After three years and 16 rounds of negotiations, London, Brussels and Madrid were unable to reach an agreement to determine the status of the European Union. Tarek mountain After leaving United kingdom For the European Union. In this context of uncertainty about the future of the colony The departure of the current British Ambassador to Spain has been announcedHugh Elliott, who was in our country for five years and was a key player in the talks. Under the leadership of his mission in Spain, the New Year's Eve Agreement was signed which established, on 31 December 2020, the framework within which Madrid and London committed themselves to trying to create a zone of shared prosperity between the colony and the province of Cádiz. Campo Gibraltar. They demolished the separation fence, according to the words of the Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albarez.
Elliot will be replaced by Alex Ellis as Her Majesty's Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain and Non-Resident Ambassador to the Principality of Andotra. Ellis will arrive in Spain during the summer of this year, as announced The British government in a statement
The next ambassador will have the main task of communicating and accompanying the United Kingdom in the negotiations on Gibraltar. Ellis will arrive in Madrid from New Delhi, where he served as British High Commissioner. He was previously National Security Advisor. Military issues are among the most thorny issues in the agreement, due to the presence of a British military base in Gibraltar. Ellis was the director of the checkout department at European Union, Therefore, he is expected to know the details of negotiations of this size. He was also ambassador to Brasilia (Brazil), Lisbon and, between 2003 and 2005, to Madrid.
Ambassador Hugh Elliott
The outgoing ambassador, Hugh Elliott (London, 1965), is a well-known figure on social networks in Spain, where he shows his knowledge of national reality with touches of British humour. In an interview with the newspaper El Periódico de España, from the same editorial group, he confirmed in October 2022 that the negotiations were progressing at a good pace, but that there were still thorny issues such as who would control the border if the fence was demolished or what would happen with taxes.
In April last year, he was involved in a controversy that was revealed by the British press. Former British minister Dominic Raab, who left the government after being accused of workplace harassment, sacked Hugh Elliott from his position during his time at the Foreign Office. Negotiations on Gibraltar After he claimed that he crossed the lines set by London with his proposals, according to sources quoted by the Daily Telegraph newspaper. Raab admitted that a “senior diplomat” had gone too far and made “staff changes” at a crucial moment in negotiations with Spain. “I discovered that one of the key negotiators had gone beyond the democratic mandate set by the government, putting the country's sovereignty at risk. United kingdom“, he stated in a forum in which Elliott's name was not mentioned directly.
The new ambassador will have to resolve many issues that prevent the possibility of reaching an agreement. One is the joint management of the airfield owned by the RAF at the Rock which is used for civilian flights. The other is Where will Spanish officials be after a transition period? To control who enters and leaves through the port or airport, from where they can travel to the European Schengen Area. Even more difficult is controlling the thousands of soldiers and military goods that pass through Gibraltar every year.
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