La Linea wants joint use of Gibraltar's airport

With an eye on the forthcoming Brexit talks between Britain, Spain and Gibraltar, the La Linea municipality headed by mayor Juan Franco has produced a confidential document asking for the joint use of the Gibraltar airport, which they say would be a big boost for the La Linea economy. 

Such a possibility was first raised in the Cordoba Agreement of 2006 which the then PSOE and Britain and Gibraltar agreed to but which the PP rejected. With the serious problems as regards employment, and the economic dependence on Gibraltar, together with the problems arising from drug trafficking and tobacco smuggling, La Linea's municipality says it seeks other measures as well.

They want frontier fluidity for persons and goods, as any negative changes would result in great economic concerns for La Linea as well as the downtrend of the Gibraltar economy which could bring about catastrophic consequences.

The document says that of the 14,500 frontier workers, as many as 11,000 live in La Linea.

They also want a special fiscal zone.

*The new Gibraltar air terminal was built adjacent to the frontier fence with a view to Spain building another air terminal that would link with the Gibraltar one. The idea was that air traffic meant for Spain would not go through the Gibraltar airport but would instead go through the Spanish one, where jurisdiction and control would be exercised in respect of immigration etc, thus such air traffic would go direct into Spain and thus bypass the normal frontier arrangements in Gibraltar.

22-01-2020 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR