Submission from Joe L Caruana, Chairman,
Integration with Britain Movement, Gibraltar
My submission will be dealing with the Option
of Devolved Integration for Gibraltar. I shall attempt to make
this brief and to the point.
1. Devolved Integration is the only Option
that is at present legal and acceptable for Geographical and Historical
reasons and in accordance with well-known UN Resolutions on Decolonisation.
2. The application of this Option closes
the door on the Spanish Claim to the territory of Gibraltar and
therefore should remove all animosity between Britain, Spain and
Gibraltar, so that a normal and friendly coexistence can prevail
between us. The Option does not change anything yet it perpetuates
the Treaty of Utrecht breakaway clause; this is because Gibraltar
would be restored to being a Region of the U.K. and Dominions
as it was of old. It would also enhance Gibraltar's present position
within Europe by virtue of the fact that Gibraltar votes like
all other European Countries do in the European Elections.
3. All political parties in Gibraltar have
stated at some time or other that the New Constitution is not
incompatible with the Option for Integration.
4. Our Movement opposed the New 2006 Constitution
because it considered that it (a) did not decolonize Gibraltar
and (b) it created a Banana Republic. The Referendum held in 2006
was politically disastrous and shameful. There were undeniable
abuses in the normal procedure in the process of Campaigning.
4,500 persons voted against the Constitution and over 8,000 abstained
from voting, or 12,500 votes were not for the passing the Constitution,
out of an historical electorate of about 18,000, something hereof
unheard of in Gibraltar. Only 37% voted in favour of it! There
was also clear manipulation of the agreed schedule for the Political
broadcasts on Television. In practice Britain has lost out in
being responsible for the Police Authority, and Internal Security,
the Judicial Question is in disarray, following objections by
the Chief Justice of the then wording of the proposed Judicial
Service commission. There are weakness in the checks and balances
between many local authorities and the Executive. The police stopped
an individual when he attempted to demonstrate when the first
Iberia flight arrived in Gibraltar being told clearly that demonstrations
were not allowed that day. The Cordoba forum has had no input
other than Peter Caruana's, Opposition and the general public
have been brazenly ignored, a promised Referendum on such delicate
decisions has not materialized. I leave it to your good selves,
representatives in the Mother of Democracy in the world to judge
what is happening.
5. I appeal that justifiably, after 300
years of Britishness and tradition, Gibraltarians should be able
to vote in the UK General Elections and have direct representation
at Westminster in the Arruba and Antilles style.
6. The adoption of Devolved Integration
to Gibraltar would do away with all the ambiguity surrounding
the question of whether or not Gibraltar has been decolonised
by the coming into effect of the New Constitituon.
CHIEF MINISTER
PETER CARUANA'S
PREVIOUS SUBMISSION
TO FAC
I respectfully bring to your recollection the
various written and oral evidences given by Peter Caruana to your
illustrious Committee on various occasions between 1997 and 1999,
extracts of which are enclosed and which you will, no doubt, have
available to substantiate my evidence. The Chief Minister wrote
to your committee on 6 January 1998 saying the following "I
speak not only for my government but also for the majority view
among the political parties in Gibraltar when I say that Gibraltar's
first preference for constitutional change and decolonisation
is integration with the UK". What better eloquent and solid
statement do we require? This preference has been shown time and
again in virtually every single opinion poll done on the subject
of Options.
And orally he made statements in the following
vain, taken from extracts from the 4th Report in 1999:—Commenting
on the overseas White Paper he said, "Denial of the integration
option was regrettable and disappointing". That there would
be "considerable benefit to Gibraltar in no longer having
to duplicate work being done in London, to take for example `Data
Protection Registrar's remit, no staff equipment and overheads'.
In the new geometry of the UK, with different levels of self government
for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, London and the English
regions Gibraltar could form another part of this picture".
In your report in section 104 your report says
"Integration would bring Gibraltarian representation directly
in to the House of Commons. We note the chief Minister's support
for a right for the government of Gibraltar to petition at the
bar of the House".
Labour government Minister Joyce Quin assured
your Committee that both appendices are attached.
I also bring to your attention a more historical
meeting that took place between Chief Minister Robert Peliza and
Prime Minister Harold Wilson on the 9th Integration for Gibraltar.
It went as follows: "The Prime Minister asked Major Peliza
to explain more fully his views on the integration of Gibraltar
into the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister emphasized that he
himself had not come to any conclusions on this question and was
only seeking information. Major Peliza said that the incorporation
of Gibraltar into the UK would be an answer to the treaty of Utrecht
because there would be no change of sovereignty and should avoid
trouble in the UN as one form of decolonisation. More important
than these considerations, integration would remove a major problem
in the United Kingdom/Spanish relations".
Since 1969 the question of Integration has changed
significantly given that France, Holland, Spain, Denmark and Portugal
all integrated their Overseas Territories with the Principal Country
and share totally equality. Only Britain has not integrated its
few and small remaining overseas territories, with Gibraltar specifically
being totally and unjustly treated especially because of developments
within the European Union and because of the Spanish Dimension.
We have uncovered, from disclosed Secret Documents,
the Blue Print of something uncunningly similar to the Cordoba
Agreement, set out by the foreign office in November 1969. In
it, it emerges; the UK government was secretly telling Spain that
it did not preclude transferring sovereignty. It said "A
statement by us on the line proposed could be defended as being
consistent with our commitments (which are eg in the preamble
to the constitution, to the Gibraltarians and not to the territory".
It also emerged that as early as 1966 Britain was offering Spain
joint use of the airport.
The Integration with Britain Movement and I
hope that the above will assist you in coming to your deliberations
positively and in favour of the question of Devolved Integration
for Gibraltar.
18 March 2008
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