Gibraltar. Dispute

Only 187 people from 18 thousand inhabitants of Gibraltar, who have the right to vote, supported the idea that the only one on our continent is colony, which to this day belongs to the British crown, managed together the British and Spaniards. This is the result of the referendum held here on November 7. Gibraltar remains British.

A year ago it seemed that in the dispute around Gibraltar, which lasts many years, finally there was progress. British Prime Minister Tony Blair offered her Spanish colleague Jose Maria Asnar a compromise solution – the joint management of this territory. Spaniards seems to be agreed to negotiate, but. First, the meeting of the heads of foreign policy departments of the two countries in Barcelona boycotted the first Minister of Government of Gibraltar Peter Karuana. He stated that he would sit at the negotiating table only if Gibraltar would provide the same status as the United Kingdom and Spain possess. Spain immediately accused Karuan in an attempt to maintain the offshore zone of Gibraltar, which has long been transformed into illegal financial "Paradise".

Then in the English government, disagreements around the compromise idea of ​​Tony Blair were aggravated. The ministers wondered: how to deal with the Naval Base on Gibraltar? Is it really to manage it together with the Spaniards?

As a result, in May of this year, new negotiations between Blair and Asnar ended to no avail. Meanwhile, contrary to the protests of Britain and Spain, the Gibraltar Parliament in October for closed doors voted for holding a referendum on the issue of the future colony in October. By the way, such a referendum took place in 1967. Then 99.63 percent of Gibraltsev spoke for the preservation of the British rule. The results of the current referendum are about the same – almost 99 percent were against the joint management of Gibraltar.

How reacted in the capitals of two states? In London, where more than once they argued that the fate of possession would be determined by its inhabitants, counted the will of Gibraltsev unofficial. And Madrid just called him "illegal".

In 1830, when Gibraltar was officially declared a colony of Great Britain, but the Spaniards did not accept his loss. According to the expression of one of the prime ministers of Spain, Gibraltar became "nail in the sole of the Spanish boot".

And this, if you look at the geographical map, a very talent comparison. Gibraltar, or, as it is also called, the rock, is in the southern part of the Pyrenean Peninsula (I mean in "Sole of Spanish Box") and ranks strategic location where the Mediterranean Sea "Flies" In the Atlantic Ocean.

On both sides of the Gibraltar Strait separating Europe from Africa, two rocks come out from time immemorial. Erected them as the ancient myth, the famous hero of antique Greece. And they spoiled the rocks by his name – Hercules pillars. One of the pillars and there is Gibraltar.

In the VIII century Arabs, invited to Spain turned him into the fortress of Jebel-At-Tarik. Then the Spaniards returned here again. And in 1704 during the war for the Spanish legacy on the rock, the British were landed under the command of Admiral Rock. In 1713, the Utrecht peace treaty was concluded, according to which "nail in the sole of the Spanish boot" fell under the power of the United Kingdom. However, the British Crown got a new ownership without the right "Territorial jurisdiction".

In the early 60s of the last century, Madrid asked the UN to solve the issue of Gibraltar. The Special Committee recommended London to enter into negotiations with the Spaniards in "Search for an agreed solution to the problem of decolonization of Gibraltar". England ran away from negotiations. It was then in 1967 and the already mentioned referendum took place. Two years later, a constitution was adopted, providing residents of Gibraltar the right to self-government. It also fastened that the population of Gibraltar could not against his will were given under the sovereignty of another state. On "Crimson" British Spain replied that he closed the border with Gibraltar, and he was in the blockade. Only in 1985, the border was finally opened.

The level of life of Gibraltar residents is much higher than in neighboring Spain, which served as one of the reasons that the inhabitants of the rocks completely failed a referendum.