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With her strategic
position, at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, Gibraltar played a vital role during both the first and second World Wars.
Apart from offering shelter and supplies to British and allied navies, she was also an important airbase and now provides
the same facilities to the forces of the NATO countries. During the Falklands Conflict of 1982 and the Gulf War of 1991,
Gibraltar was the obvious choice as the place where troops could stop over and ships could be refitted.
Towards the end of
1964 the Spanish government, under General Franco, applied a progressive series of restrictive measures against Gibraltar
including impeding vehicular traffic (finally banning it completely in 1966) and bringing trade between Spain and Gibraltar
to a complete halt. Spanish demand for the
return of Gibraltar culminated in a referendum in 1967 but residents voted overwhelmingly (12,138 to 44) to remain under
British sovereignty. In response Spain sealed Gibraltar's frontier from 1969 until it was opened for pedestrians only in 1983. The
border was not opened for traffic until two years later. Despite the Spanish governments obsession and determination
to raise political issues on a regular basis, many Spaniards continue to commute daily to their places of work on Gibraltar.
In 1985, four years after granting
Gibraltarians full British citizenship, Britain agreed to enter into discussions with Spain over Gibraltar and the sovereignty
issue. In 1988 the newly elected Chief Minister firmly ruled out further discussions. In 1996 the present Chief Minister,
Peter Caruana, also vetoed any sovereignty deals.
The dawn of a new millennium marked the launch
of new sovereignty discussions between the British labour government and Spain. An agreement was reached over recognition
of "competent authorities" in Gibraltar. Spain adopted a policy of non-recognition of the Gibraltar government as a "competent
authority". The British government then announced its intention to reach a final agreement with Spain over Gibraltar's future,
which would incorporate joint sovereignty; however no such agreement was reached. In response the Gibraltar government organised
a referendum in 2002 at which the electorate voted resoundingly (17,900 to 187) against joint sovereignty - both the
British and Spanish governments refused to recognise the referendum. SO THE FIGHT CONTINUES...
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