Gibraltar Issue In The Context Of Brexit

Gibraltar has always been the focus of great powers because of its superior geographical position.Spain expelled the Moors in Gibraltar through the movement of recovering lost land.Gibraltar was very desolate in its early days because of its small size,lack of abundant natural resources and sparse population.Due to Spain's negligence in defense,Britain and the Netherlands occupied Gibraltar in the war of succession to the Spanish throne.In 1703,Britain and Spain signed the< Utrecht Contract>,and Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain.In the 18 th century,Britain did not attach importance to Gibraltar,but regarded it as a bargaining chip from Spain for other territory more important to Britain.In the 19 th century,Britain changed its attitude towards Gibraltar,marked by the Napoleonic War.At the beginning of the 19 th century,Napoleon adopted the policy of continental blockade,which made the domestic economic development of Britain difficult.Britain realized that Spain did not implement the policy strictly and decided to use Spain as a key partner to break the blockade.Gibraltar adjacent to Spain played an important role in it.In the 19 th century,Britain began to conquer the world,and Gibraltar's strategic advantages became more prominent.Therefore,in the 19 th century,Britain began to build Gibraltar on a large scale.Gibraltar played an important role in the two world wars in the 20 th century.Gibraltar and Britain joined NATO during the cold war played an important role in the Western Mediterranean strategy.Spain's attitude on Gibraltar has also changed.In the eighteenth century,Spain hoped to regain Gibraltar by force,launched many sieges and blockades against Gibraltar,but ultimately failed.From the 19 th century to the first half of the 20 th century,Spain had a turbulent domestic situation.Although Spain still maintained that Gibraltar was Spanish territory,the issue of Gibraltar was not the focus of Spanish attention.After the end of World War II,Franco closed the Spanish-Gibraltar border,causing seriouseconomic difficulties for Gibraltar.When Franco died in 1975 and Spain ended its dictatorship,the problem of Gibraltar took a turn for the better.The Spanish government sought to join the European Community,and began negotiations on Gibraltar in Britain.After negotiations,Spain promised to open its border with Gibraltar.Under the framework of European integration,tripartite relations have developed well.The dialogue mechanism between the two sides on Gibraltar has developed from the bilateral mechanism of the Lisbon and Brussels Agreements to the tripartite mechanism of the Cordoba mechanism.Gibraltar is Britain's Overseas Territory,and its external relations are the responsibility of Britain.Although most of Gibraltar hopes to remain in the EU,Gibraltar finally decides to move forward with Britain.The mechanism of Gibraltar's participation in the negotiation of Britain's separation from Europe has a profound impact on the maintenance of Gibraltar's interests.At present,Gibraltar's participation in negotiation mainly includes formal and informal mechanisms.The main core issues of Gibraltar in the process of leaving from Europe are sovereignty,economy and security.Spain believes that Gibraltar should complete its decolonization in accordance with United Nations resolutions,because Gibraltar is Spanish territory,and Gibraltar's sovereignty should be returned to Spain in accordance with the principle of territorial integrity and the Utrecht Treaty.Britain believes that human rights are higher than sovereignty,and the change of Gibraltar's sovereignty should respect Gibraltar's will.Gibraltarians believed that Gibraltar should be granted the right to self-determination in accordance with the United Nations principle of national self-determination,while Gibraltarians believed that the Treaty of Utrecht was outdated and could not adapt to modern society.Spain's proposal that Gibraltar should remain in the EU only if it concedes on sovereignty and agrees to Spain's joint sovereignty plan was rejected by Britain and Gibraltar.In terms of security,in view of the decline of Britain's role between the United States and the European Union after leaving Europe,Britain will attach great importance to the role of Britain in NATO,and Gibraltar is of vital importance to NATO.Gibraltar can play an important role in Britain and NATO,but given Spain's prerogatives under the EU guidelines,Britain will not increase substantially to reduce Gibraltar's defense.On the economic side,because of the uncertain outcome of negotiations in key areas such as border policy,Gibraltar airport and future cooperation model between Britain and the EU,Gibraltar's future economic development risks are increasing.Gibraltar needs to change,accelerate economic diversification and find partners as soon as possible.