Gibraltar Viewpoint started in 1994 and is probably the widest read weekly column on Gibraltar.
David Eade talks with Peter Cochrane about Gibraltar every Friday at 15.30 on Talk Radio Europe.
GIBRALTAR VIEWPOINT By David Eade
TIME FOR CARUANA TO SHOW LEADERSHIP OVER LA LÍNEA
By David Eade
At the press conference last Thursday after the Trilateral technical meeting Gibraltar’s chief minister, Peter Caruana, was asked questions about the antics of the mayor of La Línea, Alejandro Sánchez, in his threats to place a toll on entry to the Rock in order to boost his empty coffers. Caruana smoothly side-stepped any controversy just saying it was an internal Spanish matter and if Sánchez wanted to be a friend of Gibraltar he had a funny way of showing it – or words to that effect.
The Spanish Partido Popular MP for Cádiz José Ignacio Landaluce was also speaking last week about the tripartite forum. One of his gems was that Spain was guilty of giving in to British and Gibraltarian demands – it was one-way traffic. He displayed an obviously ignorance of the Córdoba process – or a heightened sense of mischief – but his claim that Gibraltar only took and didn’t give could be given credence depending on how the chief minister acts over La Línea.
Now I appreciate that many Gibraltarians may take pleasure in seeing the disarray and major problems being encountered by their Spanish neighbours across the border. Indeed this attitude may make it difficult for a Gibraltarian politician to take up the cudgels on behalf of La Línea. However leadership is all about making the difficult decisions and we now have to see whether Peter Caruana is up to the task.
The financial crisis in La Línea is real enough. The town hall is bankrupt, there are at least 10,000 unemployed, part of the cause has been the corrupt management of the GIL – PP administrations but La Línea has also suffered from the lack of investment by the Spanish government whilst Algeciras has blossomed. Not surprising then that when the mayor of La Línea views the budget statement of the GSD government he wonders why the Rock is relatively wealthy whilst he is broke. It is this that has led for his demands for tolls.
The first action the chief minister should take is to invite Alejandro Sánchez to No 6, not for a photo opportunity, but to meet with him and his ministers. A day should then be spent in explaining to him how the Gibraltar economy works and how the various surpluses have been built up – a fact that many Llanitos would also like to know. Once Sánchez understands the finances of the Rock he can then either continue with his doomed policies or get real with real politick.
I have expressed my views here before that Gibraltar suffers because of La Línea and not as the mayor would have it round the other way. Algeciras is receiving major investment in its port, heliport, railway connections and infrastructure. The municipalities of Los Barrios and San Roué get some of that knock-on effect but La Línea is the wrong side of the bay – and the wrong political party – so it financially and politically out on a limb.
Make no mistake Gibraltar suffers economically because of the poor roads, infrastructure and transport facilities of La Línea. So the chief minister’s second act should be to seek common cause with Sánchez in his fight to rescue his municipality from social and financial disaster.
This is a battle that can be fought on numerous fronts – but here’s one example. La Línea has a commodity that Gibraltar doesn’t – land. In recent years Caruana worked with the socialist mayor of Los Barrios, Alonso Rojas, to bring British industry to the municipality. Los Barrios was meant to get the factory and jobs whilst Gibraltar provided the services required to sustain it. The template is still sound and there is no reason why Gibraltar cannot market itself as an industrial investment base by working with La Línea as its partner. Gibraltar has the financial and business nous whilst the border town has the land and the workforce. All it requires is leadership to work.
The above article appeared in Panorama on Wednesday July 28 - and at the later press conference it was proved that dreams do not come true!
