the Spanish say that the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht never relinquished Gibraltar's waters to the British. In fact, the Spanish are quite right on that account. The Treaty of Utrecht did not specify territorial waters, as like so many things the concept had not been developed at the time. But Britain DOES still have a right to own the waters around Gibraltar. By the first half of the 18th century the concept of the three-mile wide sovereign territorial sea emerged. This was eventually adopted by most countries as the basis of marine jurisdiction, until the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, which entered into force in 1995, set a new standard of 12 nautical miles. Britain's territorial waters around Gibraltar currently extend up to just 3 nautical miles, so the British could even EXTEND them if they wish to up to 12 nautical miles.
The Spanish say: "2. In ratifying the Convention, Spain wishes to make it known that this act cannot be construed as recognition of any rights or status regarding the maritime space of Gibraltar that are not included in article 10 of the Treaty of Utrecht of 13 July 1713 concluded between the Crowns of Spain and Great Britain. Furthermore, Spain does not consider that Resolution III of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea is applicable to the colony of Gibraltar, which is subject to a process of decolonization in which only relevant resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly are applicable."
The British say: "With regard to point 2 of the declaration made upon ratification of the Convention (on the Law of the Sea 1982) by the Government of Spain, the Government of the United Kingdom has no doubt about the sovereignty of the United Kingdom over Gibraltar, including its territorial waters. The Government of the United Kingdom, as the administering authority of Gibraltar, has extended the United Kingdom's accession to the Convention (on the Law of the Sea 1982) and ratification of the Agreement to Gibraltar. The Government of the United Kingdom, therefore, rejects as unfounded point 2 of the Spanish declaration."
The armed fisheries protection ship Tarifa entered unannounced into waters to the east of Gibraltar to inspect fishing boats, insisting that it was in Spanish waters.
The vessel retreated only after the Royal Navy patrol boat HMS Sabre was sent to intercept it.
The incursion took place just a day after the Gibraltar government made it known that it was considering taking legal action against the designation.
It has lodged a bid in the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg to overturn the decision.
Britain’s Europe Minister, Caroline Flint, said: ‘We share the deep concerns that this designation has caused in Gibraltar and we continue to assert our sovereignty over BGTW. ’
A Foreign Office spokeswoman added: ‘The UK is the only member state which is able to make a proposal like this. We do not recognise the validity of their designation.’
Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Peter Caruana told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Spain has usurped British sovereignty of Gibraltar waters. This is clearly wrong and unacceptable.
'Spain argues that Britain has no waters around Gibraltar, so its actions are not an innocent mistake. There is zero basis in international law for its position.’
Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Gibraltar Group, said: ‘This decision must be reversed.
'The Spanish have been trying underhand tricks for 300 years to get a piece of Gibraltar, and unless we do something soon they will have finally succeeded in chipping away at our sovereignty of the Rock.’
Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory, standing guard over the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar.
The territory is a thin stretch of land covering just 2.6sq miles with a fiercely patriotic population of 28,000.
The European Commission declined to comment. The Spanish government failed to respond to phone calls.
READERS' COMMENTS
I wholeheartedly support the people of Gibraltar at this time. On the eve of European elections it is a reminder for all Gibraltarian and British people to get out and vote in these elections and to be thoroughly sceptical about the EU. The EU-Spanish axis' pathetic and illegal actions are a reminder of their Old thinking and Fascist attitude towards Gibraltar and Britain. The British Labour government has to break the habit of a lifetime and show some backbone and get tough and I mean really tough. I'm talking gunboat diplomacy and no shilly - shallying about with quiet diplomacy.
Perhaps some dumb bureaucrat in Brussels simply saw Europa Point (southern point of Gibraltar)on the Chart and said "We'd better have some of that". Well let's show them where to put their greedy hands.
- Jonathan Steel, USA
*********************************
Get them out of British waters! Or get the British & Morocans into 'their' waters around the Canary Islands asap!
- Graham, Tenerife
*******************************
I hope our government stay strong this time Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory & should be until Gibraltar people say otherwise.
- Sean, Leicester
****************************
Put a couple of our subs out there, they will sort it.
- Mike, English ex pat, Khon Kaen, Thailand
***************************
Under The Treaty.... Spain coveniently forgets, If My memory is correct.. We swapped land for Gibralter.. If they want Gibralter back. Then we should have the land back... we gave them in exchange
Then the other question.. When will they hand back their colony back in North Africa
- Mike Blakemore, West Mildands
*****************************
I'll keep this publishable: this is British sovereign territory. The EU should be ignored for myriad reasons. And the British government should engage in a vigourous defence.
- Stewart, Toronto, Canada
*****************************
This will be an excellent excuse for Britain's navy to have on the job training. Just rotate various Navy ships into the area and when they need to empty bilge water, just do it further North off the spanish coast.
- Neal, East Lansing, USA
**************************
Well now, New Labour. Can your Foreign Office sort this out? Has Mr Brown the patriotic courage to stop our teritorial waters being stolen from us?
I think not.
Just another nail in the coffin of GB.
Why not ask the people?
Or is that another "courage" issue?
- Ian.Scotland, Strathclyde.Scotland
dailymail.co.uk
Last week, the Royal Navy vessel HMS Sabre, a Scimitar-class fast patrol boat, which has been a part of the Gibraltar squadron since 2003, chased away a Spanish warship out of Gibraltarean - and British - waters (it doesn't bode well for Spain if all out war ensues against Britain if its warships are scared off by a Royal Navy vessel that's nothing more than a patrol boat).
The Spanish are trying to claim the seas around the rock - in the name of the environment.
Incredibly, the EU has granted Spain legal rights over British waters surrounding Gibraltar (though it's really no different from the EU allowing Spanish and other vessels to catch fish in British waters off the coast of the UK itself).
Despite this, the Royal Navy will still repel any Spanish warships entering British warships, no matter what the Spanish or the corrupt, unelected oafs who run the EU think.
Now both Britain and Gibraltar are protesting against this, and Royal Navy and Spanish ships have clashed off Gibraltar.
All this despite the fact that Gibraltar is, by rights, a British possession due to the Treaty of Utrecht (which gave Gibraltar to Britain "in perpetuity" - or for eternity) and the fact that the overwhelming majority of its people wish to remain British.
Gibraltar ambush: Spain grabs miles of British waters to carry out 'environmental protection'
By Simon Mcgee
31st May 2009
Daily Mail
They've tried invasion, diplomacy and downright skulduggery to grab a piece of Gibraltar during the past 300 years.
But now the Spanish have played their trump card by laying claim to 20 square miles of sea around the Rock...in the name of the environment.
And it seems to have worked – for the moment, at least. For the EU has granted Spain legal rights over British waters surrounding Gibraltar.
Repel the invaders: HMS Sabre forced a Spanish warship out of Gibraltar's waters
But the move has sparked protests from Britain and the Gibraltar government and led to a confrontation between Royal Navy and Spanish warships.
The grab for the section of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW) came about when Spain convinced the European Commission to include Gibraltar’s waters within a new 69sq mile EU marine conservation area called the Estrecho Oriental, to be maintained by Spain.
However, under EU law, only the member state with sovereignty over the land or sea in question can apply for it to be designated an EU conservation site – meaning the EU has recognised Spain’s possession of British water.
The designation requires Spain to undertake environmental protection work within
the specified area, handing it an excuse in EU law for its ships to mount incursions into British waters.
Gibraltar has been a key strategic asset since it was ceded by Spain to Britain in perpetuity under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, although the Spanish still claim the territory and insist the Treaty never relinquished its waters.
Spain’s new-found recognition was tested earlier this month when it sent
a corvette into British waters, fuelling diplomatic tensions.
1713 Treaty of Utrecht and British Gibraltar Territorial Waters
In their attempt to seize Gibraltar, the Spanish say that the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht never relinquished Gibraltar's waters to the British. In fact, the Spanish are quite right on that account. The Treaty of Utrecht did not specify territorial waters, as like so many things the concept had not been developed at the time. But Britain DOES still have a right to own the waters around Gibraltar. By the first half of the 18th century the concept of the three-mile wide sovereign territorial sea emerged. This was eventually adopted by most countries as the basis of marine jurisdiction, until the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, which entered into force in 1995, set a new standard of 12 nautical miles. Britain's territorial waters around Gibraltar currently extend up to just 3 nautical miles, so the British could even EXTEND them if they wish to up to 12 nautical miles.
The Spanish say: "2. In ratifying the Convention, Spain wishes to make it known that this act cannot be construed as recognition of any rights or status regarding the maritime space of Gibraltar that are not included in article 10 of the Treaty of Utrecht of 13 July 1713 concluded between the Crowns of Spain and Great Britain. Furthermore, Spain does not consider that Resolution III of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea is applicable to the colony of Gibraltar, which is subject to a process of decolonization in which only relevant resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly are applicable."
The British say: "With regard to point 2 of the declaration made upon ratification of the Convention (on the Law of the Sea 1982) by the Government of Spain, the Government of the United Kingdom has no doubt about the sovereignty of the United Kingdom over Gibraltar, including its territorial waters. The Government of the United Kingdom, as the administering authority of Gibraltar, has extended the United Kingdom's accession to the Convention (on the Law of the Sea 1982) and ratification of the Agreement to Gibraltar. The Government of the United Kingdom, therefore, rejects as unfounded point 2 of the Spanish declaration."
The armed fisheries protection ship Tarifa entered unannounced into waters to the east of Gibraltar to inspect fishing boats, insisting that it was in Spanish waters.
The vessel retreated only after the Royal Navy patrol boat HMS Sabre was sent to intercept it.
The incursion took place just a day after the Gibraltar government made it known that it was considering taking legal action against the designation.
It has lodged a bid in the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg to overturn the decision.
Britain’s Europe Minister, Caroline Flint, said: ‘We share the deep concerns that this designation has caused in Gibraltar and we continue to assert our sovereignty over BGTW. ’
A Foreign Office spokeswoman added: ‘The UK is the only member state which is able to make a proposal like this. We do not recognise the validity of their designation.’
Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Peter Caruana told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Spain has usurped British sovereignty of Gibraltar waters. This is clearly wrong and unacceptable.
'Spain argues that Britain has no waters around Gibraltar, so its actions are not an innocent mistake. There is zero basis in international law for its position.’
Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Gibraltar Group, said: ‘This decision must be reversed.
'The Spanish have been trying underhand tricks for 300 years to get a piece of Gibraltar, and unless we do something soon they will have finally succeeded in chipping away at our sovereignty of the Rock.’
Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory, standing guard over the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar.
The territory is a thin stretch of land covering just 2.6sq miles with a fiercely patriotic population of 28,000.
The European Commission declined to comment. The Spanish government failed to respond to phone calls.
READERS' COMMENTS
I wholeheartedly support the people of Gibraltar at this time. On the eve of European elections it is a reminder for all Gibraltarian and British people to get out and vote in these elections and to be thoroughly sceptical about the EU. The EU-Spanish axis' pathetic and illegal actions are a reminder of their Old thinking and Fascist attitude towards Gibraltar and Britain. The British Labour government has to break the habit of a lifetime and show some backbone and get tough and I mean really tough. I'm talking gunboat diplomacy and no shilly - shallying about with quiet diplomacy.
Perhaps some dumb bureaucrat in Brussels simply saw Europa Point (southern point of Gibraltar)on the Chart and said "We'd better have some of that". Well let's show them where to put their greedy hands.
- Jonathan Steel, USA
*********************************
Get them out of British waters! Or get the British & Morocans into 'their' waters around the Canary Islands asap!
- Graham, Tenerife
*******************************
I hope our government stay strong this time Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory & should be until Gibraltar people say otherwise.
- Sean, Leicester
****************************
Put a couple of our subs out there, they will sort it.
- Mike, English ex pat, Khon Kaen, Thailand
***************************
Under The Treaty.... Spain coveniently forgets, If My memory is correct.. We swapped land for Gibralter.. If they want Gibralter back. Then we should have the land back... we gave them in exchange
Then the other question.. When will they hand back their colony back in North Africa
- Mike Blakemore, West Mildands
*****************************
I'll keep this publishable: this is British sovereign territory. The EU should be ignored for myriad reasons. And the British government should engage in a vigourous defence.
- Stewart, Toronto, Canada
*****************************
This will be an excellent excuse for Britain's navy to have on the job training. Just rotate various Navy ships into the area and when they need to empty bilge water, just do it further North off the spanish coast.
- Neal, East Lansing, USA
**************************
Well now, New Labour. Can your Foreign Office sort this out? Has Mr Brown the patriotic courage to stop our teritorial waters being stolen from us?
I think not.
Just another nail in the coffin of GB.
Why not ask the people?
Or is that another "courage" issue?
- Ian.Scotland, Strathclyde.Scotland
dailymail.co.uk
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