Spain-Gibraltar passport checks briefly re-established, causing queues
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish police briefly re-established border controls for Gibraltar on Friday, the Gibraltar government said, causing long lines of rush hour workers on both sides of the border as the enclave also began asking to see passports in response.
The Gibraltar government said a Spanish police inspector, who was not authorised to give that instruction, had issued the order on Thursday night to start requiring Gibraltarians to have their passport stamped to cross into Spain.
A source from the Spanish Interior Ministry said what happened was “a confusion” and said the ministry was not aware of the details of what Gibraltar had said about the incident.
“This was a temporary situation, now defused, which caused some queues to form early in the day. By 11 a.m., the situation was back to normal,” the source said.
Ordinarily, people are allowed to cross the border without checks. Once the Spanish National Police stopped asking for passports, Gibraltar followed suit and the queues cleared.
The police could not immediately be reached for comment.
The status of Gibraltar, an enclave at the southern tip of Spain that has been under British rule since the 18th century, and how to police the border have been points of contention since Britain voted in 2016 to leave the European Union.
Border controls were lifted more than two decades ago, when both Spain and Britain were part of the EU. Since Brexit, the agreement to let people travel freely has been temporary extended pending a full agreement between the bloc, Britain and Spain, which still claims the enclave.
Earlier this week, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares urged Britain to close a deal on the post-Brexit status of the British overseas territory before the start of new EU border controls, which includes a biometric entry-check system for non-EU citizens.
With Britain now outside the EU, the controls could recreate a hard border for Gibraltar.
The European Union on Thursday delayed the introduction of the new checks after Germany, France and the Netherlands said border computer systems were not ready.
