by JOE GARCIA
There are conflicting reports emanating from Spain about the state of the negotiations for a Gibraltar deal, or indeed if such a deal - if it happens - will be concluded before the end of the year.

The Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares is hopeful that a deal will be possible, but reports from Brussels and Madrid in the daily El Pais take a negative view, while former foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, of the PP, is stirring things up, seemingly eager to put a spanner in the works, suggesting that Gibraltar always wins, and promoting the concept of joint sovereignty.
A report in El Pais says that the ghost of a hard Brexit is haunting Gibraltar once again. Instead of being eliminated, the border between the British Overseas Territory and Spain, known locally as La Verja (literally, the fence), could become a daily nightmare for the nearly 10,000 Spaniards who cross it every day for work.

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